Metalsmithing

Metal smiting is the proficiency of turning ores to ingots or making plate armors

Metals
Turning ores into ingots is the easiest way to gain proficiency.at 50k metalwork you can mass produce ingots.

Mining goes very well with metalwork simply because its the cheapest way to increase proficiency at a early level

Plate armor
Plate armor is used mostly by melee DPS or tanks.Most armor is obtained by quests, but for those who want only the best , custom armor is the only way to go. Creating the perfect plate armor can take months. but for those looking to make a profit, plate that is worth selling starts at about 30k. a well crafted heroic armor at 30k can sell for near 2000 gold costing only 600 gold as investment .but to create the armors that sell for 10 000 gold takes a lot of trial and error.

If making armors is the goal for spending thousands of labor points, it is worth investing a few points in larceny for those extra moonlight archeums.