I started with 50 mining and never failed at anything "iron", smelting or forging. If you plan to make a miner/blacksmith, start with 50 in two main skills you want.
How do I make money? Nobody will buy stuff I have, and it keeps calling me a criminal whenever I skin a giant rat nobody else thought to. Killing them myself is tough, since they keep ganging up on me, and for some reason it's rubberbanding me on the spot sometimes(bad when trying to run away).
Most early money comes from crafting and escort missions. Escort missions are easy to get you your first a few thousands (it's usually 250-400 gold per mission). Some NPC at specific places (taverns, camps, inns) allow you to escort them to another town. If you know how to use moongates, it's 250-400 gold in a few minutes.
Skill gain seems a bit too slow on blacksmithing... I spent a few hours mining up 500 ingots and used them all making cutlasses from 50 skill. I did not gain a single blacksmithing point, and the success rate was far lower than the displayed rate - they only sold for 4g each, but all total I only got 80g (20 cutlasses) out of 62 attempts.
I am pretty sure that at 50+ BS you need to forge better ore than iron. Iron is for below 50 smithing.
Do vendors pay more for stuff if you're a member of the town? Maybe I should join a town...
Yes, quite noticeable. Also you should be a town member to call guards (I think).