What does it cost to level Blacksmithing right now?

10.8kg in reagents at today's TW auction prices, over about 81 crafts. Sell the results and it comes back to 10.8kg.

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 17:54 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 · Pandaria Blacksmithing · TW · prices as of 17:54 UTC

Blacksmithing leveling 1 → 75 · Pandaria Blacksmithing

10.8kg in reagents over about 81 crafts. Sell what you make and it comes back to 10.8kg.

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

Ghost Iron Bar×36129

10,826

×36110,826

Total10,826

Step 1 · Skill 1 → 5

Yellow→Green

Ghostly Skeleton Key

About 11 crafts.329

per skill point82

Ghost Iron Bar×11

Step 2 · Skill 5 → 30

Orange

Masterwork Lightsteel Bracers

trainer

About 25 crafts.3,748

per skill point149

Ghost Iron Bar×125

Step 3 · Skill 30 → 75

Orange

Contender's Revenant Bracers

needs the recipe item

About 45 crafts.6,747

per skill point149

Ghost Iron Bar×225

Skill 75 — done. Now sell what you made.

Crafted itemUnitsEachTotal

Contender's Revenant Bracers4515

456

Masterwork Lightsteel Bracers2515

253

Ghostly Skeleton Key115

1155

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

Back in your pocket10,815

What's worth crafting with Blacksmithing right now

Questions

How this route is built

What does it cost to level Blacksmithing right now?: 10.8kg in reagents at today's TW auction prices, over about 81 crafts. Sell the results and it comes back to 10.8kg.
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 17:54 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.