First off thank you all for the overwhelmingly warm welcome.
Frosty-- I am looking at late SCA time period, around 1600s. I presume that as time went on smithing techniques and tools got better and therefore easier.
Thomas-- I am about 6 hours from Müchen and about 3 from Bad Windsheim. It seems that in every group of artisans you will find at least one SCAdian.
Diver-- I know a few Swedish smith, but none in my Germany. One of the draws of the forum was the ability to collaborate with other people in a location-less environment. But of course I would be happy to meet if possible. The internet is a poor substitute for person to person contact.
Everyone-- I have a question... I own absolutely no smiting apparatus and am no-joke-broke. What is the minimal requirements to actually be able to make something neat? I already own a few books (On Divers Arts by Theophilus, and The Complete Metalsmith by Tim McCreight) What else would you recommend?