Skillgain is faster the more difficult the work; improving items to 30 points below your level won't generate skillgain as fast as improving items to 10 below your skill level, and so forth.
Note: If you dont care on production of items and just want skill do needles, They use .00001 or something ore to create, Hardly anything to imp. And you can fit thousands in jars etc. inside forges. ~Gavin
==Carpentry==
To grind [[carpentry]] the best way is building [[house|houses]] or grinding sub skills like [[fine carpentry]], [[bowyery]] and [[fletching]]. Don't use [[Wind of Ages]] on your [[mallet]] when you're building, it leads you to receive less skillgain.