So I saw a lot of posts where people suggested that people's fire pits were too big, so on my build I used a 20 pound propane tank cut in half, and used a clay/sand mix for the sides as insulation... I built a couple small fires to help it all dry and used a 1" pipe with a few 1/4" holes for air flow like a Lively forge...I got a file to cherry red for annealing but noticed the six inch long file touches the sidewall insulation on both sides, and caused the file to bend (not a problem I guess because I could straighten it) so I am concerned that I should have a bigger area for the fireball. To make a long story short is it possible to have a fire pit that is too small?

it is possible to have a fire too small for the job at hand.  I could use that forge to forge swords with some tweaking!  Why the round fire if you will be working linear pieces?  The pieces should go into the fire horizontally not at an angle---how does that design work for that?  How are you pushing air in?

I had originally planned on a larger more oblong shape but wanted to get a proof of concept before  I sacrificed my four foot by three foot steel tub

 Using a hair dryer for a blower. Mostly it was about going as cheap as possible for my first try.  I was also trying to not go overboard on fire size.

So why is the fire pot not tracking that tuyere from side to side with the clay on the sides and not the ends and slots on the ends to put the work piece in?  Look at the lively type forges closely and figure out how they work.  You  don't seem to explain why you didn't do the proof of concept in the same way as what you were trying to prove.  Don't sacrifice a perfectly good tub; I see a dozen perfectly good items suitable for building a neo tribal forge every visit to the scrap yard for 20 cents a pound.

And for some of you oldies I was the moderator Bogiron on the old neo tribal forum(s)

Bottom blast and charcoal are not the best match, I use charcoal in a side blast forge with a 6" wide by 3" deep and a 3/4" black pipe tuyere. Typicaly you have to go deeper with a bottom blast

Thanks for the help,

I will try cutting out a couple slots to fit the steel in better, I see what your saying about side blast being the preferred method for charcoal...I can deepen the pot a bit to compensate, and on the next build I will try a different setup. For now though I'm just happy it works at all...lol