mikeizbicki

I realize that it probably can't be completely fixed, but I'd like to at least get it down to a smooth finish. I could start polishing it directly as is, but I'm worried it will take off a lot more steel unless I follow the right techniques.

For my first major forging project, I've decided to convert an old barrel of an AK-47 into a giant spoon/ladle. Basically, the barrel is the handle of the spoon, and the place where it connects to the receiver (where the bullet enters) is the spoon part. So far, I've got everything hammered out into a roughly spoon shaped object. But the metal is getting all flaky on me. I'd like to get all the flaked smoothed out into a smooth. There's also some holes in the middle of the spoon part where I accidentally hit the metal with the edge of my hammer, rather than the face. I'm not too concerned about having holes in the middle of my spoon, as lots of serving spoons have that, but the flakes would make the thing unusable. Right now, I'm using a propane forge with brick insulation. It gets hot enough that you can see the red metal in full sunlight, but it's not glowing. So my question is: how can I fix the flakiness? Do I need to get my forge up to hotter temperatures, or is their a "quick fix" like buying a map gas burner and just heating/hammering these flaky bits individually? I've attached a bunch of pictures. I've got a lot more of different angles/different progress levels during the forging if you think it might help.