Haven't done blacksmithing yet. So I have 2 questions.

How is blacksmithing done?

AND...

What is the FASTEST way to level it up?

Have the necessary materials - such as ingots and leather straps - in your inventory and interact with a forge. It opens a menu where you can select what you want to craft.

Spam iron daggers.

Talk to Alvor in Riverwood, he'll get you started.

Go talk to Alvor, the blacksmith in Riverwood, and ask him if he needs any help around the forge, he'll get you started. And the fastest way to level it up... sadly... just making iron daggers all the way to 100

EDIT: on a side-note however, I use my smithing as much as I can to upgrade every piece of gear I get and make new stuff to wear, I will resort to making daggers a few times per level though... it just feels so cheap.

To start, talk to someone using a forge and they will teach you.

As far as speed, get all the iron and leather you can and make iron daggers and hide Bracers. However, you will feel little satisfaction if you level it that way.

Being a jeweler is also a viable option. Once the game decided to throw tons and tons of gems at me I went that route.

Am I the only one who is kinda bummed that we can't melt down useless gear? I mean, I'd like to upgrade my steel armor, so it would make sense that I broke down another piece of armor, and used it to upgrade my own. Seems pretty simple to do: Use forge > Melt down steel chest plate > receive 1 steel ingot > done.

How to use the tools, perks: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Smithing
Hunt animals for their fur, skin! Always carry a pickaxe so you can mine random ores. => infinite and free crafting materials.
Fastest way to lvl up: craft tonz of hide bracers / iron daggers.

I am disappointed by it, too; especially since the only way to craft Dwarven Ingots is to melt down useless dwarven junk like struts and plates from Dwemer ruins. I don't understand why you couldn't melt down armor/weapons too.

That's very true, and to supplement that, you could use the transmute spell to turn your iron into silver or gold, and then use your gems you've picked up to make jewelry. If you don't have the transmute spell you will probably find it yourself questing for Whiterun, or click on my spoiler:

Boring, easy, overpowered, grind iron daggers

You don't want to level it up quickly. If you want to make smithing an important part of your character level it up a little bit at a time as you progress. Suddenly maxing out your blacksmithing will result in a sudden increase in your level which will throw off the level scaling and result all of your enemies being vastly more powerful than you are.

Even a gradual rise in smithing still results in all of the equipment you find being worthless when compared to the equipment you make for yourself. And once you have it maxed out you are pretty much invincible unless you are seriously lacking in the skills to use the equipment you make.

I tried to raise it at a rate such that when I felt the current equipment I had wasn't cutting it, I would just upgrade to the next tier of equipment. It was very satisfying.

How do I get the ORES to do all of this? Find them? Buy them? Or Mine them?

If I mine them...where do I get them from? Where do I find a pickaxe?

see my spoiler in my post above, pickaxe there and tons and tons of ore to get you started

I haven't used them but there are mods that seem pretty valid and endorsed to let you melt down armor. there is also one to let you make arrows via wood/feathers. I will prolly try them out sooner or later though.

He made two threads, enchanting and smithing. Two days later he makes a third one, SKYRIM TOO EASY MAKE MASTER HARDER I JUST PLAY HOW I WANA PLAY AND ITS ALL EASY AS!

HAHAHAHA yeah... I literally laughed out loud.

protip: use enchanting and smithing responsibly or yes, this will happen.

You can find a ton of pickaxes in each mine you enter. Just make sure you pick one up (doesn't need to be equipped) and then simply interact (A on the 360 controller) with an ore deposit. Take the ore to a smelter and turn them into ingots which you can then use at the forge.

Merchants (specifically Smiths) will sell ingots, but the types available are determined by your level. Basically, mining will get you access to higher grade ore/ingots sooner as long as you know where to get the ore from (which specific mines).

Yeah iron daggers

Cheers

Wow wow, wait a minute! You can actually melt down stuff like plates??

http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=874.

Well, thank you kind Sir! :celebration: