How many iron ingots does a blast furnace take?
The recipe takes 5 iron ingots. In raw iron that is 5 items, since each one becomes an ingot in the furnace. The rest of the cost is cobblestone: 8 for the furnace and 3 for the smooth stone, 11 in total.
Can I get smooth stone without smelting?
Not through the recipe used here. In the tool, smooth stone comes from smelting stone, and stone comes from smelting cobblestone. That is why the 3 smooth stone add up to 6 smelts, and those have to be done in a regular furnace.
Does a blast furnace smelt food or sand?
No. Its 25 recipes are ores, raw metals, ancient debris and metal tools and armor. Food belongs to the smoker (9 recipes) and the furnace, and sand to the furnace alone.
Is it worth building over a regular furnace?
For ore, yes: each ingot takes 100 ticks instead of 200, with the same experience. The extra cost is 5 iron and 3 smooth stone. For anything outside the 25 blasting recipes it does not help at all.