Depends. I am a merchant/skiller in my ways. Never really got into the whole combat thing at all. It always comes down to which part of me wins out, the skiller trying to be as efficent as possible, or the merchant trying to make as much money as possible. For this reason I have not been able to actualy smith a bar in months. Smelting them makes me a profit, but smithing is one of the biggest money losses possible. I must say most of the time the merchant wins out, so I gather most of what I use.