Compared to how many times of making and improving an iron dagger? sure the dagger's a little easier per item, but how many daggers do you need? five thousand? ten thousand? I always made leather bracers as a sideline, and I have no idea how many of either it was, just way too many, and much more than enchanting took. I'm pretty sure that with enchanting with high level items I got a level per item at times, and I'm sure it was something like thirty daggers and bracers per level of smithing (less at lower levels, an extra item to level per level?).