I Saw the Pine
Location
Required Items
Rewards
What the allowance actually buys
One allowance here buys 473,220 EXP, which places it 2nd of the 3 Lv 54 Blacksmith tradecraft leves that record EXP — a figure 1 other leve on the rung matches exactly. The best of them, Keep Up with the Mechanics, returns 477,930 EXP for the same allowance, 1% more.
On whether to wait: the best Lv 56 Blacksmith tradecraft leve returns 731,480 EXP per allowance, 53% more than the best on this rung, while the Lv 52 rung behind tops out at 629,850 EXP.
At Lv 54 this data holds 54 leves paying EXP across 3 categories: the 24 Tradecraft ones average 400,590 EXP per allowance, the 3 Fieldcraft ones 938,680 EXP and the 27 Grand Company ones 205,186 EXP, which puts this leve 18% above its own category's average.
Gil ranks it differently: 936 gil per allowance is 1st of 3 on the same rung against 2nd on EXP, with the best there paying 936 gil.
Hardsilver Saw ×1 is a Lv 55 Blacksmith recipe, 3 steps deep through 4 intermediates, costing 30 units of raw material and 32 crystals.
Handing that in returns 15,774 EXP and 31 gil for every unit of raw material the order swallows, and the tree needs Blacksmith, Carpenter and Goldsmith.