What does it cost to level Blacksmithing right now?

5.6kg in reagents at today's US auction prices, over about 83 crafts. Sell the results and it comes back to 5.6kg.

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 05:57 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 · US · prices as of 05:57 UTC

Blacksmithing leveling 1 → 75 · Pandaria Blacksmithing

5.6kg in reagents over about 83 crafts. Sell what you make and it comes back to 5.6kg.

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

Total5,625

Step 1 · Skill 1 → 5

Yellow→Green

Ghostly Skeleton Key

About 11 crafts.173

per skill point43

Ghost Iron Bar×11

Step 2 · Skill 5 → 10

Yellow

Relic of the Past I

trainer

About 7 crafts.333

per skill point66

Ghost Iron Ore×35

Luminous Flux×7

Step 3 · Skill 10 → 30

Orange

Masterwork Lightsteel Bracers

trainer

About 20 crafts.1,575

per skill point78

Ghost Iron Bar×100

Step 4 · Skill 30 → 75

Orange

Contender's Revenant Bracers

needs the recipe item

About 45 crafts.3,543

per skill point78

Ghost Iron Bar×225

Skill 75 — done. Now sell what you made.

Crafted itemUnitsEachTotal

Contender's Revenant Bracers4515

456

Masterwork Lightsteel Bracers2015

203

Ghostly Skeleton Key115

1155

Relic of the Past I71

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

Back in your pocket5,614

What's worth crafting with Blacksmithing right now

Questions

How this route is built

What does it cost to level Blacksmithing right now?: 5.6kg in reagents at today's US auction prices, over about 83 crafts. Sell the results and it comes back to 5.6kg.
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 05:57 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.