They are different things.
Bloomery (youtube) is an enclosed furnace capable of higher temperatures and forge is a regular blacksmith's forge/fireplace.
For roleplay reasons it is good to know that the bloomery is for smelting the ore to get the iron and in the forge you heat the iron to start hammering it.
You can get more info about some BAC functionalities if you download the Extended Encyclopedia
I'm aware of both of those things, but thank you both.
There is a comment in diy_BAC_Metalworking that reads:
// In terms of later recipes the calls are for *forge
// so both work equally well
That comment is made immediately before the recipe for the bloomery furnace. Thus, I naturally assumed that it was in reference to the bloomery. This is borne out by the fact that the actual name of the Bloomery is "Bloomery furnace (forge)" in order for it to work for the forge recipes.
Bottom line is that, as the code is currently written, you can use the bloomery as a forge, but you can't use a forge as a bloomery. If you
must build a bloomery (and currently you have to), then there is no reason (other than roleplay) to also build a forge.
If the
intent is that you must have both a forge and a bloomery, then the "(forge)" should be removed from the name of the bloomery.
If the intent is that you can use either, and only need one or the other, then the {Bloomery*} in .Smelt ore into iron. recipe should be changed to {*forge*}.
If the intent is that all you need is the Bloomery for everything and the forge is unnecessary, as is currently the case, then there is no reason to have the .Build a simple stone forge. recipe at all, or the .Assign a fireplace as a forge. recipe.