Smithing

Smithing is a production skill where a player makes useful metal items from ore and bars. It is one of the more popular skills since a player can make a profit from selling his/her bars and other smithed items if all or some of the raw materials are gathered by the player.

Smithing is a very slow process and can be expensive for quick leveling. Purchasing all raw materials and then selling bars will result in a modest profit, while selling smithed items will usually result in a net loss. Smithing has two distinct parts, smelting and smithing.

Smelting
For a list of furnaces, see Furnace. Smelting is the process of extracting a metal bar from metal ore, which can be obtained using the Mining skill. To smelt a metal bar, a player must use an unrefined ore of the desired metal on a furnace, or left-click the furnace and select the appropriate bar. Some metals require different kinds of ore and smelting some metals require the furnace's temperature be raised by adding coal to the furnace.

When smelting just a few ore, it can be faster to choose the 'Smelt 5' or 'Smelt 10' options, as bars will be smelted until the player runs out of ore.

Success rate
All metals have a 100% success rate of being smelted with the exception of iron. As a balance to iron bars only requiring one ore, the smelting of iron ore using a furnace will fail approximately 50% of the time. This success rate is raised to 100% under any of the following conditions: *Note: The last 2 conditions are available only to members.
 * The iron is being smelted using the Superheat Item spell.
 * The player has a Ring of Forging equipped*
 * The iron is smelted in the Blast furnace mini-game*

Smelting using Magic
With level 43 magic, a player can smelt bars using the Superheat Item spell. Doing so grants the same amount of smithing experience and has a few advantages:
 * The player can emerge from a mine with a full inventory of bars instead of a full inventory of ores which will smelt into only a fraction of the bars.
 * The player receives both Smithing and Magic experience.
 * The player saves time by not having to commute between a bank and a furnace.
 * The player is granted a 100% success rate in smelting iron ore.

Smelting table
A player will need higher smithing levels to smelt progressively higher level metals. Bars that can only be smithed by members are italicized.

Smithing
For a list of anvils, see Anvil. Main article: Smithing tables

Smithing is the process by which a player makes metal items out of one or more metal bars.

Smithing is almost always done at an an anvil; some require special anvils at certain locations. When a player uses a metal bar on an anvil, a dialogue is shown in which the player selects which item to forge. The player can either click the item to smith one such item, or may right-click on the item and select a higher quantity of items to smith.

All smithing done on an anvil requires a hammer.

Experience can be calculated by taking the experience for smithing 1 bar, and multiplying it by the number of bars required to smith the given item. For example, the bronze platebody requires 5 bars and gives 62.5 experience, $$5 * 12.5 = 62.5$$ (each bronze bar smithed yields 12.5 experience). This works for all types of the standard smithable bars except when making cannonballs.

Ore and bar prices
If a player just wants to sell their bars or ores he/she gets from Mining, then these prices are what he/she should follow. However, these prices can change over time.

Steel bars are the most recommended bars to sell, as many players make steel platebodies or cannonballs to level up their smithing level, so there is a large demand for these bars. The best places to sell or buy steel bars is in Falador, due to its centralized location with specialty shops i.e. battle axe store in Port Sarim, shield store in Falador, and Varrock, on the official forum, or at the Grand Exchange. For current prices see Grand Exchange Market Watch/Mining.

Ores
The costs of buying ores for normal furnace smelting are as follows:
 * Copper and tin ores: and  coins, respectively, for a total cost of  coins per bronze bar smelted.
 * Iron ore: coins for a cost of approximately  coins per iron bar smelted and  coins per steel bar smelted.
 * Silver ore: coins per silver bar smelted.
 * Coal: coins is the current cost per coal.
 * Gold ore: coins cost per gold bar smelted.
 * Mithril ore: coins for a total cost of  coins per mithril bar smelted.
 * Adamantite ore: coins for a total cost of 0 coins per adamant bar smelted.
 * Runite ore: coins for a total of 0 coins per runite bar smelted.

Bars
All prices are based on current Grand Exchange prices contained at the Grand Exchange Market Watch/Mining page. All profit per bar figures are based on buying coal at current market price.

Steel and the Grand Exchange
This section is a more in-depth guide for making money with a little mining and initial monetary investment by smithing steel bars with mined iron and coal bought from the Grand Exchange. Note that the amounts can be scaled smaller or larger depending on the resources available.

Requirements
The requirements for this are as follows:
 * at least 30 smithing for steel bars,
 * at least 15 mining, preferably 41 mining or higher in order to use a rune pickaxe,
 * a pickaxe, preferably rune since rune pickaxes usually mine iron ore in one strike,
 * about ,000 coins (or the amount needed to buy 200 coal at market price on the Grand Exchange), and
 * a combat level above 12 or the ability to evade a level 6 mugger while mining.

Making money by smelting and selling steel bars

Tip #1: Always make the highest amount of steel bars that you can make before selling them on the grand exchange. The current value of a steel bar is approximately, but remember to subtract the price of any ores you might buy from that total to determine your profit.

Tip #2: By mining both the coal and the iron ores, you can make a substantial amount of money with the only expense being the purchase of a pickaxe. Only recommended for players with plenty of time, level 41 mining, and a rune pickaxe. At mining levels over 80, you should be able to mine the iron ores in 0.7 seconds, and the coal in 0.94 seconds. It is recommended that mining trips are from the Dwarven mine to Falador to save time.

Tip #3: By mining the iron ores and buying the coal, you can cut the time it takes to make your goal by 22.7% - 28.3%. This method is not recommended unless you have quite a bit of free time and have a rune pickaxe with mining level 41.

Tip #4: By mining the coal and buying the iron ores, you can cut the time it takes to make your goal by 9.1% - 11.8%.

Tip #5: By buying both the iron ores and the coal, you can cut the time it takes to make your goal by 34.2% - 37.5%, and you make approximately coins per steel bar made. This is the recommended money-making method until you have a mining level of over 80. If you use this method you won't gain any mining xp, so you might want to stop using this method once you have reached your first million gold. Then, since you're already rich, you might consider raising your mining level to over 80. Once you do, look back to tip #1.

Tips

 * Keep any uncut gems received from mining or random events. Uncut emeralds, rubies and diamonds are worth more than a steel bar, and take up less inventory space overall. These gems will almost always be bought immediately when offered at market price on the Grand Exchange. Selling them along with steel bars can supplement the amount of gold a player earns.
 * The West Varrock Mine is often empty on worlds with low populations.
 * When mining iron in the West Varrock Mine it is recommended that players be positioned between the two iron rocks on the west side of the mine. This allows the player to mine and fill their inventory faster.
 * Once you're able to smith steel platebodies, high-alch them for 1,200 coins each. This is a great way to make money, as well as level up your smithing.

Training
Training smithing can be done a variety of ways for both free to play players and members as well as in conjunction with training other skills. Note that the experience per ore varies.

Free to play training
Free to play players can train smithing with a variety of ores, bars, and smithed metal items.

By level
Here are recommended methods that a free player can use to raise their smithing level.


 * Level 1 to 29 - Players can obtain 2 iron bars and then do The Knight's Sword quest. It gives 12,750 smithing experience, which can take a level 1 smither to level 29. Note that level 10 mining is required (or level 9 with dwarven stout).
 * Level 1 - Players can smelt bronze bars.
 * Level 20 - Players can smelt and sell or craft silver bars.
 * Level 30 - Players can buy iron ore and coal from the Grand Exchange, smelt them into Steel, and resell them for coins profit per bar. The experience is slow, but the money is good. To level up more quickly, some players buy the ore, coal, and runes to superheat this ore and sell the bars while standing at the Grand Exchange. Currently the profit (loss if negative) per bar from doing this is  coins.
 * Level 40 - Players can smelt and sell or craft gold bars.
 * Level 48 - Players can smelt and smith steel. Players can smith steel platebodies and then cast high level alchemy on them.
 * Level 50 - Players can smelt and smith mithril. To level up more quickly, some players buy the ore, coal, and runes to superheat this ore and sell the bars while standing at the Grand Exchange. Currently the profit (loss if negative) per bar from doing this is coins.
 * Level 70 - Players can superheat adamantite bars and come very close to breaking even (depending on the Grand Exchange prices.) Currently the profit (loss if negative) per bar from doing this is coins.
 * Level 71 - Players can smith and sell adamant axes for coins each.
 * Level 85 - Players can smelt runite bars and sell them for coins each. To level up more quickly, some players buy the ore, coal, and runes to superheat this ore and sell the bars while standing at the Grand Exchange. Currently the profit (loss if negative) per bar from doing this is  coins.
 * Level 86 - Players can smith and sell rune axes for coins each.
 * Level 90 - Players can smith and sell rune scimitar for coins each. Or even at max price

Other strategies

 * Mining ores and buying coal - Players can mine mithril or adamant ore and buy coal, smelt bars, smith platebodies, and high-alch them. High levels are necessary for this mithril platebodies and adamant ones can make profit from this method..


 * Spending on fast experience - Players can buy all ores mentioned above along with the appropriate amounts of coal, make the bars, make platebodies, then cast high alchemy them. This results in a major loss of money, but is fast smithing experience. It is even more costly and fast if a player buys the bars to start out with.


 * Many players offer free smithing experience to other players on the forums. They will trade 1000 iron and 2000 coal for 1000 steel bars as they do not have the time to do it themselves. Some people on the forums give prizes to players that help them in this way.


 * Another strategy would be to buy the 1000 iron and 2000 coal and smelt the 1000 steel bars. Then, this can be sold for some profit and on top, players get the smithing xp.


 * A cheap, but effective way to get both smithing and magic experience requires at least level 43 magic and 50 smithing. Buy/mine 1 mithril/adamantite/runite ore, 4/6/8 coal and 1 nature rune for each bar that you plan to make and bank them. Equip a fire staff and withdraw 6 mithril ore/ 9 adamantite ore / 11 runite ore, then withdraw the remaining coal. Position one of the ores so that it lies underneath of where the superheat ore button would be. Cast the superheat spell to make the bars. Whenever you run out of coal/ores to superheat, always withdraw coal first before depositing your bars. Sell the bars to the Grand Exchange. This method cost usually between 75k to a small profit per 1k bars that you make.

Members' only training
Members can train smithing using different methods than non-members. However, free to play training suggestions can also be used.


 * Gold ore is very fast experience while wearing goldsmithing gauntlets from the Family Crest quest. Smelting it while wearing the goldsmithing gauntlets will result in 56.25 experience per bar made, or 1574 experience per full inventory trip to the furnace. It is very easy to find people selling Gold Ore on the RuneScape forums and the Grand Exchange. However the price of gold ore can be rather high in large quantities, because of the speed of the experience, and gold bars sell for much less although they have high liquidity. Gold ore currently costs coins and a gold bar currently sells for  coins per bar.


 * The Blast Furnace, found in the dwarven capital city of Keldagrim, is a very good way to level smithing because half the amount of coal is used for smelting certain bars than at a normal furnace, and iron has a 100% chance of succeeding in smelting iron ore. Many things can be smelted here, but high alchable items and/or stackable items are preferred, because they will not result in immediate banking.

One important example are unfinished Mithril Bolts. By purchasing mithril ore and twice the amount of coal from the grand exchange. Players can unnote their ores from Ordan, use the blast furnace, and make the bolts from the nearby anvils. It is suggested player head for world 58 for this method, it has been rumorered to grant up to 30k of smithing experience per hour.


 * Cannonballs are slow, and worse experience than any other steel smithing, but there is profit from them. Four cannonballs are made per steel bar, and the price of cannonballs is about 180-220 each (4 x 200 = 800 coins / bar), whereas steel bars sell for 500-600 each, and the iron and coal cost about 350 coins per bar. Cannonballs are often in high demand by those who are training Ranged and/or Slayer.


 * See the Cannonball smithing calculator for latest profit calculations using Grand Exchange Market Watch prices.


 * Selling bars on the forums - Because it does not require filling the inventory with coal, melting iron ore into iron bars and then smithing the iron bars into other iron items provides better smithing experience than other metal ores. Players can make iron bars and sell them on the forums. Because more smithing experience is gained from smithing bars into items than from smelting ore into bars, selling bars is slower at gaining experience than smithing the bars into items. Furthermore, there is a 50% chance that each iron ore will fail to be smelted if a Ring of Forging is not worn.


 * Throwing Knives and Darts - This is done by buying iron ore, using rings of forging to make them into bars (or buying iron bars), and smithing them into Iron knives to sell. A player can make money by starting from ore, and almost break even by starting from bars.

Training other skills
Many players opt to train additional skills in conjunction with smithing training including skills such as crafting, fletching, magic, and mining.

Crafting


For Free-to-play, there are very few ways in which players will be able to incorporate Crafting in conjunction with the Smithing skill. Smelting Silver, or Gold Ore, and using the remaining bars to gain experience to Crafting are namely the only methods Free-to-Play has to train both of these skills, and since it is more cost effective to sell the Gold Ore, it is not recommended that players should use it at all without goldsmithing gauntlets. For tips on what you should use your Silver bars on, please refer to the Crafting skill page.

As for Pay-to-Play, since smelting Gold Ore can be done with goldsmithing gauntlets, it's use is much more effective, and creation of Jewelery can be a great way to counterbalance the lost opportunity costs from Mining their ores, or the costs that a player may have paid in exchange for their ores. Making Sapphire, and Emerald Bracelets can yield good experience, at 40 for each Sapphire Bracelet, and 60 for each Emerald Bracelet, and further be used in High-Alchemy to increase the amount of experience gain even further. Though depending on if players buy, or mine their own Gems, it may be more cost effective to sell the bracelets as they are.

Additionally, with the introduction of the Rogue Jewelery trader, players can craft Sapphire, Emerald, or Ruby Necklaces instead, and increase profit by as much as 150 coins over making Bracelets. This method will require completion of Spirit of Summer and Summer's End. The prices may also vary, as the Rogue Jeweler will pay the Grand Exchange minimum price of the piece of Jewelery being offered.

Fletching
Fletching is a member's only skill in which players can make arrows, bolts, crossbows, or darts for fletching experience. Note that there is a high level of market competition for all of these commodities other than crossbows.

Arrows
Players can smith arrowtips and use them to make arrows. Due to high competition, it is more profitable to sell the cheaper arrows, such as iron or steel. However, they are lower experience per bar, feather, and log.

Bolts
Members can also smith unfinished bolts which combined with feathers can be made into finished bolts and later have gem-tips added.

Crossbows
Players could smith crossbow limbs and through a more involved process make crossbows, however due to the extra time involved making these it is a slow method for training fletching.

Darts
After completing The Tourist Trap quest, members can smith unfinished darts which combined with feathers can be made into finished darts.

Magic
Players can train magic using the superheat item and high level alchemy spells.

Superheat item
Using the Superheat item spell is a very effective way to simultaneously train Mining, Magic, and Smithing all at the same time. To begin, bring a large amount of nature runes and a pickaxe in your inventory (as you will be wielding your fire staff). Next, mine enough of the ore that you only have enough space left in your inventory for the right amount of coal. For example, if you were to superheat mithril, you would mine 22 mithril ore, as that will leave just enough room for 4 coal, which you can then proceed to superheat into a mithril bar. After superheating, you can now mine another 4 coal and repeat the process until all 22 mithril ores are smelted. This is an effective way to mine longer without the need for banking. The superheat item spell requires a magic level of 43.

Superheating can also be done at a bank if the player wishes not to train the mining skill. It is recommended that members wear goldsmithing gauntlets anytime they are smelting gold ore for the additional smithing experience gain.

High level alchemy


See also: Alchemy Guide

Many items made from smithing are more than worth casting high alchemy on them. This turns them into coins. Casting high alchemy requires a magic level of 55.

Some of the items recommended for high alchemy include:


 * Steel platebody
 * Mithril sword
 * Mithril platebody
 * Adamant sword
 * Adamant platebody
 * Rune sword
 * Rune 2h

Players are recommended not to use the weaker low level alchemy spell, as this spell gives a much smaller amount of experience and coins compared to high level alchemy.

Additionally, some items in the crafting section above can be high alched for profit.

[[Image:Mining.gif|right]] Mining

 * See the section on superheat item in the magic section above.

Experience per ore
This compares how much experience is earned for the number of ores used. Gold using the members' only goldsmithing gauntlets is first with 56.2 experience per ore; iron is second with 37.5 experience per ore (using either the blast furnace or a ring of forging. The Keldagrim blast furnace minigame requires only half the amount of coal for steel, mithril, adamant and rune smelting. Additionally smelting iron ore at the blast furnace gives a 100% smelting success rate without requiring a ring of forging.

For non-members the best experience per ore is gold with 22.5 experience followed by iron with approximately 18.8 experience and steel with 18.3 experience per ore.

Note: *Members can smith gold bars into two quest items at 30 xp per bar, however this in not an effective way to train as the items may fail and only one is allowed which requires the player to continually drop the items after smithing each item singly.

An additional factor which is often overlooked is the time taken to gain experience. In this regard both iron ore and gold ore excel.

Other Uses of Smithing

 * At level 60 smithing, players can combine a shield left half (a rare drop from many monsters) and a shield right half (obtained from the shop at the Legends' Guild) to get a dragon square shield.


 * At level 70 smithing you can use one of the braziers in all fired up mini game


 * At level 80 smithing, players can combine the 3 godsword shards (obtained from the god wars dungeon) into the godsword blade, and then add one of the four hilts to make a godsword.


 * At level 85 smithing, players can combine any type of sigil with a blessed spirit shield if they also have level 90 prayer.


 * At level 90 smithing, players can combine a Draconic Visage with an anti-dragon shield to get a dragonfire shield and 2000 smithing experience.

Tips
For every steel bar four cannonballs are made and a potential gain of about 100 to 200 gold each and 25.5 smithing experience points can be realised.
 * It is not recommended players sell what they make to general stores, as these stores give players low prices.
 * Players should always use a furnace that is close to a bank. Free players should use either the furnace in Al-Kharid or the furnace in Falador. Members should use Port Phasmatys' furnace if they have completed the Ghosts Ahoy quest. After completion of The Fremennik Isles quest, the furnace in Neitiznot is the fastest way to smelt ore. If players have completed any part of the Varrock Diary, they can use the Edgeville furnace if they are wearing Varrock armour, which is conveniently located next to the bank. Additionally, there is a chance of smelting two bars simultaneously while using this furnace with Varrock armour on, reducing the amount of time spent at the furnace.
 * For smelting, it is recommended that players mine as many ores as they want and bank them all, not mine 28 ores, smelt them, and then smith them, unless the furnace is on the way to the bank from the mine, such as in Al Kharid, or the player is using the superheat item spell on ores.
 * For smithing, it is recommended that players smelt all of their ores and then smith their bars. This is much faster than smelting 28 ores and then smithing 28 bars.
 * For anvils, members are highly recommended to use the anvils on the Void Knight Outpost, in Yanille, or in West Varrock.
 * The dwarven city of Keldagrim is recognized as the capital of mining and smithing. Because of its large number of smithing features, it is a popular destination for players to smith, particularly in world 58. Inside Keldagrim, there are five anvils, the Blast Furnace, a bank, armour shops, several mines, a pickaxe shop, and the Mine cart network.
 * A potentially profitable way to train smithing is making cannonballs, provided the player has done the Dwarf Cannon quest. It is recommended to have 545,000 coins to purchase 1,000 steel bars to make the cannonballs.

Temporary boosts
A Dwarven Stout will raise mining and smithing by 1. It can be bought in Falador, is a common drop from dwarves, and can be bought in several places in members areas, as well as brewed using the Cooking skill. There is also a re-spawn under White Wolf Mountain.

A Mature dwarven stout will raise mining and smithing by 2. Two are received as a reward for completing the Forgettable Tale of a Drunken Dwarf quest, and it can sometimes be brewed using the Cooking skill. Using "the stuff" increases the chance of brewing a mature ale.

An orange spicy stew can raise smithing temporarily by up to 6; however, it can also decrease it by up to 6.

Trivia

 * In the early days, smithing was considered one of the best skills for making money. As such, Jagex kept anvils and furnaces far away from each other as an attempt to prevent people from leveling smithing too quickly. However, this practice has often been considered obsolete ever since banks were able to hold items.
 * In early 2001, smithing had very different requirements. For example, players needed level 96 smithing to make steel plates rather than 48.
 * On November 5, 2007, the Smith-X option was released. This allowed more than 10 items to be smithed on an anvil at a time.