OSRS Smithing 40-99: Blast Furnace Adamant Bars vs Gold Ore for Mains

Game screenshots and facts are cited from the Old School RuneScape Wiki (strategy, equipment, drops, and related pages). Writing is original editorial, not a copy of the wiki article.

Smithing is one of those skills where the gap between chill profit and obsessive XP chasing is enormous. For main accounts, the Blast Furnace in Keldagrim is the undisputed centre of the 40–99 grind: it halves the coal you need, smelts in bulk, and turns ore into bars faster than any regular furnace. The question is not whether to use it, but what to feed it. Gold ore gives absurd experience rates but burns cash. Adamantite bars generate serious profit but demand more attention and a much higher level. This guide breaks down both paths so you can decide when to value your time over your bank, and where a bought stack of supplies or a boost might be the honest shortcut.

Everything below assumes you are training a main account, not an ironman. If you can use the Grand Exchange, the entire decision comes down to three numbers: experience per hour, profit or loss per hour, and how much you actually have to watch the screen. The Blast Furnace has official worlds where dwarven workers keep the machine running for a small fee, but even that convenience has trade-offs. Let’s start with why the Blast Furnace dominates Smithing training in the first place.

Why Blast Furnace Dominates Smithing

Regular furnaces work fine for a few bars, but they force you to bank constantly and pay full coal costs. The Blast Furnace changes the equation. It accepts up to 254 coal and 28 primary ore in a single load, smelts everything in one continuous cycle, and stores up to 28 bars of each type before you need to cool and collect them. The headline benefit is that it requires only half the normal coal for bars that use it. Adamantite bars normally demand 6 coal plus 1 adamantite ore; at the Blast Furnace you need only 3 coal. That single detail turns what is often a break-even or loss-making bar into a reliable profit engine.

The trade-off is that the Blast Furnace is not a set-and-forget activity. You must feed ore onto a conveyor belt, wait for the bars to appear, cool them with ice gloves or a bucket of water, and then bank. On official Blast Furnace worlds, dwarven workers handle the furnace’s internal temperature and pumping, but you still run the ore and bars yourself. That said, the sheer volume of bars per hour is so much higher than a standard furnace that even semi-afk players come out ahead.

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Requirements and Getting There

You cannot simply walk into Keldagrim and start smelting. The Blast Furnace sits behind a short quest, a location unlock, and a few skill checks. For mains, none of these are hard, but skipping them will lock you out of the minigame entirely.

Transport is simple once unlocked. The Minigame Teleport option drops you near the furnace, and the minecart network from the Grand Exchange to Keldagrim is a quick alternative. If you are below 60 Smithing, remember the 10-minute fee and keep coins in your inventory, or you will be interrupted every few trips.

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Operating the Furnace: Deposits, Cooling, and Bar Runs

The basic loop is the same for gold and adamantite. On an official world, the furnace is kept at the correct temperature by NPC workers, so you only need to dump ore, grab bars, and bank. On a non-themed world, you must operate the furnace manually, which is far slower and never recommended for main accounts unless you are desperate to avoid the coffer fee.

1. Withdraw a full inventory of ore from the bank chest.
2. Run to the conveyor belt and deposit the ore.
3. Wait a few ticks for the bars to appear in the bar dispenser.
4. Cool the bars using ice gloves, smiths gloves (i), or a bucket of water.
5. Collect the bars, run back to the bank chest, and repeat.

If you are smelting a bar that requires coal, a coal bag is almost mandatory. It stores 27 coal (36 with a Smithing cape) and nearly halves the number of trips you need to make. For gold ore, no coal bag is needed, but goldsmith gauntlets or a Smithing cape are essential to maximise experience. The exact movement pattern differs slightly between the two methods, but the core run remains the same.

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Gold Ore Smelting: The Fast XP Route

Gold ore is the uncontested king of Smithing experience per hour. Without any boosts, smelting a gold bar gives 22.5 XP. Wearing goldsmith gauntlets (from Family Crest) increases that to 56.2 XP per bar. The Blast Furnace lets you process 5,600–6,600 gold bars per hour with gauntlets, yielding 314,700–370,900 Smithing XP per hour. With a Smithing cape, which also acts as goldsmith gauntlets and lets the coal bag hold 36 coal, the top end climbs to around 385,000 XP per hour, and tick-perfect players have reported over 420,000 XP per hour.

The catch is cost. Gold ore is not cheap, and gold bars sell for significantly less than the ore. You are buying experience at a loss, and the loss per hour can be brutal depending on GE prices. This is the method you choose when 99 Smithing is the goal and you value your time more than your cash stack. Many mains use gold ore from 40 to 70, then switch to a hybrid or adamantite method when the profit opportunity becomes too good to ignore.

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Adamantite Bars: The Profit Route

Adamantite bars require 70 Smithing to smelt at the Blast Furnace, but they are the first serious profit method on the main account ladder. Because the Blast Furnace halves coal usage, each adamantite bar needs only 3 coal instead of 6. That reduction, combined with the bulk processing speed, turns adamantite smelting into a reliable money-maker. The wiki’s money-making guide lists smelting adamantite bars at Blast Furnace at around 2.16 million profit per hour, but that figure is a snapshot; actual profit depends on the current price of adamantite ore, coal, and adamantite bars.

Experience is modest compared to gold: each adamantite bar gives 37.5 Smithing XP. With a coal bag and efficient runs, you can smelt 2,400–2,800 bars per hour, earning 90,000–105,000 XP per hour. Without a coal bag, you drop to 1,450–1,700 bars and 54,400–63,800 XP per hour. That is roughly one-third to one-quarter of gold ore XP rates, but you are being paid millions per hour to train instead of losing millions.

Adamantite is the natural stepping stone for accounts that have already hit 70 Smithing through gold ore or hybrid training but now want to rebuild their bank. It also pairs well with Runite bars at 85 Smithing, which maintain similar XP rates but push profit even higher, around 2.6 million per hour according to the same guide snapshot.

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Side-by-Side Comparison: XP, Profit, and Attention

The table below summarises the main options from level 40 onwards. Profit and loss are described qualitatively because prices change constantly; use the wiki’s money-making calculators for live numbers. Attention is rated on a scale from low (semi-afk) to high (constant clicking and running).

Method	Level	XP per hour (typical)	Profit/Loss	Attention	Notes
Gold bars with goldsmith gauntlets	40+	314,000–370,000	Loss (varies with ore and bar prices)	High	Needs Family Crest; fastest path to 99; burns cash.
Adamantite bars with coal bag	70+	90,000–105,000	Profit (approx. 2.1M/hr snapshot)	Moderate	Half coal cost; solid XP/gp balance.
Hybrid adamantite + gold	70+	221,100–262,300	Small profit to break-even	Very high	Combines gold XP with adamant profit; requires precise inventory juggling.
Runite bars with coal bag	85+	95,000–112,500	Profit (approx. 2.6M/hr snapshot)	Moderate	Higher requirement, better profit than adamantite, similar XP.

The hybrid method deserves a quick mention. It involves carrying both gold ore and adamantite ore, plus a coal bag and goldsmith gauntlets, and smelting a mix of gold and adamantite bars each trip. The average XP per bar jumps because gold bars give 56.2 XP, but you also earn adamantite bars for profit. Rates from the wiki show 1,475–1,750 adamantite and 2,950–3,500 gold bars per hour, totaling 221,100–262,300 XP per hour. The attention requirement is extremely high, as you must swap between gauntlets and ice gloves, manage coal, and keep the inventory balanced. For most mains, it is not worth the pain unless you want both fast XP and profit.

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Equipment and Inventory Setup

The right gear can make a 20% difference to your hourly rates. The table below from the wiki’s strategy page lists suggested equipment, but here are the essentials for each method.

• Gold ore method: Wear weight-reducing clothing (graceful if possible), carry goldsmith gauntlets or equip a Smithing cape, and keep ice gloves or smiths gloves (i) equipped to cool bars. Fill the rest of your inventory with gold ore. Withdraw stamina potions and coins as needed.
• Adamantite method: Equip a coal bag, fill it with coal, and carry adamantite ore in the remaining inventory slots. Ice gloves or smiths gloves (i) are mandatory for cooling. A Smithing cape is excellent because it lets the coal bag hold 36 coal, reducing trips further, and also acts as goldsmith gauntlets if you ever hybrid.
• Hybrid method: You need both a coal bag and goldsmith gauntlets in your inventory, leaving 26 slots for ore instead of 27. You will swap between gauntlets and ice gloves constantly, which is why this method is so attention-intensive.

Smithing catalysts are not recommended at the Blast Furnace. They do not work on gold ore, they do not further reduce coal requirements, they cannot be purchased for gold, and they take up an inventory slot. Save them for regular furnaces if you ever use them.

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Common Mistakes That Kill Your Rates

Even experienced players slip into bad habits at the Blast Furnace. These mistakes are easy to avoid once you know about them.

• Using a non-official world. The 72k coffer fee is trivial compared to the time you lose manually operating the furnace. Unless you are below the fee threshold and cannot afford it, always use an official Blast Furnace world.
• Forgetting goldsmith gauntlets. Without them, gold ore gives only 22.5 XP instead of 56.2 XP. That is a 60% XP loss. Always double-check before you start a gold ore session.
• Not using a coal bag for adamantite. Without a coal bag, your adamantite bar rates drop from 2,400–2,800 to 1,450–1,700 per hour. The coal bag is a prerequisite for profit-oriented smithing.
• Ignoring run energy. Stamina potions are cheap. Letting your run energy drain to zero slows every trip and silently erodes your hourly rates.
• Depositing too much coal or ore at once. The furnace caps at 254 coal and 28 primary ore. Over-depositing wastes time and can leave bars stuck.

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Time and Cost Tradeoffs from 40 to 99

Here is the honest maths. From level 40 to 99 requires roughly 12,997,000 Smithing XP. Using the midpoints of the wiki’s typical XP ranges, gold ore with gauntlets at 340,000 XP per hour would take about 38 hours. Adamantite bars at 97,500 XP per hour would take about 133 hours. The hybrid method at 240,000 XP per hour would take about 54 hours, but with much higher attention.

• Fastest: Gold ore — 38 hours, but you will lose a large amount of GP depending on current prices.
• Balanced profit: Adamantite bars from 70 to 99 — roughly 100 hours after reaching 70, earning tens of millions in profit along the way.
• Hybrid: 54 hours, but requires constant precise clicking and only small profit. Not recommended for most mains.
• Alternative profit at 85: Runite bars are slightly better profit than adamantite and similar XP, but you will spend more time because 85–99 is a longer stretch than 70–99.

The real decision point is at 70 Smithing. If you have been using gold ore from 40 to 70, you have already spent a fortune. At 70, adamantite bars let you pivot to profit while still gaining respectable XP. Many mains use this pivot to fund the rest of the grind or simply to rebuild their bank before returning to gold ore for the final push to 99.

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Practical Next Steps and When to Buy Supplies or a Boost

No matter which method you choose, you will need a steady supply of ore. Gold ore, adamantite ore, and coal are all heavily traded on the Grand Exchange, but buying them in bulk can tie up millions of GP that you may need elsewhere. If you want to skip the slow cash grind and jump straight into efficient training, buying OSRS gold to cover ore and coffer fees is an honest shortcut. It does not break any rules when using legitimate marketplaces, and it lets you focus on the training loop instead of worrying about bank value.

Similarly, if the thought of 100+ hours of repetitive bar runs sounds miserable, a professional boosting service can handle the grind for you. This is especially attractive for the gold ore method, where the time saved is often worth more than the service cost. Before committing to either option, always verify current GE prices and XP rates on the wiki, because a profitable method can become a loss-making one overnight if ore prices spike.

When you are ready to start, choose your path, gear up correctly, and commit to a consistent routine. The Blast Furnace rewards repetition, and even small optimisations like stamina potions and a coal bag add up over dozens of hours. If you need to restock gold or supplies, you can View live gold rates to keep your training funded.

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Sources

• Blast Furnace
• Blast Furnace/Strategies
• Pay-to-play Smithing training
• Smithing