When it comes to Blacksmithing I've found out a couple of things which might help you:
1st - boost the weapons, free damage. This is done by the whetstone wheel in Cyseal, or just by a whetstone (uses it up). Bowstrings do the same for bows as a whetstone does for other weapons.
2nd - You can add 2 essences/tenebrium bars to a weapon. If you add a Tenebrium then add a Fire essence, you actually halve the bonus damage (as in it's shared between the 2 extra sources so just having 1 added on will produce the same level of damage).
3rd - Sextants will add Perception to a bow, Tormented Souls add +2 str/dex to a weapon. You can buff weapons quite nicely with things like this, but due to the rarity save them for unique/awesome orange weapons.
