Blacksmithing

Skill Gain

Here are some very rough estimates on what to make in order to raise your skill at the various levels. They are based on my experience, and may not be the absolute fastest path.

1. At 0 make Dagger.
2. At 10 make Buckler.
3. At 15 make Mace.
4. At 30 make Cutlass.
5. At 40 make Short Spear.
6. At 50 make Katana.
7. At 60 make Plate Gorget.
8. At 69 make Plate Gloves.
9. At 74 make Plate Helm.
10. At 78 make Plate Arms.
11. At 82 make Plate Legs.
12. At 85 make Breastplate.
13. At 95 make Spike to Ice Rock Breastplate.
14. At 100 make Black Dwarf to Silver Rock Breastplate.
15. At 105 make Copper to Old Britain Breastplate.
16. At 110 make Onyx to Pyrite Breastplate.
17. At 115 make Virginity to Azurite Breastplate.
18. At 120 make Dripstone to Destruction Breastplate.
19. At 125 make Anra to Doom Breastplate.
20. At 129 make Goddess and New Zulu Breastplate.

Notes and Tips

1. It takes about 1500 ingots to get your skill from 0 to 30, so it is better to train your skill from a vendor for 300gp.
2. In general, make a lot of the items that require lesser ingots.
3. Use items to help with your success rate and save ingots, but you'll need at least 15 points item booster before you'll see any difference. Stop using the items when your skill reach 90 because they don't make much difference after that. Use them only to re-smelt items.
4. If you are a specialized crafter, move up to the next item for every level you are at.  For example, if you are spec level 2 with 75 skill, you can make breastplate instead of plate arms. But if your are level 3, you'll still make breastplate because you can't make spike breastplate yet.
5. Strength seems to help with success rate too, so Strength and bless on yourself. You will see a little difference with skill lower than 90, but after that it doesn't really make any difference.