Windrose first iron: why the recipe is still locked

Check the boss and ore discoveries

PC Gamer's April discovery guide links Thomas Richards to Foothills progression and Foothills Iron Ore to iron recipes. An April Steam player resolved their mining problem with a Copper Pickaxe; another traced the missing recipe to having found, but not defeated, the first boss.

1. Check your own completed boss objective and Foothills Discovery state.
2. Bring a Copper Pickaxe and follow the current Foothills objective/map rather than another player's coordinates.
3. Mine and collect Foothills Iron Ore, then inspect its Discovery entry and the furnace recipe list.

Run one batch in the Smelting Furnace

Method lists Foothills Iron Ingot under the ordinary Smelting Furnace; its Large Smelting Furnace is for a later material. GAMES.GG's June guide reports 3 Foothills Iron Ore plus 1 Charcoal per ingot.

1. Open your existing furnace and select the iron recipe if it is available.
2. Compare its current requirement with the reported ratio, supply what your panel requests and queue one craft.
3. Collect the output and confirm its name/count before producing a larger batch.

If ingots work but the Iron Pickaxe does not

Method's April station guide places the Iron Pickaxe at Workbench level 2, supplied by the Sawhorse improvement. Smelting the material and enabling that tool's station tier are separate checks.

1. Inspect the Workbench's displayed level and the Iron Pickaxe requirement.
2. Check whether the Sawhorse improvement is present and recognized by that Workbench.
3. Once the station reports the required level, read the current tool recipe and craft only if its remaining conditions are met.

Record the exact stage that remains blocked

These are Kingy's diagnostic checks, not guaranteed repairs. In co-op, compare each player's journal and Discovery page; a teammate's progress does not establish what your character has recorded.

Current boss-credit range, death/rejoin behavior, discovery sharing and whether already-owned ore needs another pickup remain unverified. Do not assume the last hit is required or reset a character because an old discussion suggests it. Preserve the failed state and exact message.