Hi, I realy like your forge design. i've been making swords and daggers by stock removal for a while and i'm ready to start my dream of making a forge and starting to make some real blades. i'm not very knowledgable on this stuff except what i have seen so far but my main question before i make my first forge is, Do i need something big (long) enough to heat Most or all of the blade i am making?   I'm wondering because if i make my forge blower area too small ( as in a brake drum forge)  would that hamper me? it looks like your design would work well on swords but i'm wondering say if i made a table forge what i would have to do.
   sorry for the long question. look forward to maybe some pointers.

Deathatsix: This style of forge is very good for knives and swords and will use less fuel than the large table forge that you would need for big knives or swords. If you are making small items just keep the fire at one end of the forge and save more fuel.
You will need to heat the full length of the blade in one go for hardening.
Tempering can usually be done in a kitchen oven or toaster oven on knives but swords will need something bigger. The bigger a knife is the harder it will be to keep straight when hardening.

I did a google and found a page you might be interested in. It has a lot of info.

http://users.netonecom.net/~swordman/Sw … Making.htm