Runescape Smithing Guide

Smithing is the art of forging ores obtained from mining into weapons. Smithing is broken down into two actions: Smelting and smithing. Smelting is making the raw ores from mining into metal bars. Smithing actually making the metal bars into weapons, armor, or other items.

Gold and silver ores are different from other metal types. When you smelt them from ores into bars, it gives experience to smithing. However, the crafting skill is responsible for working with these bars.

If you are planning to make a lot of a metal, it is usually a good idea to mine the ore, store it in your bank, and go and mine more. Once you have enough ore, you can smelt it into bars all at once and then smith them all into items.

When smelting your ores, find a furnance that is close to a bank. I recommend the furnaces in Al Kharid or Falador. (Al Kharid seems to be the fastest on free, but Falador is still pretty good.)

The anvils in Varrock (especially the ones by the west bank) are very close to a bank, which allows for fast trips.

Take advantage of the multiple action feature when smithing. When smelting, click on the furance. Right click on the type of bar that you're making. You can make 5, 10, or X (you type in a number) of that bar. It's similar for smithing bars. Instead of clicking on the item on the smithing screen, right click and select Make 5 or Make 10.

Here is a list of what levels you need to be to smelt each type of metal bar. A full list of the levels needed for each item can be found on the smithing tables page. (Information on gold and silver can be found on the crafting page)

Important note: Iron has a 50% success rate. If you have a ring of forging (an enchanted ruby ring on members), you can smelt 140 iron ore with 100% success. Alternately, you can use the Superheat Item spell on your iron, which also gives 100% success.

Metal type	Level	Ores required
Bronze	1	1 copper and 1 tin.
Iron	15	1 iron (50% success rate)
Silver	20	1 silver
Steel	30	2 coal and 1 iron
Gold	40	1 gold
Mithril	50	1 mith and 4 coal
Adamant	70	1 addy and 6 coal
Rune	85	1 rune and 8 coal