People tend to ask me questions about forging when they learn that I make weapons and start thinking about getting me to make one for them. It happens often enough that I typed this up to just be able to copy/paste answers to the one's I get asked a lot rather they typing it out every time.
Dunno if it's worth making a Wiki page for, but thought some here might find it useful:
<How long would it take to make XXXX?>
I'm going to assume you mean to make a perfect XXXX cause no one ever asks anyone to make superior or lower quality weapons.
This depends on several factors: the weapon you're asking about, the metal you want, how much time the person you're asking is willing and able to spend in the forge, and plane 'ol dumb luck.
When working the forge, there's roughly a 10% chance that any given blade/head/etc will come out as a "best" piece that can be combined with a "best" handle/hilt/etc to create a perfect weapon. So, on average, 1 out of every 10 pieces you make in the forge is even capable of becoming a perfect.
When combining a best blade with a best hilt, there's another roughly 10% chance that it will result in a perfect weapon, the rest will be superior quality. This means that, on average, 1 in 100 blades a blacksmith starts will become a perfect weapon.
Note: These numbers aren't exact, but they're close and make the math easier. I'm also not taking into account that it's more difficult to get a "best" piece with enchanted metals here.
Different metals also take different amounts of time "per forging cycle" So, I'll use two extremes for metals to answer the question (steel and vultite) as well as two popular weapon bases:
Steel dagger: 2 cycles x 3 minutes per cycle x 100 blades = 600 minutes = 10 hours
Vultite dagger: 2 cycles x 9 minutes per cycle x 100 blades = 1800 minutes = 30 hours
Steel handaxe: 4 cycles x 3 minutes per cycle x 100 blades = 1200 minutes = 20 hours
Vultite handaxe: 4 cycles x 9 minutes per cycle x 100 blades = 3600 minutes = 60 hours
Remember, these are just average times, the person you're asking could get insanely lucky and complete it in half the that time... or they could get struck with rotten luck and have it take twice as long. I'm also not accounting for the difficulty added by higher enchant metals or the weight of the slabs needed to make a weapon (both of which can increase those times). 4 cycles is actually in the middle of what can be required, but it's not often I get asked about weapons that require more then that (falchion, flamberge, war hammer, etc).
So, after all that... assuming you're asking a GS addict that can and will spend 8 hours a day in the forge, it will take between 2 days to just over a week to make that weapon you're looking for. However, it's safer to assume that the person you're asking actually has a job and life away from GS (not to mention other things they might want to do when they're IG), so figure on it taking more like a week to a month.
<Why does it cost so much?>
You mean aside from the insane amount of time I detailed above just staring at the screen when I could be hunting?
Well, if I'm buying my slabs from the forge it's costing me silvers for every weapon I make.
I can prolly sell a couple of the superior morning stars I make to other players eventually, if I have a shop, but realistically the 99 morning stars I'm making on the way to your perfect are going to the pawn shop. The most the pawn will give me for vultite morning stars I made is 20,000... but the cost of the metal and tempering oils to make them is about 40,000 (depending on trading bonuses, citizenship, etc).
So I'm losing 20,000 silver per morning star or almost 2 mil just to make that weapon if the averages hold up. THIS along with the time invested is why I want 4 mil for that vultite weapon I'm selling or 1 mil for that steel weapon...
<What if you use slabs you got from the slab generator?>
I can't speak for others, but this is actually what I do. It really doesn't change the above at all though, you're just using Blood Script instead of silvers.
<Can you customize the appearance?>
Not a whole lot. The metal used will be in the description as well as the wood I use for the handle/hilt/etc. A blacksmith can remove the hilt from the description or use a different type of wood for the hilt, but you're prolly choosing the metal based on its properties.
Keep in mind that each town only sells one type of wood, so if you want a type that's not sold in the town the blacksmith is in they're going to have to travel to get it and use 20-50 locker slots storing it while they make your piece... some will do that for free, others will tack on an additional charge. Hilts/etc can also be made with metal instead of wood, but I would definitely expect an up-charge if you want that (wood costs 30 silver a block, metal costs much more).
Any other changes to the look are going to require a merchant, a Sadie scroll, or finding someone with an alter box that works with weapons.
<I have this slab of [insert metal here], will you forge it into a [insert weapon here] for me?>
Speaking solely for myself, I will gladly do this as long as we can agree on a price for my time and the tempering oils needed. I will forge it into as many weapons of the type you want as I can get out of that slab, do everything in my power to try to get you a perfect out of it, and all weapons produced from that slab are yours to keep.... but I absolutely will not make any sort of guarantee you'll get a perfect out of that slab (see the first question above for why).
<Why are there so many perfect lances and mauls compared to other weapons?>
Lances and mauls are exceptions in forging in that they're popular bases that only require one forging cycle (because the glyphs are merchant only). As a result, this is what blacksmiths tend to make when they haven't been asked for something specific... especially if they're working with a metal that has a long forging cycle.
Starchitin, the OG
A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.
