I'm SURE this isn't the most efficient way of doing it, but I went from mid 40s to 55+ fairly quickly by mining mith and coal and superheating into mith bars. After I do one mining level, I go and smith the entire load.
Yay, there are older players here. I've been wondering about that for a long time. I've been playing for about a year and am finally turning my character into a respectable character (aaaaallllmmmooossstttt lvl 80). It's good to see there are older players.