Hey guys, I'm wondering if any of you know anything about smithing in real life to help me out.
You see, I'm trying to figure out the base material components and procedure for smithing weapons and armor, and then I'll go ahead and convert the procedure and materials more or less into the game I'm DMing.
As for what kind of weapons or armor, any kind that you know about is good as long as if it can fit in nicely to at least a pseudo-medieval setting.
The amount of material going into the final product is going to depend on the material.
Metal is infinitely reshapeable so you don't need much more than you will have in the finished product. A 3 lb sword might need 3.5 lbs of metal.
Wood and leather are shapable but subtractive. Wood can be glued/laminated. Leather can be stiched/grommeted/laminated. But for both materials you're going to need to start with a fair bit more than the final product will call for.
Iron/steel in a pseudo-medieval setting is actually not something that gets mass produced much. Most of it will be bog iron. Peat bogs have chemical conditions that cause dissolved iron to precipitate out into large irregular clumps. These are mined in small scale (usually) industry and then local blacksmiths can turn them into steel by adjusting the carbon content through a variety of techniques. Modern steel production is a very different beast.
Bronze is an alloy and is a bigger deal to produce requiring large trade networks to coordinate the accumulation of the copper, tin and antimony needed. The old, large empires could do it and the fact that bronze is cast, and not usually beaten lends it to mass production. But iron, once you figure out how to work it, is (when well made) just as good and quite a bit cheaper. And you can source it locally.
Wood needs to be harvested and seasoned. Different woods have very different qualities that make them suitable for different purposes. Ash for spear shafts or arrow shafts, yew for bows. Wood when cut is green and has too much moisture, if shaped it will split. It needs to sit for a long period (depending on the size of it and climate weeks to years) to season to the proper moisture content for maximum strength.
Leather needs to be cured. This can be done in small batches but is frequently a mass production sort of thing since it benefits from economies of scale and stinks like hell, so most communities prefer to put all the tanneries in one area. It's a complicated process and there as are several ways to do it, I suggest doing some research on your own if you really want to know. The upshot it is takes weeks to months to fully cure and tan a hide into leather. When used in armour it will often be
cuirbollied which is actually a pretty quick and easy process.
Basically if you have you materials already on hand making a melee weapon won't take more than a day or so (bows take a long time). Armour will take days or weeks of fitting. If you don't have the materials on hand it will take months to finish, but there is an awful lot of slack time in there while other tasks (or even adventures) can be accomplished.
I hope that's what you were looking for.
Your best bet might be to get in touch with the SCA - there are some great craftspeople involved. Better yet find a local knife-making class!
