What i do gets me well into the hundreds. I refuse to make or buy any sword. I try to keep as much stuff in stock as i can. before the glitch where they just leave right away, ill have (on a good play through) like three one-hand hammers, two great hammers, three daggers, and two or three pole arms in stock (and ill go through most of it everyday, then restocking after they all go home)Also, don't bother buying any special ingots. They don't give you extra money, just the normal profit you'd get from the copper version. Another thing, constantly keep at least three ingots in the furnace heated up, they don't cool off so it helps a ton if you need to 'make to order'. you can also put ingots on the anvil in advance to orders so that helps. I hope these are somethings that will help you!