Hi Mullsmith
I'm going to add my 2 bob. You are asking very specific questions that you want to paint with a very broad brush. I can tell you that we make a job here that is what we call a chain anchor, I can tell you that it takes 23kgs of 4140 and I allow 2.5 hours (one man) to cut it, forge it and heat treat it. That will mean nothing to you, you don't know what equipment I have at my disposal, you don't know what I have in the way of materials handling, you wouldn't even know that to make this job worthwhile in the ways of shop rate we normally forge these in batches of 10.
I can give you information re the questions that you have asked, but as others have posted, that info is useless to you unless you have an idea of how long it will actually take "you" and what it is going to cost "you" in materials and consumables or a job/item similar to what I am making. Not only that but the sort of jobs that we are making would have very little bearing on the type of work that you are seeking to do, although you have asked us to "come one, come all".
Do some more fiddling in the workshop, get an idea of what sort of items you are going to make, work out what it costs you in labour, materials, fuel, grinding discs etc. Then come back and ask those of us on the forum, "Guys I can make 10 of these in a day using a solid fuel forge, by hand on the anvil, on my own completed using x amount of stock and using up x amount of consumables. Is this comparable to what you guys have found"?
You'd get a more realistic answer from us then.
Good luck with the little tacker too, if this is your 1st you wont know what hit you.
Phil