OSRS Smithing Training Guide 1–99: Blast Furnace & Foundry

Reviewed 24 October 2026 · Onyx Services

For fast Smithing levels, unlock goldsmith gauntlets and use gold ore at the Blast Furnace from level 40. For a more resource-conscious route with useful rewards, learn Giants’ Foundry after Sleeping Giants. If you want longer batches with fewer inputs, compare dart tips or cannonballs instead. Anvil smithing remains a straightforward alternative, especially for free-to-play accounts or builds without the goldsmith unlock.

This OSRS Smithing guide explains how to start each route, what to bring, and how to compare its real cost. The main routes are for members, with free-to-play and Ironman adjustments below. XP rates depend on your setup and execution; market-dependent methods need a fresh price check before buying a large supply.

Choose your route by time, attention and budget

You do not need one method for the entire journey. Foundry can unlock equipment, gold can finish a time-sensitive level target, and a low-input recipe can fill quieter sessions. Choose the next useful milestone before planning all the way to 99.

Understand smelting, smithing and material costs

Smelting converts ores into bars at a furnace. Anvil smithing consumes bars to make equipment. Each stage gives its own XP. Buying bars and smithing platebodies is not the same route as mining ore, smelting it, and then making the platebodies.

Anvil XP is normally determined by the metal and the number of bars consumed. A five-bar item processes more material per action than a one-bar item, so it can train faster even though the XP per bar is unchanged. It also needs a higher recipe level and more frequent replacement of supplies.

Keep a hammer for ordinary anvil work. The anvil south of Varrock west bank is an accessible starting location; Prifddinas offers a closer bank-and-anvil arrangement after Song of the Elves. The best advertised banking rate is irrelevant if you have not unlocked the location used to obtain it.

Early levels: quest XP or a short anvil route

The Knight’s Sword gives 12,725 Smithing XP, taking a zero-XP account to level 29. It requires 10 Mining, and the blurite section passes dangerous enemies. Prepare food and a sensible escape plan; the reward is not a reason to send an unprepared low-level or Hardcore account into the dungeon.

One simple follow-up, assuming that quest is your only Smithing XP, is nine iron warhammers. Each uses three iron bars and gives 75 XP. Take a hammer and 27 iron bars to an anvil: the batch adds 675 XP, bringing the total to 13,400, just above the 13,363 XP needed for level 30. Other quest rewards or bonuses change this calculation.

Sleeping Giants requires 15 Smithing and unlocks Giants’ Foundry. It is a useful next project if you intend to train there. Other Smithing-reward quests can advance you toward level 40, but their skill, combat and quest prerequisites are part of the cost. Complete quests that fit your broader account plan rather than following a reward list blindly.

Without questing, begin with bronze items at an anvil and move through eligible multi-bar recipes. Upgrade the recipe as your level allows, bank the output, and compare the next metal’s cost per XP. Keep initial batches small: early levels pass quickly, and a large order of one low-level bar can leave unnecessary stock behind.

Level 40 onward: prepare for Blast Furnace gold

The Blast Furnace is in Keldagrim. Start The Giant Dwarf to gain access; after your first visit, the activity teleport and Grand Exchange minecart are convenient return options. Use an official Blast Furnace world where the dwarven workers operate the machinery. You are responsible for loading materials and collecting bars.

• Goldsmith gauntlets: unlocked through Family Crest. They increase gold-smelting XP from 22.5 to about 56.2 per ore. Check the quest’s other requirements and combat before planning around the reward.

• Ice gloves: let you collect hot bars without a water bucket. Obtaining them involves reaching and defeating the Ice Queen; the route includes a boostable 50 Mining requirement.

• Gold ore: withdraw an unnoted batch. Gold needs no coal.

• Coins: fund the coffer and, below 60 Smithing, the foreman’s separate fee.

• Run energy: use suitable energy supplies and weight-reducing equipment. Count consumables in the method’s cost.

The standard dwarven-worker charge is 72,000 GP per hour. It continues while you are logged in in the basement on an official world, including time spent banking there. Below an unboosted 60 Smithing, the standard foreman payment is another 2,500 GP per ten minutes; level 60 removes that payment, not the worker charge. Leave the area when taking a long break.

A reliable first gold batch

1. Start with an empty bar dispenser. Equip goldsmith gauntlets, keep ice gloves in your inventory, and withdraw 27 gold ore.

2. Place the ore on the conveyor belt while wearing the goldsmith gauntlets.

3. Wait for the smelting XP before switching gloves. Wearing the gauntlets only when loading is not enough if the XP arrives later.

4. Equip ice gloves, collect the bars from the dispenser, and bank them.

5. Re-equip goldsmith gauntlets, withdraw the next batch, and repeat.

Do not leave extra bars in the dispenser while learning the loop. With leftover bars, gold XP can be split between smelting and collection, making correct glove timing more demanding. If the XP drop is unexpectedly small, slow down, clear the dispenser and check your gloves before chasing a faster cycle.

Organise the bank so the two glove types remain available, and lock their inventory slots if your client’s bank interface supports it. Ordinary efficient gold training can exceed 300,000 XP per hour, but that assumes the correct gauntlets, quick banking and limited downtime. Treat the first session as practice; runner-assisted or tick-perfect figures are different setups.

Blast Furnace bars: keep coal separate from gold

Producing other bars can trade some XP speed for saleable output. The Blast Furnace uses half the normal coal requirement for the traditional coal-based bars below. A coal bag reduces dedicated coal trips; it is not needed for gold.

Load coal before iron when making steel. Without the coal, iron ore can become iron bars instead. Check the furnace’s contents when a batch behaves unexpectedly. Higher-tier bars also need more cash tied up in ores, so compare the whole operating cycle rather than the selling price of one bar.

Level 15 onward: Giants’ Foundry, step by step

After Sleeping Giants, return to Kovac at the Giants’ Plateau. The activity teleport offers direct access. A nearby bank chest supplies your metal. Bring bars or eligible metal equipment, plus ice gloves or a water bucket to pick up the preform. The refining machines provide the tools; you do not need to fill your inventory with separate hammers and grinding equipment.

1. Get a commission. Kovac gives two descriptive qualities for the requested sword.

2. Set the mould. Choose a forte, blade and tip that give the highest combined score for those two qualities.

3. Fill the crucible. Add exactly 28 bars’ worth of suitable metal. Use an alloy that your level supports.

4. Pour and collect. Pour the metal into the mould and take the preform using your cooling item.

5. Refine. Follow the tool and temperature shown by the interface, switching stations as the progress stage changes.

6. Hand in at 100%. Give the finished sword to Kovac for XP, coins and Foundry reputation.

Do not put a valuable equipment item into a nearly full crucible without checking its contribution. Excess metal is lost. Emptying the crucible also destroys its contents, so check the intended mixture before adding supplies.

Temperature cues: watch the interface

The highlighted stage tells you the correct tool; the temperature bar tells you whether using it is safe. Stop when either condition changes. Working at the wrong temperature or using the wrong tool damages the sword and reduces its rewards.

A gold border around the refinement interface signals a sweet spot. Click the current valid machine once for extra progress, then immediately reassess the required tool and temperature. Repeated clicking can skip actions, and the bonus can push you into a new stage. If interrupted, use preform storage to preserve progress and heat rather than leaving the sword to cool while you decide what to do.

Foundry alloys: useful starting mixtures

These are starting choices, not a claim that one ratio wins for every account. Higher metal quality can add refinement stages, while better moulds improve commissions. Adamantite/runite alloys become available at 85, but runite’s expense can outweigh the additional rewards. Compare the full sword cycle and your remaining unlock target before upgrading.

Equipment contributes its original bar cost minus one. A platebody contributes four units, a three-bar item contributes two, and a two-bar item contributes one. A platebody is not five Foundry bars. One-bar equipment is unsuitable for this conversion.

If you already have bars, do not automatically smith them into armour before Foundry: that loses a unit of metal per item. Bought or looted armour can still be worthwhile when its cost per contributed unit is lower. For example, an illustrative platebody costing 1,000 GP contributes four units, so its input cost is 250 GP per unit. Compare that with the same metal’s bar price; these are example prices.

Spend Foundry reputation on your actual plan

Improved moulds that you can use raise sword quality and make continued Foundry training more productive. Then consider the Smiths’ Uniform if you will keep training in supported activities. Its full price is 15,000 reputation; the cheaper gloves and boots each cost 3,500.

The uniform speeds ordinary anvil actions and improves refinement progress at Foundry. It does not increase the base XP per bar like goldsmith gauntlets do for gold. Smiths gloves can be combined with ice gloves for cooling, but that combination does not give the goldsmith XP effect.

The double ammo mould costs 2,000 reputation and requires Dwarf Cannon to purchase. Prioritise it when cannonball production is your immediate goal, rather than buying it solely because a generic reward order lists it first.

Anvils, dart tips and cannonballs

Platebodies: steel unlocks at 48, mithril at 68, adamant at 88 and rune at 99. Each uses five bars. Anvil XP per bar is 37.5 for steel, 50 for mithril, 62.5 for adamantite and 75 for runite. A multi-bar item processes material quickly, but its sale price may make it more expensive per XP than a slower recipe.

Dart tips: complete The Tourist Trap first. Steel tips unlock at 34, mithril at 54, adamant at 74 and rune at 89. One bar makes ten tips. Smithing tips and attaching feathers are separate stages; feathering gives Fletching XP, not more Smithing XP. Compare nails as another batch-production option, with different output quantities and demand.

Steel cannonballs: complete Dwarf Cannon and reach 35 Smithing. Use an ammo mould with steel bars at a suitable furnace. A regular action consumes one bar for four cannonballs; the double mould consumes two for eight. It doubles output per action rather than doubling resources from each bar. Other cannonball metals have their own levels and markets, so do not apply the steel recipe’s economics to them.

The ancient furnace in Grimstone Dungeon offers a later cannonball-speed upgrade accessible with 87 Sailing. It can combine with the double mould, but is an additional access project rather than a requirement for starting cannonballs. Ordinary furnace training remains an option.

Calculate a batch before committing your budget

Bars needed = round up (remaining XP ÷ XP per bar). For an illustrative 100,000-XP target using mithril anvil smithing at 50 XP per bar, the material requirement is 2,000 bars. If making five-bar items, that is 400 finished items. This calculation excludes other XP, boosts and interrupted batches.

Net cost = inputs + operating fees + consumables − net output sales − activity coin rewards. Include Blast Furnace worker and foreman fees where applicable. At Foundry, include the actual contributed metal units and subtract Kovac’s coin reward. Count GE selling costs and completed transactions rather than treating a guide price as a guaranteed sale.

For Ironmen, add time spent buying, mining or otherwise obtaining the metal. Existing supplies still have alternative uses. Foundry can make a limited stock go further, while cannonballs may support Slayer rather than maximise Smithing XP. Free-to-play accounts should compare quest rewards and anvil recipes; Blast Furnace, Foundry and the members’ reward equipment are separate members’ options.

Next checkpoint: choose a level target, prepare one small batch, complete the full loop and check the actual cost and attention required. Increase the batch only when the method works comfortably for your account.

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