Sorry for anyone who had to read this twice. I had a really long day at work yesterday and wasn't paying attention to what I was doing so I clicked on reply instead of post. My question is:

I am, admittedly, probably the realm's worst forger. I am absolutely terrible coming up with mixes. Although I am determined to find something that works :)

When is a good time for a paladin to start forging armor. I've been told (and read many times) that I need over 100 mech, but what about plate skill (average)? When will I be able to forge better than store-bought armor? Weight and encumberance is mostly unimportant. Thanks for your imput.

This is probably a dumb question, but does using CJ's boost your FF?

-Landros