Free-to-play Crafting training

The Old School RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: osrsw:Free-to-play Crafting training

This article is about the free-to-play guide. For the members' guide, see Pay-to-play Crafting training.

Crafting is potentially one of the fastest skills to train on free-to-play, but usually involves significant capital investments. In general, gold jewellery like emerald necklace is often profitable, but slow, while cutting gems or crafting with dragonhide is very fast, but ranges from a small profit to a significant loss depending on the market.

This article uses automatically-updated Grand Exchange prices as retrieved on 27 January 2023. If the prices seem outdated, click here to purge this page and refresh them.

Scroll of Dexterity

The Scroll of dexterity is a non-members upgrade, purchasable from the Dungeoneering Rewards Shop for 20,000 Dungeoneering tokens. It requires 60 Crafting and 60 Dungeoneering. It provides a chance to save a hide when crafting an item that requires three or more hides. This can significantly reduce the cost per hour of high-level training.

Dwarven army axe

The Dwarven army axe is a non-members tool, obtained by completing the To Lumbridge path. It has no requirements and provides 3 more experience when the axe is wielded or in your inventory while crafting soft leather items, hard leather items or moulding soft clay on a potter's wheel. This makes it useful to wield while doing any of these actions. It does replace your pickaxe during mining when wielded, which may affect mining speed when gathering clay for moulding.

Experience per hour

This section shows the maximum possible experience per hour and the potential costs for certain training methods. The last column shows the possible profit/loss per experience point, based on the info on the left.

Method	Amount/hr	Exp/hr	Material costs	Sell for	Profit/Loss	gp/exp
Gold necklaces	1,568	31,360	3,012,128	2,185,792	−826,336	−26.35
Unstrung gold amulets	1,568	47,040	3,012,128	481,376	−2,530,752	−53.8
Hard leather shields	1,620	58,320	1,159,920	1,323,540	163,620	2.81
Diamond rings	1,428	121,380	3,598,560	5,025,132	1,426,572	11.75
Woodcutting urns	392	31,360	1,582,896	977,256	−605,640	−19.31
Strong mining urns	392	33,398.4	1,582,896	1,513,512	−69,384	−2.21
Strong smelting urns	392	41,552	1,582,896	213,640	−1,369,256	−43.66
Emerald necklaces	1,428	85,680	3,141,600	4,860,912	1,719,312	20.07
Ruby necklaces	1,428	107,100	3,227,280	4,950,876	1,723,596	16.09
Diamond necklaces	1,428	128,520	3,598,560	5,213,628	1,615,068	12.57
Unstrung diamond amulets	1,428	142,800	3,598,560	4,105,500	506,940	3.55
Uncut emeralds	2,968	200,340	863,688	828,072	−35,616	−0.18
Uncut rubys	2,968	252,280	1,169,392	1,006,152	−163,240	−0.65
Uncut diamonds	2,968	319,060	3,033,296	1,777,832	−1,255,464	−3.93
Green dragonhide bodies	1,440	267,840	4,708,800	5,793,120	1,084,320	4.05
Green dragonhide shields	1,440	357,120	6,278,400	6,838,560	560,160	1.57
Blue dragonhide bodies	1,440	302,400	8,367,840	7,339,680	−1,028,160	−3.4
Blue dragonhide shields	1,440	403,200	11,157,120	8,712,000	−2,445,120	−6.06

Current prices

• RuneScape:Grand Exchange Market Watch/Crafting
• Calculators#Crafting

General notes

• All jewellery smelting should be done at one of the following:
  1. Lumbridge furnace using the bank chest in the Lumbridge Market immediately to the west.
  2. Artisans' Workshop, located in the south-east corner of Falador which has its own bank chest.
• Completing Family Crest, a members-only quest, allows storage of gold bars in the metal bank, which significantly speeds up jewellery smelting, and this benefit is kept on F2P. However, as it still requires membership to complete the times below would not take it into consideration.

Level 1-22 - Spinning flax

Spin flax into bowstring for 15 xp each. This can be done on a spinning wheel. The best place to do this is in Lumbridge Castle, on the 1^st floor^[UK]2^nd floor^[US], very close to the bank above. Spinning flax is simple, and requires low investment and attention. It consistently turns a moderate profit, and is a decent fallback option when higher-level options aren't working out. You can pick and spin your own flax at Burthorpe, but this is not recommended as flax is very cheap and tedious to pick.

• Experience needed - 5,624
• Flax needed - 375 (alternatively, buy 392 to do 14 full inventories)
• Time - 17 minutes
• Flax cost = 36,750
• Bowstring = 138,375
  • Total profit = 101,625 (271 each)

Level 22-27 - Sapphire necklaces

Make sapphire necklaces, which grant 55 experience each. 75 need to be made. Significantly more profitable and faster xp, but more volatile market and dependent on larger investments.

• Experience needed - 4,106
• Gold bars needed - 75
• Sapphires needed - 75
• Time - 4 minutes 15 seconds
• Gold bars cost = 144,075
• Sapphires cost = 18,225
• Sapphire necklaces = 135,689
  • Total profit = 33,981 (723 per necklace)

Level 27-29 - Emerald rings

Make emerald rings, which grant 55 experience each. 42 need to be made.

• Experience needed - 2,301
• Gold bars needed - 42
• Emeralds needed - 42
• Time - 2 minute 15 seconds
• Gold bars cost = 80,682
• Emeralds cost = 11,718
• Emerald rings = 136,920
  • Total profit = 44,520 (1,060 per ring)

Level 29-34 - Emerald necklaces

Make emerald necklaces, which grant 60 experience each. 137 need to be made.

• Experience needed - 8,193
• Gold bars needed - 137
• Emeralds needed - 137
• Time - 7 minutes 30 seconds
• Gold bars cost = 263,177
• Emeralds cost = 38,223
• Emerald necklaces = 466,348
  • Total profit = 164,948 (1,204 per necklace)

Level 34-40 - Ruby rings

Make ruby rings, which grant 70 experience each. 243 need to be made.

• Experience needed - 17,000
• Gold bars needed - 243
• Rubies needed - 243
• Time - 7 minutes 14 seconds
• Gold bars cost = 466,803
• Rubies cost = 82,377
• Ruby rings = 542,376
  • Total profit = −6,804 (−28 per ring)

Level 40-43 - Ruby necklaces

Make ruby necklaces, which grant 75 experience each. 175 need to be made.

• Experience needed - 13,115
• Gold bars needed - 175
• Rubies needed - 175
• Time - 5 minutes 12 seconds
• Gold bars cost = 336,175
• Rubies cost = 59,325
• Ruby necklaces = 606,725
  • Total profit = 211,225 (1,207 per necklace)

Level 43-56 - Diamond rings

Make diamond rings, which grant 85 experience each. 1,573 need to be made.

• Experience needed - 133,701
• Gold bars needed - 1,573
• Diamonds needed - 1,573
• Time - 50 minutes
• Gold bars cost = 3,021,733
• Diamonds cost = 942,227
• Diamond rings = 5,535,387
  • Total profit = 1,571,427 (999 per ring)

Level 56-99 - Diamond necklaces

Make diamond necklaces, which grant 90 experience each. 142,783 need to be made.

• Experience needed - 12,850,391
• Gold bars needed - 142,783
• Diamonds needed - 142,783
• Time - 127.5 hours
• Gold bars cost = 274,286,143
• Diamonds cost = 85,527,017
• Diamond necklaces = 521,300,733
  • Total profit = 161,487,573 (1,131 per necklace)

Other methods

Level 27-99 - Cutting uncut emeralds

Cutting emeralds yield fast experience at break even or a modest profit. Cutting 192,959 emeralds is needed to reach level 99 from level 27.

• Experience needed - 12,850,391
• Uncut emeralds needed - 192,959
• Time - 42 hours
• Uncut emerald cost = 35,147,853
• Emeralds = 33,698,457
  • Total profit = −1,449,396

Level 43-99 - Cutting uncut diamonds

Although uncut diamonds grant 107.5 experience each, cutting them is very expensive. Cutting 120,783 of them is needed to reach level 99 from level 43.

• Experience needed - 12,984,092
• Uncut diamonds needed - 120,783
• Time - 23 hours
• Uncut diamonds cost = 123,440,226
• Diamonds = 72,349,017
  • Total profit = −51,091,209

Level 64-99 - Green dragonhide shields

Green dragonhide shields grant 248 experience each. Making 50,917 of them is needed to reach level 99 from level 64. Similar to cutting emeralds, this is fast and breaks even or turns a modest profit.

• Experience needed - 12,627,416
• Green dragon leathers needed - 203,668
• Time - 35.6 hours
• Green dragon leathers = 221,998,120
• Green dragonhide shield = 241,804,833
  • Total profit = 19,806,713

Level 72-99 - Blue dragonhide shields

Blue dragonhide shields grant 280 experience each. Making 43,340 of them is needed to reach level 99 from level 72. This is fast but also a very expensive method.

• Experience needed - 12,135,174
• Blue dragon leathers needed - 173,360
• Time - 30.1 hours
• Blue dragon leathers = 335,798,320
• Blue dragonhide shield = 262,207,000
  • Total profit = −73,591,320

Gem rocks

Mining gem rocks offer several options to train Mining along with Crafting while not requiring any investments other than a pickaxe. This is also suitable for Ironman Mode, requiring no input (and dragon leather is harder to come by).

Common gem rock

Common gem rocks randomly yield uncut opal (can be cut at 1 Crafting), uncut lapis lazuli (1), uncut jade (13), and uncut red topaz (16). No Mining level is required but a higher level and a better pickaxe speeds up mining. Cut opals, jade and red topaz are worth more on the Grand Exchange, but you will fail resulting in the useless crushed gem too often to turn a profit buying uncut gems. Always cut Lapis lazuli gems first, as they cannot be crushed, and the XP gained from them may give you a higher level thus lowering the crush chance on other gems. While lapis lazuli are untradeable, keep them as they can later be made into lapis lazuli rings for 2,509 coins profit per ring at 11 Crafting.

Uncommon gem rock

Uncommon gem rocks randomly yield uncut sapphire (can be cut at 20 Crafting), uncut emerald (27), and uncut ruby (34). 20 Mining required (27 Mining unlocks emeralds, 35 for rubies); a higher level and a better pickaxe speeds up mining. These gems cannot be crushed.

A test at 36 Mining finds you can gain about 12000 Crafting xp per hour if you cut and drop sapphires (due to their low value) and bank the rest. You also gain about 18000 Mining xp, 130 uncut emeralds and 90 uncut rubies per hour.

A gem bag (costs 2000 Dungeoneering tokens, which can take a long time to obtain for beginners) can be used to hold 100 uncut gems total, from sapphire to diamond (although it requires 25 Crafting along with 25 Dungeoneering to obtain, so it takes only 2 more levels to cut emeralds).

A test at 46 Mining finds you can gain about 26000 Crafting xp per hour if you cut and drop sapphires and emeralds, and banking rubies. You also gain about 24000 Mining xp and 140 uncut rubies per hour. If you can and wish to cut and bank all 3 types of gems, it results in about 28400 Crafting xp, as well as 18200 Mining xp, 250 sapphires, 128 emeralds, and 85 rubies per hour. Experience would be even faster if you cut and drop all gems, but it would be more click-intensive.

Precious gem rock

Precious gem rocks are similar, but yield uncut diamond (43 Crafting) instead of sapphire. 43 Mining required to mine diamonds from them, and as Al Kharid resource dungeon is the only F2P mine with these rocks, 75 Dungeoneering is also required to get to them. While higher levelled, they are slower Crafting xp because they are mined much more slowly. However, they give slightly faster Mining xp and requires less walking.

If using a gem bag and banking with Archaeology journal, tests at 75 Mining and with a rune pickaxe + 3 with moderate attention shows the following results. As the gem bag only holds uncut gems, this assumes you mine and bank all uncut gems, then cutting them in one go, and averages it per hour. Gem types are random and calculated based on currently known drop rates.

	Uncommon	Precious
Trip time (mine & cut)	8.5 minutes	18.5 minutes
Mining XP/hr	36,825	46,219
Gems/hr	896	411
Crafting XP/hr	55,776	33,188

This can change significantly if you choose to cut and drop or fletch certain gems, as gems are not worth much. Cut diamonds' alch price is higher than its trade value, so you might want to cast High Level Alchemy on them at the mine while discarding the rest.

Quests for Crafting experience

Main article: Quests/Experience rewards § Crafting

Quest	Members	Experience reward	Crafting requirement	Other requirements
Sheep Shearer (miniquest)		150	N/A	N/A
Goblin Diplomacy		200	N/A	N/A
Gunnar's Ground		300	5	N/A
Total		650