What does it cost to level Blacksmithing right now?

34.5kg in reagents at today's TW auction prices, over about 95 crafts. Sell the results and it comes back to 34.5kg.

Where do these numbers come from?

The skill thresholds are read from the game client data for build 12.1.0.68914. The prices are the region-wide auction house, refreshed every few minutes; these are the snapshot taken at 15:54 UTC.

Why does the route change when I reload?

Because the prices did. The cheapest recipe for a stretch of skill is whichever one's reagents are cheapest at that moment, and that moves through the day.

Profession leveling · Cataclysm Blacksmithing · TW · prices as of 15:54 UTC

Blacksmithing leveling 1 → 85 · Cataclysm Blacksmithing

34.5kg in reagents over about 95 crafts. Sell what you make and it comes back to 34.5kg.

Start skill

Trainer recipes only

Recipe names carry the colour the profession window gives them: orange is a point every craft, yellow is three in four, green is one in four.

Before the first craft — buy it all at once

One trip to the auction house. Vendor lines are cheaper from the profession vendor than from the board.

ReagentNeedEachTotal

Total34,480

Step 1 · Skill 1 → 3

Yellow

needs the recipe item

About 20 crafts.9,600

per skill point960

Elementium Bar×240

Skill 85 — done. Now sell what you made.

Crafted itemUnitsEachTotal

Folded Obsidium350

Vicious Ornate Pyrium Bracers5731

5717

Vicious Ornate Pyrium Shoulders2047

209

Vicious Ornate Pyrium Boots546

Vicious Ornate Pyrium Belt531

Vicious Ornate Pyrium Gauntlets531

Capped at what the market takes in 3 days, so a route never pretends to sell hundreds at once.

Back in your pocket34,478

What's worth crafting with Blacksmithing right now

Questions

How this route is built

What does it cost to level Blacksmithing right now?: 34.5kg in reagents at today's TW auction prices, over about 95 crafts. Sell the results and it comes back to 34.5kg.
Where do these numbers come from?: The skill thresholds are read from the game client data for build 12.1.0.68914. The prices are the region-wide auction house, refreshed every few minutes; these are the snapshot taken at 15:54 UTC.
Why does the route change when I reload?: Because the prices did. The cheapest recipe for a stretch of skill is whichever one's reagents are cheapest at that moment, and that moves through the day.

A first craft pays Knowledge, not skill, so it is shown as a badge and left out of the craft count. Vendor reagents are priced at the lower of the vendor and the auction house.