DKLabs

First time I've ever hear of this holiday was about 2 hours ago watching 'big bang theory' lol. Just a side note any guesses how long this thread will stay open since it has nothing to do with blacksmithin and there are some strange posts?

You can patina copper as well.

I'll agree with jmc, 1084 is a great starting point. I have worked a few others but this is the better one for ease of use.

I couldn't answer answer your question but I can give you a suggestion. You could call city hall and ask them about the legality. Depending on what type of neighborhood you live in and what kind of noise ordinance might be there may have some interesting effects. For example most cities near me have a noise ordinance where at 9pm you cant be making a lot of noise thats disturbing people. When I'm forging (as I'm sure is true with several others) there's a lot of noise being made. I dont want to bother neighbors so i wait until at least 9 am to start and try to wrap it up by 8. I dont know if anything i said is helpful but i hope so.

I never would've thought about copper, i bet that would look great on a dark wood.

If the firepot is relatively thick i wouldn't worry about it. I think what i keep seeing is 3/8 in is enough to not need it anything less is what I've heard you should line. My charcoal forge has a firepot made from an old metal bucket and i didnt line it with anythin more than ashes. When i first start my fire it's cleaned out and i let the few ashes pile up on the sides and i havent had any trouble out of it.

I have tested several different brands of sawzall blades all of which are bimetal and all were steel throughout. I am currently unable to weld myself do to my forge dying on me but I have welded them up before and it makes for a tough knife. Jcornell suggestion would be to keep it hot while you work it. If it gets too cool while hammering you'll probably mess it up. I found a few failed welds because of that.

The way i had the law explained to me was really easy to understand. In the US you can do whatever you want to your money (cut, melt, deform, etc) as long as you don't try to use it as money after you do.