Smithing

Smithing is a production skill through which players may create a wide variety of metal items from ore and metal bars. It is the companion skill of Mining, which generates all of the raw materials used in Smithing. Ores acquired from Mining are smelted into metal bars at furnaces, and then hammered into items at anvils. Many smithable items are useful for combat and the training of skills such as Crafting and Fletching.

Overview
Smithing is divided into two distinct processes: smelting ores into bars, and working the bars into various items. Both processes give Smithing experience.

Smelting Ore
Ores obtained from the Mining skill can be refined into metal bars. The extreme heat exposure and pressure of a furnace is enough to melt the valuable metals contained within the various ores, separate them from the rock, and pool them into bars, which are extracted from the furnace as the final product.



Forging items
The bars created from smelting ores can be taken to any of the anvil directly across from the forge, and with a hammer (bought from Bob), can be worked into a variety of items. Depending on the item in question, multiple bars of the same metal may be needed to create the item.

Mining
The Mining skill can be used to gather all the resources required to train Smithing, including metal ores and coal. This can significantly increase the amount of time required to train Smithing, but could also result in significant profit, along with Mining experience. (By contrast, simply buying all the ores and/or bars needed to train Smithing will save time, but can be very expensive depending on the resources purchased and their quantity.)

Crafting
Smithing is used to create gold bars, which can be used to train the Crafting skill.

Fletching
Several items created through Smithing can be used to train Fletching, such as darts, arrowtips, crossbow limbs, and unfinished crossbow bolts.

Magic
At 43 Magic, the Superheat Item spell becomes available, which allows players to smelt ores into bars without need of a furnace. This spell could potentially make Smithing training more efficient, as travel to and from a furnace becomes unnecessary. Superheat Item grants full Smithing experience for smelting the ores, as well as Magic experience, making it a way to simultaneously train both skills.

Another spell frequently used in conjunction with Smithing is High Level Alchemy, which converts items into coins. Players will often "alch" items smithed from metal bars for Magic experience or profit. When training in this manner, it is generally best to smith items with higher High Alchemy values, as dictated by the table below.