Stainless Chef
Location
Required Items
Rewards
What the allowance actually buys
One allowance here buys 5,220 EXP, the best on the Lv 5 Blacksmith tradecraft rung — matched exactly by 4 other leves of the 6 there, with the rest trailing at 4,110 EXP or less.
On whether to wait: the best Lv 10 Blacksmith tradecraft leve returns 13,090 EXP per allowance, 151% more than the best on this rung, while the Lv 1 rung behind tops out at 1,690 EXP.
At Lv 5 this data holds 52 leves paying EXP across 2 categories: the 48 Tradecraft ones average 4,554 EXP per allowance, the 4 Fieldcraft ones 28,481 EXP, which puts this leve 15% above its own category's average.
Gil ranks it differently: 140 gil per allowance is 4th of 6 on the same rung against 1st on EXP, with the best there paying 168 gil.
Amateur's Culinary Knife ×1 is a Lv 6 Blacksmith recipe, 2 steps deep through 3 intermediates, costing 8 units of raw material and 5 crystals.
Handing that in returns 653 EXP and 18 gil for every unit of raw material the order swallows, and the tree needs Blacksmith, Carpenter and Goldsmith.