If your blacksmithing hasn't been useful for you, you haven't been keeping it up to par. Having it at a level where you can make armor 2-3 levels above you would be my advice, since you'll only find a real use for it then(other than making it for friends/alts).
If you do keep smithing, my advice would be to start up a bank alt, get him to a major city, and start sending him all the things you smith. As a crafting profession, blacksmithing CAN make you a steady stream of income, you just have to find out what you want to sell. On my server, I've found that I can make money by making enchanting rods, Whirling steel axes, and Green Iron Helms(I think that's what it is, a lvl 27 helm), just to name a few. I buy all the mats from the AH, and still manage to make between 50S and 2G on every single piece.
It won't get you rich in a day, but if you find items you can craft for profit after AH costs for mats, you can sell those and throw whatever money you make back into smithing to further increase your skill and pocketbook. Planning is the key though, and buying mats(even small amounts of them at a time) when they are at their lowest price for future use is the best advice I can give.
To end this rather long post, I do remember at that around that point in mining it gets super hard to level(at the point where you can't smelt for skill-ups). Just keep at it, and you'll get over the hump soon enough.