That's a large production-area forge and could have easily been used by two smiths at the same time, but generally wasn't. With all of the controls on one side, several smiths would have been bumping into each other as they tried to heat their individual pieces. Generally speaking, the larger the forge, the larger the work piece being heated. On a large forge like this, you could heat big iron like you'd need around a railroad yard, or many smaller irons like a factory smith turning out dozens of pieces in a day. Of course, if you're not careful, you'll get too many irons in the fire and end up ruining some because you can't work fast enough - hence the saying.
It's definitely a great piece; forges of this size are getting more and more rare. Most of them were scrapped during the WW2 metal drives, and the rest seem to have been scrapped in the years since. Finding one that's in such good shape is definitely a boon, and I'm certainly jealous.
I would heap the coal up on the table. With that much room, you can manage the size of the fire with the rake and a watering can, but not have to be constantly shoveling out of the bag.
