Smithing
This page was last verified for Vintage Story version 1.20.6.
Smithing is a powerful way to form metal ingots into crafting components, armor materials, and tool and weapon heads .
Required Materials
To smith items, a player needs an anvil , a hammer , a pair of tongs , a forge with fuel (such as coal or charcoal ), and metal ingots.
In the case of Copper and Bronze Alloys, the metal must be casted to form ingots using the crucible and clay molds prior to working them in the anvil. Iron ingots require preparation using a bloomery, and obtaining steel ingots requires a cementation furnace.
- See Casting , Bloomery and Steel making for more detailed information.
Preparing the Ingots
- The type of coal used does not matter, regardless of which type of coal is used each piece added will always add 72.5 seconds to the remaining duration of fuel in the forge, and heat items in the forge to a max of 1100°C.
- Ignite the Forge: Ignite with a torch. Most metals can be worked when they are heated to a temperature above 50% of their melting point. Lead can be smithed at any temperature, iron blooms can be smithed at above 700°C.
- Collect heated ingots: Remove the ingot from the forge using tongs in the off-hand .
- Select the desired product: Placing an ingot on the anvil , opens a dialog allowing the player to choose what tool, weapon, or item to craft. This selection cannot be undone, as it transforms the ingot into a "work item" that can only be forged into the selected item. However, the work item can be broken down into bits with a chisel and smelted back into an ingot to recover the material and reset the process.
Smithing the Item
Once the tool, weapon, or item is selected, two different colors voxel outlines will appear in green and purple to show the shape that the ingot should be formed into. Each ingot will contain 42 voxels. To form the item, the empty green outlines must be filled with metal voxels, and the metal voxels must be removed from the purple outlines. This is done by hitting the metal with a hammer to move the metal from its current ingot shape into the shape of selected item. The hammer has specific modes, explained below, that allow players to choose which direction the metal will move when striking the work item with the hammer. Using the Right-mouse-button will turn the work item around, making it easier to hit certain parts. If the work item cools down too much during this process, use the forge to reheat the work item. Item progress will not be lost if the item is removed from the anvil and replaced. Some items, like plates, require two ingots to complete. To continue work shaping an item that needs more material,
add another heated ingot to the work item on the anvil as if placing a new ingot to work, this will add the new ingot on top of the work item currently being formed, with 42 new voxels.
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Protip:
While copper and bronze work items can be melted back to an ingot, iron work items must be smelted in a bloomery again. Be careful with them! |
Hammer Modes
To move metal in specific directions, change the hammer mode. Press F with a hammer in the active hand to view and change tool modes. You can open the inventory or press alt to move the mouse more freely.
Hammer modes include three modes:
- Heavy Hit: When used on the bottom layer: No effect, when used on the upper layers: If near the edge, it will move voxels the the lower layer, i.e. flatten the work item. Otherwise it will spread the voxels.
- Upset (Up, Left, Down, Right): When used on the bottom layer: Move voxels to the upper layer, only possible at the edges of a work item, when used on upper layers: Move voxels horizontally or down a layer if at the edge.
- Split: When used on metal: Permanently removes one voxel. When used on Iron Bloom or Blister Steel : Permanently removes up to 9 slag voxels (dark parts) in a 3x3 arrangement (if slag voxels are hit, no metal voxels will be removed.)
Work items
If you accidentally miss while using split mode, don't worry! There is no need to add an extra ingot. Cool the work item and combine it with a chisel in the crafting menu, you will get 20 bits of a certain material. These bits can be used in the same way as the ore nuggets.
Smithing List
Only certain items, weapons, and tool heads are available depending on the metal:
Smithing Tutorial Videos

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Ores, metals and minerals | |
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Guides | Ore Deposits • Metals |
Metals | Copper • Iron • Meteoric iron • Gold • Silver • Lead • Tin • Zinc • Bismuth • Titanium (Ilmenite) • Nickel |
Alloys | Bronze (Tin bronze, bismuth bronze, black bronze) • Steel • Brass • Solder (Lead solder, Silver solder) • Molybdochalkos • Cupronickel • Electrum |
Minerals | Alum • Borax • Cinnabar • Coal • Halite (Salt) • Lapis lazuli • Quartz • Saltpeter • Sulfur • Sylvite (Potash) |
Tools | Pickaxe • Hammer • Prospecting Pick • Crucible • Forge • Ore blasting bomb • Quern • Anvil • Bloomery • Helve hammer • Pulverizer |
Other | Gemstones |
Related mechanics | Panning • Mining • Clay forming • Casting • Smithing • Steel making |
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