Pretty nice!

Is that an AK-74 standing next to your door?

Sheet metal, Empty oil barrel or similar, Air compressor, A 1 pound, 2 pound, and 3 pound hammer, Some solid block of tough heat resistant material, Various measuring and holding tools, A bit of practice.

^This is how you make that stuff at home, it doesn't matter how intricate the item is, remember that they made these things long before machines as we know them existed with nearly the exact set of tools (If a few more dedicated ones).

I did home-forging back when I actually lived in a house with a backyard. Quite neat experience, eventually got up to making small blades and learned to fix my armor and swords that got damaged in sparring practice at the local sword-training place.

Lol yea, Sequitorian, I would never try to make a Chechen firearm. That barrel is mild steel and relatively thin, it'd likely peel like a banana with anything more than a few grains of powder.

As for the cutting against the grain, some of those deep gashes along the barrel are from the lengthy process of inletting the depression for the barrel, I need to get some wood putty, perhaps. As for the wood, I found a 3" thick piece of fresh pinewood lumber sitting in a pile next to a neighbor's trash, used the same piece for that revolver I posted some time ago. I wont be using pine anymore though because while it is easy to carve, the grain is so inconsistent in density.

@Bombzero: I had planned to make a coffee-can forge but I live in a pretty dense town with few wooded areas so even going on my back porch to whittle is a tad awkward with kids and random people walking by. If I ever get back into the country its one of my goals to learn some novice blacksmithing.

@Adriaan: Yep, just airsoft though. :/

Alternatively, don't shave for a few months, start wearing flannel shirts and blue jeans all day, and then nobody will question a thing about it.
Everyone knows stereotypical rednecks get far more leeway on doing dangerous things.
(I'm half joking, half serious about this by the way)

I love working with Poplar, practically no difference when carving against the grain or with it because it's so tightly packed, next to basswood I think its the best choice for carving on a small scale. I've never worked with Birch, I'd have to order than online. As for the putty mix, I occasionally use a mix of superglue and baking soda because it's super strong and dries almost instantly, looks awful though so I only use it for joining to pieces or small unseen spots.

Real men work with metal!

(Although wood carving is fun too)

Correction, real men work with explosives.

I've had some military grade explosives in the same room as me before while at work. It was perfectly safe, since the explosives were unarmed, and not even wired to anything yet.

Went fishing with my dad.

Yea, I live in Florida, only things you see around here are pines and southern oak. All the lumber stores around sell Oak, Pine and sometimes Poplar, anything else has to be ordered online.

I haven't done any woodworking for about half a year now, that might have to change soon. I really want to, but my workplace has been turned into a storage area and I haven't got any good lumber.

Boat making sounds like fun, I've seen the process of traditional canoe-making and it looks hella tough. Lets see that boat you got.

madmax

do you live in the nice part of florida (beaches) or the OTHER part of florida

because I live in the central-northern swampland

Northwest FL, we've got those nice gulf coast beaches over here. Might be moving to Central Fl or further North soon though.

Uh, here's some page king arte

Color study of a place in Nevada, ♥♥♥♥ love those desert roads.

In an Earth Scenery generator thingy?

Thank you for drawing me.

I do not understand.

Uhh, I'm a un-wound path.