Alan Longmire

Make and keep paper and PDF copies of all correspondence. You need to have a paper trail when the bureaucracy comes knocking.

I think so, but I can't promise I'm right!

Go to Stephan's if at all possible. He makes really nice kitchen knives.

I say leave it alone, OR add a very small inlay, not a full buttcap. Just my opinion.

Assuming you're in Atlanta (the name suggests...), get yourself over to the Atlanta History Center and join the Alex Bealer chapter of blacksmiths. They meet at the Tully Smith house. Well, the shop is out front. Watching and participating is the second best way to flatten that learning curve! The fastest and best is to take a few blacksmithing classes. http://alexbealer.org/ Edit: Looks like they now meet all over central Georgia, and you just missed the last meeting. You MUST go to the October meeting, it's at Stephan Fowler's shop. He is an accomplished bladesmith and friend of mine. http://www.alexbealer.org/plug.php?e=events&m=details&id=136

Here is another thread on a homemade forging station: It uses a large chunk of forklift tine, the back or upright part which is parallel-sided rather than the actual fork part which is tapered. These are usually good steel, ready to use as-found, provided you can cut a chunk off of one.

Since it's not going to be nearly as hot as we're used to on forges, I still think your 25mm is enough.

Railroad track "anvils" are common, and for some reason non-smiths seem to think they are worth as much as a real anvil. They aren't.

Comes in handy as a grinding rest, too!

I was afraid you might have to do that. at least this way it's a guaranteed perfect inlay, though.

If you don't do both faces of each piece it's hard to keep things flat. Easy to get wonky ends, in other words.

Bog oak and copper are a great combination, and your style is always great!

Good idea!

You probably could, but having an air gap will keep the cladding cool enough to touch.

That's the way they work, they are only truly square when open about an inch. It's because of the way they're made, unlike a machinists vise.