Before I start, I realize some people have talked about the blast furnace problems before.  I am writing this as I could not find a workable solution to my problem in those posts.
I cannot craft the blast furnace.  I have my five iron ingots arranged in a helmet formation at the top of the crafting grid.  I have my regular furnace in the center of the grid.  And I have my 3 smoothstone all along the bottom of the grid.  No blast furnace icon appears in the output box, and clicking on the output box yields no blast furnace.  My recipe book also does not receive a recipe for the blast furnace.  The blast furnace is accessible through the creative inventory, and works for smelting iron.  I have not yet tested it for other ores.