Smelt and Dealt

One allowance here buys 7,170 EXP, which places it 5th of the 6 Lv 15 Blacksmith tradecraft leves that record EXP — a figure 1 other leve on the rung matches exactly. The best of them, Awl or Nothing, returns 18,910 EXP for the same allowance, 164% more.

Across that rung the return runs from 7,170 EXP to 18,910 EXP per allowance — 3 distinct figures spanning 164%, so the wrong pick leaves 11,740 EXP of the allowance unspent.

On whether to wait: the best Lv 20 Blacksmith tradecraft leve returns 21,600 EXP per allowance, 14% more than the best on this rung, while the Lv 10 rung behind tops out at 13,090 EXP.

At Lv 15 this data holds 52 leves paying EXP across 2 categories: the 48 Tradecraft ones average 16,554 EXP per allowance, the 4 Fieldcraft ones 78,432 EXP, which puts this leve 57% below its own category's average.

Gil ranks it differently: 247 gil per allowance is 2nd of 6 on the same rung against 5th on EXP, with the best there paying 283 gil.

Iron Ingot ×1 is a Lv 16 Blacksmith recipe, a single step, costing 3 units of raw material and 1 crystal.

Handing that in returns 2,390 EXP and 82 gil for every unit of raw material the order swallows.