User blog comment:D2r/Unanswered Questions of Redwall/@comment-1479469-20100908212056

2. If the searats stole their weapons, who made them originally? And yes, we can assume there might be forges, but you have to admit it's not addressed directly in the text at any point in the series. Besides; I somehow find the idea of a "small forge" dubious - keep in mind the effort required to forge weapons. Can't exactly do it on the go. I concur about stuff like bows and slings, though - anyone who knows what they're doing can make them.

Now, as for Rakkety Tam. Was the forge an improvised affair in the book? If not, that explains it in subsequent books, but the forge didn't exist previously (or else thy'd have used it before), so the problem stands for earlier books.

5. See questions 1, 2, 4, 8, and 19 for why this doesn't solve the problem. One thing I did like about the original Redwall is that it mentioned the existence of farms beyond Redwall (which would neatly explain where food comes from), but these fields vanish in subsequent novels. Darn it.

6. See above. They can only be assumed not to trade if they're self-sufficient - and in the case of weapons (or any metal objects, such as cutlery), glass, and treasure, this becomes dubious.