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Just speaking for me, if I were given two pieces of 3/16" steel and with one forged the blade out and the other stock removal, starting at the same time I'd have the stock removal ready for heat treat at the same time the forge work was done. After that I'd still have grinding to do to clean the forged blade up. The only advantage forging gives using bar stock is say, you have a 7" piece of 1084 but want a 6" blade. Well you can forge the tang and tip in and probably have your 6" blade if not a little longer. But that being said, there's a lot that can go wrong in the forge from grain growth to hidden cracks and stress risers and the ever present carbon loss (taking too long).
On your Damascus blade, hand sand down to at least 600 grit. From my experience, the higher the layer count the finer the sandpaper needed to bring it out. Do your etchings multiple times. Also, if you heat treat isn't right it can muddy the pattern.
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