Old School RuneScape Blast Furnace Guide (May 2025): Maximize Your Smithing XP and Gold

Whether you’re pushing for 99 Smithing, stacking up gold, or simply optimizing your Old School RuneScape grind in May 2025, the Blast Furnace remains the definitive method.

This comprehensive, up-to-date strategy guide unpacks every crucial aspect—mechanics, XP and profit optimization, and best practices for every bar type.

By following the latest techniques and leveraging modern tools, you’ll accelerate your Smithing progress and maximize your in-game wealth more efficiently than ever.

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Blast Furnace Overview and Setup

The Blast Furnace in Keldagrim is a members-only minigame that revolutionizes ore smelting by halving coal requirements for all bars (except iron and gold) and dramatically increasing Smithing efficiency.

To truly master this zone, understanding the layout, costs, essential gear, and must-have plugins is key.

Zone Layout and Navigation

The essential components—the bank chest, ore conveyor belt, and bar dispenser—are all centralized in the southeast corner of Keldagrim for quick cycles.

After starting The Giant Dwarf quest, you can use Grouping or minecart teleports for near-instant access.

Navigating these in tight loops is the backbone of fast XP and profit.

Coffer System and Fees (May 2025 Update)

Slots on official Blast Furnace worlds (e.g., 352, 355, 358, 386, 387) require a flat 72,000 GP/hour (12 GP/tick) deposited into the local coffer.

This fee grants access to NPC-operated machinery.

If you’re under level 60 Smithing, you must also pay the Foreman 2,500 GP per 10 minutes, halved to 1,250 GP with Ring of Charos (a). (These rates remain unchanged as of 2025.)

Required and Recommended Equipment

• Ice Gloves: Essential for instant bar collection—prevents burns, frees inventory space, and eliminates water bucket swaps.
• Coal Bag: Mandatory from Mithril bars and up—doubles coal carried per trip, available from Motherlode Mine for 100 golden nuggets.
• Goldsmith Gauntlets: (From Family Crest quest) provide a massive XP boost for gold bars (22.5 → 56.2 XP/bar).
• Graceful or Weight-Reducing Gear: Minimizes run energy drain during constant banking.
• Stamina Potions: Critical for keeping your run energy up and workflow continuous.

RuneLite and Meta Plugins

Plugins are essential in 2025.

The Blast Furnace plugin on RuneLite overlays clickboxes for major interactables, tracks coffer funds, and displays inventory/XP information in real time, reducing errors and eliminating wasted motion.

• Menu Entry Swapper—customizes left-click options for ultra-fast banking.
• Bank Tags—quick tab swaps to keep your Blast Furnace supplies at hand.
• Stamina Alert—reminds you to sip stamina potions before you hit zero.

Gear and Inventory Setup

• Classic Setup: Full Graceful (or at least Boots of Lightness), Ice Gloves permanently equipped (except gold runs, where you swap with Goldsmith Gauntlets).
• Inventory: Build around your current bar—always leave a slot or two for stamina potions and keep X key items out with bank fillers.
• Gold Runs: Swap to Goldsmith Gauntlets before every smelt XP drop.
• Coal Bars: Optimize inventory with Coal Bag, preloading steps for minimal downtime.

XP and Profit Benchmarks (2025)

• Gold Bars: 320–400k XP/hr (−0.7M to −1M GP/hr)
• Steel, Mithril, Adamant, Rune: 80–150k XP/hr, profits ranging from +650k to +1.4M GP/hr (Runite may spike up to 2.7M+ with market swings)
• Hybrid Methods: 200–265k XP/hr, significant profit (XP/profit blend)

Expert tip: "Switching to Goldsmith Gauntlets the moment you collect bars is essential.

The best players eliminate wasted motion using RuneLite’s customizable bank fillers and menu swaps."

— Smallexplamp (YouTube), OSRSGuide

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Gold Bars: Fastest XP from Level 40+

When pure Smithing speed is your goal, smelting gold bars at the Blast Furnace blows every other method out of the water from level 40 onward.

Here's how to reach up to 380k XP/hr solo—or even more with runners—and avoid costly mistakes.

Requirements and Setups

• Location: Keldagrim (start The Giant Dwarf quest for access)
• Gear:
  • Goldsmith Gauntlets (required, 2.5× XP per bar)
  • Ice Gloves (instant dispenser access)
  • Graceful Set or other weight-reducing clothing
  • Stamina Potions (expect up to 40 doses/hr)
• Inventory: Goldsmith Gauntlets, Ice Gloves, Stamina Potion(s), 27–28 Gold Ore (space permitting)

Step-by-Step Routing

Equip Goldsmith Gauntlets.

Withdraw a full load of gold ore. 2.

Deposit all ore onto the conveyor belt. 3.

Move to the bar dispenser (stand on the south side for better click efficiency). 4.

Immediately swap to Ice Gloves when you’re ready to claim bars. 5.

Collect bars, run to the bank, and deposit. 6. Swap back to Goldsmith Gauntlets and repeat.

Advanced: Use 0-tick banking methods (enabled via RuneLite's chat transparency and shift-click settings) for an extra ~10% XP/hr.

XP Rates and Cost Analysis

*“With Goldsmith Gauntlets you can reach up to 400k XP/hr.

Without them, you’ll drop to just over 150k/hr—a massive loss in efficiency.”*

— OSRSGuide, Theoatrix

• For 99 Smithing (level 40–99), expect total costs of 9.5M to 27M GP (85–120 hours), depending on efficiency, ore price, and potion usage.
• XP speed comes at a price—this is not a profitable method!

Stamina Management and Pro Strategies

• Always use official BF worlds (72k GP/hr for automated dwarves and uninterrupted flow).
• Use stamina potions at optimal points (average: 1 dose/1.5 min).
• Place stamina potions near the bank interface; optimize withdrawals with bank fillers/meta plugins.
• Focus on consistent glove swapping: Goldsmith Gauntlets for XP drop, then Ice Gloves for bar withdrawal.
• For fatigue or lower Agility, expect reduced XP and higher potion cost.

Summary Table: Gold Bar Smelting at Blast Furnace

Who Should Use This Method?

• Players racing to 99 Smithing (min/max efficiency)
• Swapping to this after level 40 beats all alternatives, especially for major quest or Diary requirements
• Not recommended if you want profit—use hybrid/profit bars for that

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Efficient Smelting: Steel, Mithril, Adamant, and Runite Bars

Transition from high-cost gold XP to serious profits! Here’s exactly how to efficiently produce every major bar at the 2025 Blast Furnace, with cycle breakdowns, inventory setups, and current XP and gold rates.

Core Equipment & Supplies

• Coal Bag (absolutely essential): doubles coal-per-trip,
• Ice Gloves: fast bar withdrawals,
• Stamina Potions: to sustain continuous running,
• Graceful Set: to minimize energy drain,
• Bar-specific Ore(s): steel (iron), mithril, adamantite, runite.

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Steel Bars (Level 30+)

• Supplies: Coal Bag, Ice Gloves, Stamina, Iron Ore, Coal, Coins
• Cycle: 1.

Preload 27+ coal to furnace (avoid accidental iron bars) 2.

Fill Coal Bag + inventory with coal, deposit 3.

Bank > refill Coal Bag + inventory with iron ore, deposit 4.

Collect bars with Ice Gloves, bank, repeat

• XP/HR: 80,000–100,000
• Profit/HR: +200,000 to +650,000 GP

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Mithril Bars (Level 50+)

• Supplies: Coal Bag, Ice Gloves, Stamina, Mithril Ore, Coal
• Cycle: 1.

Coal Bag + inventory with coal, deposit 2.

Bank > Coal Bag + inventory with mithril ore, deposit 3.

Alternate: one trip for mithril + coal, then coal only 4.

Collect bars, bank, repeat

• XP/HR: 105,000–111,000
• Profit/HR: +650,000–800,000 GP

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Adamantite Bars (Level 70+)

• Supplies: Coal Bag, Ice Gloves, Stamina, Adamantite Ore, Coal
• Cycle: 1.

Coal Bag + inventory with coal, deposit (twice if needed) 2.

Bank > Coal Bag with coal + inventory with adamantite ore, deposit 3.

Collect bars, bank, repeat

• XP/HR: 105,000–120,000
• Profit/HR: +900,000–1,200,000 GP

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Runite Bars (Level 85+)

• Supplies: Coal Bag, Ice Gloves, Runite Ore, Coal, Stamina
• Cycle: 1.

Multiple cycles of Coal Bag + inventory with coal, deposit (until furnace has enough for runite cycle) 2.

Bank > Coal Bag with coal + inventory with runite ore, deposit 3.

Collect bars, bank, repeat

• XP/HR: 110,000–150,000
• Profit/HR: +1,000,000–1,400,000 GP (can reach 2.7M+ at peak margins)

"Runite bars at the Blast Furnace are the most profitable, reaching up to 1.4M GP/hr and very high XP rates."
— OSRS Money Making Guide

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Hybrid Methods (XP & Profit Blend)

• Alternate gold-with-gauntlets runs with profit bar runs (e.g., gold/mithril, gold/adamant)—pattern varies with prices and your goals.
• ~200–265k XP/hr with GP/hr rates far superior to pure gold method.

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2025 XP & Profit Quick Reference Table

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Pro Tips and Mistake Prevention

• Always deposit correct coal amounts before adding base ore—prevents accidental iron bars, for example.
• Monitor both the bar dispenser cap (max 28) and furnace coal cap (254) to avoid production delays.
• Use official BF worlds for highest throughput and uninterrupted runs.
• Stamina is king—never let run energy run dry.
• Always adjust trips to the real-time Grand Exchange and Ordan’s shop prices.

“Coal bag usage is essential—without it, profit rates are approximately halved.”
— Theoatrix.Net

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Profitability and Modern Tips (2025)

With market prices and plugins evolving, maximizing both XP and GP at Blast Furnace in 2025 now demands up-to-date strats and attention to finescale details.

Here’s what you need to know:

Profit By Bar (May 2025)

• Gold Bars: 300k–370k XP/hr, large loss (−1M+ GP/hr), top speed method only.
• Steel Bars: 94k–95k XP/hr, +650k–800k GP/hr.

Cannonball demand keeps profit steady.

• Mithril Bars: 108k–110k XP/hr, +650k–700k GP/hr.
• Adamantite Bars: 101k–135k XP/hr, +850k–1.2M GP/hr.
• Runite Bars: 107k–150k XP/hr, +1.2M–1.6M GP/hr (simple method), up to 2.7M+/hr with attentive routing.
• Iron Bars: 75k–85k XP/hr, +250k–330k GP/hr, mostly niche/Ironman use.

Modern Cost-Minimization Tips

• Use Coffer strategically—a negligible cost relative to blast furnace profits; always pay on official worlds.
• Coal Bag is a must for steel+ bars; missing it halves your profits.
• Purchase ores in bulk from Ordan (the Ore Seller) when GE prices spike.
• Keep Stamina Potions and Graceful equipped — running is mandatory at BF, with up to 40 doses/hr.

Best Plugins and Community Efficiencies

• Blast Furnace (RuneLite plugin): Live bar counts, inventory status, XP/GP tracking, task reminders.
• Menu Entry Swapper, Bank Tags, Stamina Alert: Eliminate all wasted banking and mis-clicks.
• Hybrid Smelting (2025 meta): Alternate gold & profit bar cycles for a balanced rush to 99 and sustainable money-making.
• Community LFG (Looking For Group) runners: On-disc/CC runner systems can boost XP/hr by up to 35%.

Not needed for profit, but god-tier if you only want XP.

Real-World Use Cases

• Max efficient money: Runite bars, up to 2.7M/hr when prices peak.
• Balanced XP/GP: Hybrid runs (Gold+Adamantite), up to 300k XP/hr and 1.2M GP/hr.
• Non-stop grind: Automated plugins ensure you never miss a trip, let you play hours with peak efficiency.

*“Steel, mithril, adamant, and rune bars are all highly profitable at the Blast Furnace, ranging from 800k GP/hr up to 1.6M.

Always optimize for market prices and use plugins to keep your rhythm.”*

— Theoatrix Ultimate Guide

Key Gear/Plugins (2025 Standards)

• Coal Bag (Motherlode Mine, 100 golden nuggets)
• Ice Gloves (Ice Queen drop)
• Goldsmith Gauntlets (Family Crest quest)
• Graceful Set
• Stamina Potions
• All Official Blast Furnace Worlds

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Conclusion

The Blast Furnace stands unrivaled in Old School RuneScape for both efficient Smithing levelling and gold generation as of May 2025.

Embrace the synergy of up-to-date inventory management, meta plugins, and the right gear to hit XP rates of up to 400k/hr or profit flows into the millions.

Whether you choose the ruthless pace of gold bar XP, the lucrative rhythm of runite bars, or a balanced hybrid, your journey to 99 is smoother, easier, and more profitable than at any point in OSRS history.

Stay updated with plugin and meta shifts, embrace community runner systems, and refine your cycles—and you’ll outpace your competition on the climb to max Smithing and wealth.

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References:

• Blast Furnace - OSRS Wiki
• Blast Furnace/Strategies - OSRS Wiki
• Theoatrix Ultimate Smithing Guide
• OSRSGuide's Blast Furnace Guide
• OSRS Money Making Guide - Blast Furnace
• Coal bag - OSRS Wiki

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