Iron Ore

Iron Ore

Type	Resource
Location	Mines; Blacksmith; Fishing; Geodes; Panning; Traveling Cart
Sell Price	10g

Iron Ore is the second metal of the mining ladder, waiting in the frozen middle section of The Mines. Smelted in a Furnace, it becomes the Iron Bar, which goes into sprinklers, kegs, steel tools and many other recipes. Iron is often the metal that holds back a growing farm, because the Sprinkler and the Steel Axe both call for it at the same time. The ore also crafts directly into the Bomb, a big help for clearing mine floors. Clint sells it when supplies run dry, but the icy floors are the cheap and reliable way to fill a chest.

Location

Iron Nodes supply most of it, and a pickaxe breaks each into one to three pieces. The Miner profession at Mining level 5 adds to that yield. Floors 41 to 79 of The Mines, the frozen section, hold the most iron. The last stretch of that section, from floor 71 to 79, is especially rich. Iron Nodes still appear on deeper floors, but far less often.

Iron also spreads beyond The Mines. The Quarry and the Quarry Mine can spawn Iron Nodes, and so can the quarry on the Hill-top and Four Corners farm maps. Any floor of Skull Cavern or the Volcano Dungeon may have them too.

Several monsters carry iron. Iron Slimes in the Quarry Mine drop it often. Stone Golems on the upper floors and Metal Heads in the lava section sometimes drop a few pieces. Breaking crates and barrels in The Mines adds a little more.

Small extras add up over time. Every kind of Geode can hold iron, and so can fishing treasure chests. Panning in any water may bring up a piece. A Recycling Machine turns Trash into Iron Ore about a fifth of the time, which gives fishing junk a second life. The Garbage Can outside the Blacksmith and the Traveling Cart sometimes have some too. An Ice Pip Fish Pond with a few fish produces a small batch of ore on some days.

Clint sells Iron Ore at the Blacksmith. It costs many times its sell value, and the price climbs after the first year. Clint also trades iron for Calico Eggs at the Desert Festival.

Uses

Smelting comes first. A Furnace loaded with five pieces of Iron Ore and a lump of Coal makes an Iron Bar in two in-game hours. That is slower than copper but much quicker than gold, so a few furnaces can work through a big haul in one afternoon.

Mining level 6 teaches the Bomb. Crafting four pieces of Iron Ore with a lump of Coal makes a bomb that clears a wide circle of rocks. Bombs speed up mining a great deal, and they also crack open several ore nodes at once. A stack of them is especially handy in Skull Cavern, where finding the next ladder quickly matters most.

Crafting Iron Ore with the other materials below makes these items.

Item	Image	Ingredients
Bomb		Iron Ore (4), Coal (1)

Notes

An Ice Pip pond asks for ten pieces of Iron Ore before it grows from one fish to three.

At the Sewing Machine, Iron Ore in the spool makes the dyeable Turtleneck Sweater.

Every villager hates receiving Iron Ore, so it never makes a good gift.

All Resources

Every entry in this group, with its key details.

Name	Image	Price
Bat Wing		15g
Battery Pack		500g
Bone Fragment		12g
Broken CD		0g
Broken Glasses		0g
Bug Meat		8g
Cave Jelly		180g
Cinder Shard		50g
Clay		20g
Coal		15g
Copper Bar		-
Copper Ore		5g
Driftwood		0g
Fiber		1g
Gold Bar		-
Gold Ore		25g
Green Algae		15g
Hardwood		15g
Iridium Bar		-
Iridium Ore		100g
Iron Bar		-
Iron Ore		10g
Joja Cola		25g
Monster Loot	-	-
Moss		5g
Radioactive Bar		-
Radioactive Ore		300g
Refined Quartz		50g
Rice		100g
River Jelly		125g
Rotten Plant		0g
Sea Jelly		200g
Soggy Newspaper		0g
Solar Essence		40g
Stone		2g
Sugar		50g
Trash	-	-
Trash (item)		0g
Treasure Chest		5000g
Vinegar		100g
Void Essence		50g
Wheat Flour		50g
White Algae		25g
Wood		2g