A good guide becomes a shared adventure.

Ore, bars and bronze: check which step is missing

A full chest of ore does not mean the forge has usable metal. Follow the chain once with a small batch, then budget the target equipment. The starting list below includes an axe and the workshop; remove existing stations, then enter spare ore, bars and fuel as stock. The calculator expands listed recipes only. Extra upgrade-resource entries in the newer extracted equipment data remain unresolved, so an initial-quality estimate must not be presented as a verified current upgrade budget. Check the in-game item recipe before committing the haul.

Check: You can name the missing step between ore, bars, a usable forge and the bronze item you chose.

Choose one of two core budgets

Each kiln and smelter needs five surtling cores and twenty stone. Ten cores and forty stone let both stand at once. With five cores, build a kiln, turn your planned wood supply into coal, collect the output, then use the hammer to dismantle the kiln and recover the materials for a smelter. Our preferred first layout is a simple outdoor processing area beside your sheltered workbench. Place the buildings on ground and leave space for the smelter’s two inputs and output chute. Keep storage and a walking route clear. Covering everything with a low roof introduces a smoke problem before it provides much benefit.

Check: Your chosen core budget gives you a kiln and smelter, either together or in sequence after recovering the first station's materials.

Make coal before the ore queue fills up

Feed ordinary wood into the kiln. One piece makes one coal. Keep fine wood and core wood in storage so they are not consumed as substitute fuel. Published kiln timings differ, so we do not promise a completion time; stockpile the coal your ore batch needs before filling the smelter. The smelter reference budget is two coal per ore. It holds ten ore and twenty coal and processes a bar in about thirty seconds. For a full ore queue, have the twenty coal ready and keep the forge’s building coal separate. Timing is a planning reference, not a promised stopwatch result for every world. Sleep, interruptions and modifiers can change how long your session takes. Check the output and queues rather than assuming elapsed time proves completion.

Check: The planned ore batch has its coal reserved before you fill the smelter.

Reserve the forge materials before making the alloy

Smelt copper first and set six finished bars aside for the forge. The forge also needs four coal, four stone and ten wood. Those four coal are part of its construction cost; the forge does not need a stream of fuel to craft bronze. Build the forge with the hammer inside workbench range, then provide a roof and cover so you can use it. Once it opens correctly, collect your remaining copper and tin bars. Ore and finished bars are different ingredients.

Check: Six copper bars and the other forge materials are set aside, and the sheltered forge opens.

Combine bars at the forge

Put smelted copper and tin in your inventory and interact with the sheltered forge. Choose bronze in the crafting list. One craft consumes two copper bars and one tin bar to produce one bronze. Craft enough for the item you chose. Do not convert every bar automatically: structures and other recipes can need copper or tin directly. Make the chosen piece of equipment and leave some capacity for the next supply trip. Refill the wood and coal reserve before another large ore haul.

Check: Copper and tin bars have become bronze at the forge, and the chosen item is crafted.

A complete example: a forge and a first bronze axe

The axe needs 8 bronze. That means 16 copper and 8 tin for the alloy. Add 6 copper for a new forge: mine and smelt 22 copper ore and 8 tin ore. Including the forge’s construction cost, the reference coal budget is 64. This is an arithmetic example from the listed recipes, for one base-quality axe and a new forge. It still needs the forge’s stone and wood, the axe’s wood and leather scraps, and the kiln/smelter building materials. Shelter pieces, spare fuel, losses and upgrades are outside that total. If you already have a forge or bars, subtract what you actually own.

Check: The remaining ore, fuel and building materials are checked after subtracting what you already own.

A repair button is not an equipment upgrade

If an item stays damaged, use the row that matches the target before gathering more material. Repairing restores durability; upgrading changes item quality and requires a separate selection and ingredients. Adding an extension does not repair equipment by itself. Check the durability bar after the repair action instead of crafting a replacement. Repair exposed wooden pieces, then correct the weather cover if rain keeps damaging them. For a new shelter, open the essentials list below. Remove furnishings you already built and add only the shell pieces needed for your layout.

Check: The damaged item's durability is restored; its quality has not silently changed.

Start with the workbench and a compact room

Place the workbench with the hammer. It does not need another station to be built. Start the room nearby so the building pieces stay within its work area. As a layout starting point, leave room for the bench on one wall, a bed on another, and an open path between the entrance and both. Use the checks below to confirm the arrangement works on your terrain. To budget the essentials, add a workbench, bed, campfire and chest as projects in the materials planner, then enter your spare wood and stone. Add building-shell pieces and fire fuel separately; this is a historical recipe reference, not a tested shelter blueprint.

Check: The bench is placed inside your intended small room, with space for the bed and a clear entrance.

Watch Kysen at 3:38–3:51 ↗ · Pre-1.0 footage of a reused building. This illustrates bench placement and the crafting-menu check, not a guaranteed blueprint, material budget or current-build shelter radius.

Build the cover, then check it in the game

Use thatch roof pieces for the weather cover. If a new section collapses, inspect its supports: blue is the strongest end of the display, while colors toward red indicate less support. Add a ground-connected support or shorten the span before building higher. For larger rooms and different materials, follow the structural support guide. Set floor or wall pieces against solid ground. Connect walls and add thatch roof pieces; keep the first roof low and the shape simple. Give the workbench a back wall, side cover, and roof overhead. Try opening it now. If it still reports inadequate shelter, fill the gaps around the bench or move it farther inside. Add a door and close the remaining wall openings around the bed area. Check the bed separately: a usable workbench does not prove the sleeping area has enough cover.

Check: The covered workbench opens, and the bed area has its own roof and wall cover.

Claim the bed before relying on the shelter

Place the bed under the roof, interact to claim it, and confirm that it is your current spawn point. Your most recently claimed bed becomes your respawn location. A destroyed spawn bed sends you back to the starting stones when you next die. Claiming and sleeping have different requirements. Sleeping also needs a nearby fire, no nearby enemies, a dry character, and the appropriate afternoon or nighttime period. A fire is not required just to keep the claimed bed as your spawn point. In unmodified multiplayer, every connected player must be sleeping for the night to skip. Coordinate bedtime with the group if your own bed conditions are satisfied but morning does not arrive.

Check: The bed identifies itself as your current spawn point.

Heat the room without trapping smoke

Place the campfire on ground rather than a wooden floor, and add wood fuel. A useful first arrangement is beside an outside wall near the bed, with a roof above the fire and open space for smoke to escape. Heat can pass through the wall. Keep rain off the fire and shield it from strong wind without closing the smoke exit. For an indoor fire, leave an open route up and out; a sealed room can fill with harmful smoke. Move clear if the Smoked effect appears and enlarge the outlet before returning.

Check: The fueled fire warms the bed area without giving anyone the Smoked effect.

Add storage and learn the two repair actions

Place a chest near the bench. Its ten slots are enough to begin separating spare materials from your travel kit. Keep a little wood for fuel and a spare food supply for a recovery trip. Open the workbench and use its repair button for damaged starter tools and equipment. Later equipment can require a different station or level; check its crafting and repair requirements instead of assuming every tool uses this bench. For a damaged wall or roof, equip the hammer, select its repair function, and target the building piece while in the required station’s range. Neither repair consumes crafting materials. If exposed wood keeps looking damaged after rain, fix its weather cover as well as its durability. Repairing once does not prevent further exposure.

Check: The chest and bench are reachable; a damaged starter item can be repaired at the bench.