Taken from US forums, posted by Willhelm (and very useful).
Raising Blacksmith Skill
You will want to equip yourself and your friends as your skill rises. If you keep your skill at 25 plus five times your level then you will always be able to make items you can equip at their minimum level. Outside of the items you make because you want to, or to fulfill the Blacksmtih quests, there are a series of minimum-material items you can make to advance your skill, mostly consisting of stone, misc. items, and some low-material armor items.
Apprentice Blacksmithing Path:
This is done mostly with stone, saving your copper and bronze bars until later except when you need to equip yourself or your friends or clients. Make Rough Sharpening Stones (turns green at 15 and grey at 55) until you reach 25 and learn Rough Grinding Stones. (Save and use those Sharpening Stones as a combat buff.) Make Rough Grinding Stones (turns green at 45 and grey at 85) until you reach skill 65, keeping them for use later in making other items. Make Coarse Sharpening Stones (green when learned at 65, grey at 80) until you reach 75 and are a Journeyman. Copper items useful as skillups include Copper Bracers (2 copper bars, green at 20), Copper Chain Pants (4 copper bars, green at 50) and Copper Chain Belt (6 copper bars, green at 75).
Journeyman Blacksmithing Path:
At 75 you learn Coarse Grinding Stone, which are green when learned. Make those until they turn grey at 100 and save them for making further items. Turn any tin and copper into bronze bars but save them. Make Silver Rods until they turn green at 105 (and sell them to Enchanters) then make Rough Bronze Leggings (with your saved bronze bars) until they turn green at 145 or even to grey at grey at 175. These take 6 Bronze Bars and sell to the vendors for 9.62 s each, so if you can buy stacks of 20 Bronze Bars for 30 s or less, you can actually make a profit while you skill up. Also at 125 you learn Heavy Grinding Stone. Make these until they turn grey at 150 and keep them for making other items. If you are able to learn the Deadly Bronze Poniard dropped plan at 125 then you can make and sell it at a profit until it turns green at 155 and grey at 185. The Patterned Bronze Bracer (green at 150) is required for a Badlands quest. At 145 you learn to make your first rare (blue) item, the Shining Silver Breastplate (green at 175) which sells well.
Expert Blacksmithing Path:
Beginning at 150, make Rough Bronze Leggings until they turn grey at 175. Iron Buckles are easy but turn grey at 155, while Golden Rods turn green at 155 and grey at 160. Golden skeleton keys are greenwhen learned and grey at 170. You will want to equip yourself and friends with the Green Iron Set and that will provide some skillups. If you are lucky enought to learn the Iron Shield Spike plan at 150 then you can make and sell these at a good profit until they turn green at 180 and grey at 210. Another profitable drop is the Iron Counterweight, green at 190 and grey at 210. At 200 you learn Solid Grinding Stone so make those until they turn grey at 210. To get from 210 to 225, make Golden Scale Bracers to 215, then make Steel Plate Helms to 225. You will also be equipping yourself with the Golden Scale armor set and the Moonsteel Broadsword is required for a quest in Duskwallow Marsh. A number of expert weapons and armors are saleable, including the rare Green Iron Hauberk at 180 (green at 205, grey at 230).
Artisan Blacksmithing Path:
At 225 make Steel Plate Helms until it turns green at 235. Then make Mithril Spurs to 250 (turns green at 255). At 250 make Dense Sharpening Stones until they turn grey at 260. The Heavy Mithril and Ornate Mithril armor items are good for their level, so you can also skill up some on making the mithril items for the Mithril Order quests. The Ornate Mithril Boots are popular with warriors for their remove root effect and they (and the Ornate Mithril Helm) turn green at 265. Go back to Mithril Spurs (which are readily saleable) until they turn grey at 275 and then make Thorium Bracers to 280. Now make Thorium Helms to 300. A new alternative is the Imperial Plate armor set, starting with the Imperial Plate Bracers at 265. While these use more thorium than the Thorium armor items, they are much more saleable.
Specialty Path:
As an Armorsmith or Weaponsmith you can skill up making the items for your specialty Quest. Be sure to make them as soon as you learn them, and save the items to turn in for the quest, so you get your skillups. An Armorsmith can then skill up with Truesilver Gauntlets until they turn green at 245 (or grey at 265) and Truesilver Breastplate until it turns green at 265 (or grey at 285). Those are both saleable items. A Weaponsmith can gain skillups with the Shatterer, Phantom Blade, Blight and Truesilver Champion, as these are also saleable.