Welcome to the ultimate Smithing training guide for Old School RuneScape. Whether you’re just starting out or aiming for level 99, this comprehensive guide covers everything you need to efficiently train Smithing from level 1 to 99. Learn the fastest methods, AFK techniques, profitable strategies, Ironman tips, and Free-to-Play options to master the Smithing skill in OSRS.
Guide Contents
For those who prefer visual learning, a video version of this guide is available [link to video if available]. Otherwise, continue reading for the complete written guide.
Smithing Basics
Smithing in OSRS is the art of crafting metal bars into a variety of useful items, including weapons, armor, ammunition, and tools.
The fundamental process of smithing involves two key steps: first, creating metal bars at a furnace by smelting ores, and then using a hammer and anvil to shape these bars into finished products.
In 2005, the Blast Furnace was introduced to RuneScape, revolutionizing smithing training by offering significantly faster methods.
Smelting gold bars at the Blast Furnace is widely recognized as one of the most efficient Smithing training methods in OSRS, capable of reaching experience rates exceeding 500,000 XP per hour with the help of runners.
Beyond gold, the Blast Furnace can also be a profitable Smithing training method. Smelting steel bars can yield approximately 800,000 GP per hour in profit, while rune bars offer even higher returns, netting around 1.6 million GP profit per hour.
In 2022, Jagex introduced the Giant’s Foundry to Old School RuneScape, a unique Smithing activity that provides competitive experience rates and is especially beneficial for Ironman players.
This activity involves smithing metals into large swords, offering slightly slower experience rates compared to Blast Furnace gold, but it can be a more cost-effective training option.
The Giant’s Foundry also features a recycling mechanic, allowing players to convert unwanted weapons and armor back into metal, making it particularly advantageous for Ironman accounts.
Low Level Training
For players just starting their Smithing journey, the early levels can be quickly overcome with the right approach. Here’s how to efficiently train Smithing from level 1 to 40.
Quicklinks
Questing for Low Levels
One of the most effective ways to gain a significant boost in Smithing at low levels is by completing quests.
For a brand new account, completing “The Knight’s Sword” quest is highly recommended as it instantly boosts your Smithing level from 1 to 29.
While “The Knight’s Sword” requires an iron bar, Ironman players can utilize the iron bar spawn in the Wilderness to obtain one. Many hardcore Ironman accounts choose to complete this quest immediately after creation for a significant early advantage.
For accounts that have already progressed further, completing a series of quests can take you from level 1 to 39 Smithing:
- The Knight’s Sword
- Sleeping Giants
- Elemental Workshop I
- Elemental Workshop II
- The Giant Dwarf
- Heroes’ Quest
- Freeing Pirate Pete subquest (from Recipe for Disaster)
Regular Low Level Training
If questing isn’t your preferred method, you can still effectively train from level 1 to 40 through traditional smithing.
To follow this path, you will need the following materials:
- 572 Bronze bars
- 1070 Iron bars
- 102 Steel bars
It’s generally recommended to smith items that require the highest number of bars per item to maximize experience gain. A recommended progression would be: bronze daggers, bronze scimitars, bronze warhammers, and then bronze platebodies.
Smith bronze platebodies until level 24, at which point you unlock iron warhammers. Bronze plates offer faster experience than 1 and 2 bar iron items at these levels. Then, switch to iron platebodies until level 39. To reach level 40, smith 34 steel warhammers.
If you are concerned about the cost of training, smithing dart tips can provide some profit, but this requires completion of the “Tourist Trap” quest.
For low-level training, the Varrock anvil is an excellent location due to its proximity to a bank.
Fastest Ways To 99
Once you reach level 40 Smithing, several fast training methods become available. Here are the top methods for achieving level 99 Smithing as quickly as possible.
Quicklinks
Blast Furnace Gold Bars
Upon reaching level 40 Smithing, you unlock gold bar smelting at the Blast Furnace, the fastest viable Smithing training method in OSRS.
This method can yield up to 380,000 experience per hour from level 40 all the way to 99, making it the fastest overall. With the assistance of 3 runners at the Blast Furnace, experience rates can exceed 600,000 Smithing XP per hour, although finding runners for this method can be challenging.
To efficiently smelt gold bars at the Blast Furnace, certain items and requirements are crucial:
- Goldsmith Gauntlets: Essential for this method, providing 2.5 times the experience when smithing gold.
- Ice Gloves: Highly recommended to avoid burning when retrieving bars. Obtained from the Ice Queen boss. Alternatively, buckets of water can be used, but they are slower.
- Stamina Potions: Necessary for sustained efficiency.
- Gold Ore: The primary material.
- 100K+ Coins: To pay the Blast Furnace coffer.
Here’s a brief overview of the Blast Furnace components: The bank is located on the southern wall.
The conveyor belt for depositing ores is to the north, and the bar dispenser, where you collect your smelted bars, is in between.
Before starting, it’s highly recommended to use the “Blast Furnace” RuneLite plugin, which provides helpful indicators for each step.
The process begins by filling the coffer with coins. Every 10 minutes, 2,500 coins are deducted if your Smithing level is below 60.
On official Blast Furnace worlds, there’s an additional fee of 72,000 coins per hour to use the furnace.
Equip your Goldsmith Gauntlets and have Ice Gloves in your inventory. Withdraw a full inventory of gold ore and run to the conveyor belt. Click the belt to deposit the ore, then move to the bar dispenser and position yourself on the southern side.
Ensure you are wearing Goldsmith Gauntlets until you receive the experience drop to maximize XP gain.
Once you get the XP drop, quickly switch to Ice Gloves and click the bar dispenser to withdraw a full inventory of gold bars. If you don’t have Ice Gloves, use a bucket of water on the dispenser before retrieving the bars.
Run back to the bank, re-equip Goldsmith Gauntlets while running, bank the bars, withdraw more gold ore, and repeat the process.
Smithing Platebodies at Anvil
Smithing platebodies at an anvil is a slightly slower but more relaxed alternative to Blast Furnace gold for training Smithing to 99.
You can start smithing platebodies as early as level 18 with bronze platebodies, already achieving over 50,000 Smithing XP per hour.
Experience rates scale up to 240,000 XP per hour with adamant platebodies. Since rune platebodies are unlocked at level 99, adamant platebodies will be your primary training method up to level 99 using this method. Currently, adamant platebodies are profitable to smith, making this an excellent way to train Smithing while making money.
The Prifddinas anvil is the optimal location for platebody smithing, being only 8 tiles away from a bank.
The Varrock anvil is a close second, being 10 tiles from the bank and accessible to all players.
The process involves withdrawing a full inventory of bars with a hammer in your inventory or the Imcando Hammer equipped. Click on the anvil and select platebodies. Your character will smith 5 platebodies per inventory. Then, click on the bank and repeat. On subsequent inventories, you can press spacebar to quickly select and smith platebodies again.
When returning to the bank, interacting directly with the banker NPC instead of clicking the bank booth can save a tile of movement, slightly increasing your experience rates over long training sessions.
While platebodies provide the fastest anvil experience, smithing 3-bar items offers high XP rates with longer AFK intervals. In some cases, 3-bar items may also be more cost-effective.
For example, adamant warhammers offer up to 180,000 XP per hour with AFK intervals of 27 seconds, compared to 15-second intervals for platebodies.
Giant’s Foundry Training
The Giant’s Foundry is another excellent method for training Smithing, where you craft sword commissions for rewards. It is located northeast of Al Kharid.
You can quickly reach the Giant’s Foundry using a Ring of Dueling, Amulet of Glory, or a minigame teleport.
To participate, you must have completed the “Sleeping Giants” quest and have at least 15 Smithing, as well as bars or metal items to use.
Ice Gloves are also strongly recommended for comfort and efficiency at the Giant’s Foundry.
Crafting sword commissions here can yield over 90,000 XP per hour with bronze and iron alloys, scaling up to over 250,000 XP per hour with adamant-rune alloys at level 85 Smithing.
Mithril-adamant alloys are generally the most cost-effective combination. Higher-level metals provide greater experience and minigame points.
Here’s a breakdown of the key components within the Giant’s Foundry:
- Kovac: The giant NPC who provides sword commissions at the entrance.
- Mold Setup & Crucible: Located beyond Kovac, used to prepare and heat metal.
- Bank Chest: Upstairs for convenient banking.
- Preform Storage: Allows you to save progress on sword preforms.
- Hammer, Grindstone, Polisher, Waterfall: Tools and cooling station used in the sword crafting process.
- Buckets: For water, if not using Ice Gloves.
To begin, get a sword commission from Kovac. For each sword, you must balance length, weight, and sharpness.
At the mold setup, select a forte, blade, and tip, aiming for the highest bonus number.
Purchasing molds permanently adds them to your library and is essential for efficient Giant’s Foundry training. It might seem complex initially, but unlocking more molds speeds up the process significantly.
Next, deposit two different types of metal items, bars, or armor into the crucible over the lava.
The crucible can hold up to 28 metal bars. Metal armor and weapon inputs are calculated as the Smithing bar cost minus one.
Be careful not to overload the crucible; exceeding the capacity will result in lost bars. Also, avoid accidentally emptying the crucible when right-clicking to check its contents.
Using alloys (two different metal types) is always better as they provide greater rewards.
A temperature bar will appear at the top of your screen.
Depending on the color of the action required on the bottom bar, you will need to heat or cool your preform.
Quickly dunking the preform in the lava and canceling just before reaching the right temperature gauge level is a time-saving technique.
To cool the preform, place it in the waterfall.
Then, perform the required actions using the Trip Hammer (cools), Grindstone (slowly heats), or Polishing Wheel (slowly cools).
If the bar at the top is outlined in yellow, clicking on the tool you are using provides a boost.
Avoid working on the blade unless it is within the specific temperature range. The top bar represents the sword’s quality, which affects your rewards at the end, so aim to keep it full.
Once the sword is complete, speak to Kovac to receive your rewards, including gold and Smithing experience for each sword finished.
Singing Crystal Armour Method
For the absolute fastest Smithing experience in OSRS, the Singing Crystal Armour method is unparalleled, but it comes at a significant cost.
This method involves crafting crystal armour pieces from crystal armour seeds, then dismantling them and repeating the process. Each crystal armour seed used grants 2,500 Smithing experience, and processing a full inventory at once yields a 67,000 Smithing XP drop.
With this method, you can achieve over 5 million Smithing XP per hour, while simultaneously gaining 5 million Crafting XP.
However, this is an extremely expensive method, potentially costing over 50 billion GP to go from the level you unlock it to level 99.
AFK Methods
For those seeking less intensive Smithing training, several AFK (Away From Keyboard) methods offer decent experience rates with minimal attention required.
Quicklinks
Gold Bars at Regular Furnace AFK
Smithing Dart Tips AFK
Smithing dart tips is arguably the best AFK Smithing method, offering reasonably good experience rates and even generating profit.
All dart tips up to adamant are currently profitable to make, while those above adamant may result in a slight loss.
Experience rates range from 16,000 XP per hour with bronze dart tips to 97,000 XP per hour with rune dart tips.
While not as fast as the fastest methods, each inventory of dart tips provides an AFK interval of 81 seconds.
A useful tip for smithing dart tips is to keep noted bars in your inventory. When banking, use the noted bars on the banker and hold ‘1’ to un-note them quickly before returning to smithing.
This method is faster than traditional banking, but it sacrifices one inventory slot for smithing.
Gold Bars at Regular Furnace AFK
Another excellent AFK Smithing method is smelting gold bars at a regular furnace. When wearing Goldsmith Gauntlets, each gold bar grants 56 XP instead of the base 22 XP.
This method allows for AFK intervals of 81 seconds per inventory and can achieve a maximum experience rate of 63,000 XP per hour.
Training from level 40 to 99 using this method will cost approximately 15 million GP and take around 200 hours in total.
Cannonball Smithing AFK
Cannonball smithing is the most AFK Smithing method in OSRS, with each inventory taking 2 minutes and 30 seconds to complete.
However, despite being highly AFK, it is a very slow experience method, earning only about 15,000 XP per hour.
Jagex introduced the double cannonball mould in 2022, improving the method, but it remains quite slow for experience.
Using the double cannonball mould reduces the AFK time per inventory to 1 minute and 15 seconds.
Profitable Methods
For players looking to offset the costs of training or even make a profit while leveling Smithing, several methods are available.
Quicklinks
Blast Furnace Profitability Intro
Blast Furnace Steel Bars Profit
Blast Furnace Mithril Bars Profit
Blast Furnace Adamant Bars Profit
Blast Furnace Rune Bars Profit
Blast Furnace Profitability Intro
The Blast Furnace can be highly profitable when smelting certain metals. This section covers the most profitable methods at the Blast Furnace.
Steel, mithril, adamant, and rune bars are all profitable to smelt at the Blast Furnace, yielding profits ranging from 800,000 GP to 1.6 million GP per hour.
For all these methods, a coal bag, obtained from the Motherlode Mine for 100 golden nuggets, greatly increases profitability.
Without a coal bag, profit rates are significantly reduced, roughly halved.
Blast Furnace Steel Bars Profit
Smelting steel bars at the Blast Furnace offers over 90,000 XP per hour and a profit of around 800,000 GP per hour with a coal bag. However, you will need approximately 2 million GP upfront to purchase supplies for one hour of smithing.
Note that if you only put iron ore into the Blast Furnace without coal, it will produce iron bars. So, when starting to smelt steel bars, ensure you add coal first.
To smelt steel bars, start by filling your coal bag at the bank and then fill your inventory with iron ore. Run to the conveyor belt, deposit the iron ore, empty your coal bag into the belt, and add the coal from your inventory.
Then, go to the dispenser and collect the steel bars with Ice Gloves equipped. Bank the bars and repeat the process.
Blast Furnace Mithril Bars Profit
Mithril bars at the Blast Furnace provide approximately 105,000 XP per hour and a profit of around 800,000 GP per hour. You’ll need about 1.8 million GP to buy ores for one hour of smithing.
For mithril bars, the process is slightly different as you need 2 coal for every mithril ore. Begin by filling your coal bag at the bank and withdrawing a full inventory of mithril ore.
Place the mithril ore on the conveyor belt. Return to the bank to withdraw more coal, filling both your coal bag and inventory.
Deposit the coal onto the belt, then collect the mithril bars from the dispenser. Bank the bars, refill your coal bag, and withdraw another inventory of mithril ore. Repeat this cycle.
Blast Furnace Adamant Bars Profit
Adamant bars at the Blast Furnace offer around 100,000 XP per hour, slightly less than mithril due to more coal deposits, but the profit is higher at approximately 1.4 million GP per hour.
Since adamant requires 3 coal per ore, start by filling your coal bag and withdrawing an inventory of coal. Deposit the coal on the belt and return to the bank to refill your coal bag. Then, withdraw an inventory of adamant ore.
Deposit the adamant ore onto the belt, collect the adamant bars, and repeat the cycle.
Blast Furnace Rune Bars Profit
Rune bars are the most profitable to smelt at the Blast Furnace, requiring 85 Smithing and offering over 100,000 XP per hour. This method can yield approximately 1.6 million GP per hour, making it one of the best Smithing money-making methods in OSRS. However, you will need a significant upfront investment of around 25 million GP to sustain this method for one hour.
Begin by depositing coal from your coal bag and inventory onto the conveyor belt. Then, make one more trip for coal only, using your coal bag. On the next trip, bring rune ore and a full coal bag to the belt.
Collect the rune bars from the dispenser, bank them, and repeat the process.
Cannonball Profit
Making cannonballs has been a profitable Smithing method since their introduction in 2003. Recently, Jagex introduced the double ammo mould, doubling the cannonballs produced per set of steel bars.
Using the regular cannonball mould, you can average around 200,000 GP profit per hour. With the double ammo mould, this increases to 400,000 GP per hour.
To make cannonballs, you need 35 Smithing and completion of the “Dwarf Cannon” quest. The double ammo mould is obtained as a reward from the Giant’s Foundry minigame.
Cannonballs can be made at any furnace. The Edgeville furnace is the closest to a bank and has no requirements.
With the double cannonball mould, going from level 35 to 99 Smithing can yield a profit of 170 million GP, but it will take over 400 hours.
Without the mould, the profit remains 170 million GP, but the training time doubles to over 800 hours.
While profitable, cannonball smithing is generally not recommended as a primary training method due to the slow experience rates, unless you are running multiple accounts simultaneously.
Rune Item Anvil Profit
At level 98 Smithing, you can boost to level 99 with a dwarven stout to smith rune items. Most 3-bar rune items, such as rune 2-handed swords, rune platelegs, and rune plateskirts, are profitable to smith.
Certain communities and friends chats, such as “W308 anvil,” buy these items in bulk to alch them, bypassing the Grand Exchange tax.
Since this method requires level 99 Smithing (boosted), it is primarily for players aiming for 200 million Smithing XP.
Going from level 99 to 200 million Smithing XP by making rune 2-handed swords can yield a profit of approximately 565 million GP.
Ironman Methods
For Ironman players, training Smithing involves a different approach, focusing on resource gathering and efficient use of available resources.
At lower levels, Ironman accounts should prioritize completing “The Knight’s Sword” quest to skip the slow early levels.
Obtaining Ores for Ironman
As an Ironman, a significant portion of your Smithing training time will be spent acquiring ores, bars, and metals.
The Motherlode Mine is a great source of ores, typically yielding around 500 ores per hour with decent AFK potential.
Regular mining is another option for obtaining ores. However, it can be beneficial to wait until later in the game when you have access to better money-making methods and can purchase ores from shops.
Buying ores from the Blast Furnace shop is a viable method to obtain ores as an Ironman, offering a good ore acquisition rate.
Giant’s Foundry for Ironman
The introduction of the Giant’s Foundry was a significant improvement for Ironman Smithing training. It provides reasonable experience rates and allows Ironman players to utilize leftover bars and metal items obtained from PvM (Player vs Monster) drops.
The Giant’s Foundry is a resource-efficient Smithing training method, making it ideal for Ironman accounts.
Ironman players can purchase ores from the Blast Furnace shop, convert them to bars at the Blast Furnace, and then use those bars at the Giant’s Foundry or for smithing platebodies.
High-level Ironman accounts will also accumulate significant Smithing experience from crafting items like dart tips for raids and bossing using resources gathered through gameplay.
F2P Methods
For Free-to-Play (F2P) players, Smithing training options are more limited, but achieving level 99 is still possible.
F2P players have access to “The Knight’s Sword” quest, which remains the fastest way to train from level 1 to 29 Smithing in F2P.
Platebodies in F2P
The fastest Smithing method in F2P is smithing platebodies.
Smithing adamant platebodies all the way to 99 Smithing in F2P is currently break-even due to their profitability and will take approximately 70 hours to reach level 99.
The best anvil location for F2P is the Varrock anvil due to its proximity to the bank.
For more detailed tips on platebody smithing, refer to the Platebodies section of this guide.
Under White Wolf Mountain (Barronite) in F2P
Introduced in 2021, Barronite mining under White Wolf Mountain is an F2P Smithing method. It requires completion of the “Below Ice Mountain” quest. While mining barronite rocks, players occasionally obtain barronite deposits.
These barronite deposits can be taken to a nearby anvil to gain 30 Smithing experience per piece. This method is mainly beneficial for F2P Ironman accounts as barronite deposits are untradeable drops.
