Zack S

I am visiting me girlfriend in Northern Scotland and they only burn peat up there for fuel and i was wondering if a peat fire would work for forging with?

My dad and I mounted our anvil on 2 16x16 beams that were bolted together they are about 3 feet long. I buried them about a foot deep so with the anvil on top they are at a perfect height.

The bolts are not going to be forged just used near the forge. 

I know forging steel that is plated can be very dangerous but how would Chrome plated bolts do close to a forge? Should it be ok or should I try to find some that aren't plated? 

I personally prefer wood handles because I have found metal handles transfer way to much vibrations to my arm and they add more weight than wood or fiberglass handles. I also don't like Fiberglass because as soon as the binding agent starts to break down I get fiber glass embedded in my hand and it is very difficult to remove them. Also with wood handles if I don't like the shape I can just reshape it or cut it so it is comfortable.

Thank You. Because I am building this in a Precision Manufacturing class when I am done I am thinking I will upload all of my mechanical drawings for it. And while I am building it I will take pictures of it and upload them on here. I have decided to go with what TomasPowers suggested for my steel.

I am building a guillotine based off the one by Nick Wheeler at bladeforums.com I want to know what steel I should use. I know i should use different steel for the frame and dies, but what should use? I am building this as a school project and the teacher will be purchasing steel to use I just need to tell him what steel to use. Also I am planing on adding a removable depth gauge like the one in the picture bellow.
The general dimensions I got from the pictures are

1 inch plate
10 inch tall
6 inch mouth
6 inch across

5 inch bottom die
10 inch top die
dies 4 inches across