Casting

This page was last verified for Vintage Story version 1.20.7.

Casting is the process of smelting ore into a liquid state and molding the molten metal into quick and convenient tool heads and ingots. While not inherently the most important facet of metallurgy, it is one of the first gateways by which a seraph can forge ahead into the throes of advancement and survival.

Required Materials

To cast metal, a player needs a crucible and molds , a pair of tongs , a firepit , fuel (firewood , peat , coal , charcoal , or coke ), and ore nuggets. Players can also use metal bits as an alternate source of metal, obtained by combining a metal tool head or an ingot with a chisel in the crafting grid.

Whereas most ore nuggets can be thrown within the crucible and cast, because of high temperature thresholds and a lack of fuels that reach those thresholds, Iron, Meteoric Iron, Blister Steel, and Steel must be bloomed , smithed on an anvil, or carburized in order to be utilized.

Obtaining metal

See Mining - Obtaining Metal Ores for a detailed overview on obtaining metal

Copper ore can be found in small stone surface deposits.

Ore nuggets can be found in one of five ways: panning , cracked ore vessels , buying them directly from a trader , mining , or via surface ore bits.

Preparing metal

A copper hammer extracting ore from a rich chunk of iron.

While loose nuggets are ready to be smelted and do not require additional preparation, the nuggets within regular and crystallized chunks are trapped within their parent stone, such as basalt or kimberlite, and are otherwise unusable until they are further processed. Chunks are placed in the inventory crafting grid under any tier of hammer, which crushes the stone and extracts the nuggets inside.

There are four kinds of ore chunks - poor, medium, rich, and bountiful.

• Poor chunks are the most common type of chunk and can be found in all strata where ores are available. A poor regular chunk will offer 3 nuggets and a poor crystalized chunk will offer 6 nuggets.
• Medium chunks, like poor chunks, can be found in all strata where ores are available, except for surface tin. A medium regular chunk will offer 4 nuggets and a medium crystalized chunk will offer 8 nuggets.
• Rich chunks are somewhat uncommon and can be found in less strata than poor and medium chunks. A rich regular chunk will offer 5 nuggets and a rich crystalized chunk will offer 10 nuggets.
• Bountiful chunks are also uncommon and can be found in even less strata than rich chunks. A bountiful regular chunk will offer 7 nuggets and a bountiful crystalized chunk will offer 14 nuggets

Note that silver, gold and cassiterite are exceptions, with gold and cassiterite offering 1, 2, 3, and 4 nuggets, and silver offering 2, 3, 4 and 5 nuggets

Protip: Each rock strata will have different ore and chunk generations - poor and medium copper chunks can be found in sandstone but all four copper chunk types can be found in basalt - which are located in the handbook under their respective metals. Keeping track of the ore and chunk generations can ensure a steady supply of nuggets for current and future casts.

Smelting metal

Crucible in the input slot.

The first step to processing metal is smelting, which is performed in a crucible. A single crucible can hold up to four complete stacks of 128 nuggets, however only one pure metal or alloy may be smelted within the crucible at a time. Each nugget is equivalent to 5 units of metal, which means that a full crucible can hold up to the equivalent of 2560 units. Most tools or ingots require 100 units (20 nuggets) per mold, with the exception of a few larger items, such as plates , anvils , and metal blocks, which can require significantly more.

Nugget ratios that do not fulfill this numeric requirement create amounts of metal too small to cast.

Pure metal smelting is very simple in that the same nugget type can be used throughout the entire process. Alloy smelting is slightly more complicated, as the ratios of each alloy all differ and the appropriate mix of several kinds of nuggets must be placed in the crucible prior to heating.

The number of nuggets that can be used for an alloy are somewhat variable, which can be advantageous if certain nuggets are in shorter supply. As an example, an alloy of Bismuth Bronze requires 10 to 20% bismuth, 50 to 70% copper, and 20 to 30% zinc or, broken down into nuggets, 2 - 4 bismuth nuggets, 10 - 14 copper nuggets, and 4 - 6 zinc nuggets.

If more zinc is available, a ratio of 2 bismuth nuggets, 12 copper nuggets, and 6 zinc nuggets can suffice, and vice versa, if more bismuth is available, a ratio of 4 bismuth nuggets, 12 copper nuggets, and 4 zinc nuggets is acceptable.

Preparing the crucible

Fully heated crucible in the output slot.

1. Place the crucible in the input slot (left) of the firepit to access the crucible GUI
2. Add nuggets into one or more of the four input slots of the crucible GUI.
3. When a proper alloy ratio has been reached, the GUI will display the amount in metal units and either the pure metal or alloy that will be produced from the smelting process.
4. Add fuel and light the fire pit. Selecting the appropriate fuel is paramount to raising and maintaining the temperature of the metal above its particular smelting temperature, which liquifies the nuggets.
5. When the nuggets have been fully liquified, the glowing crucible will shift to the output slot (right) of the firepit. The crucible will begin to cool down if it remains in the output slot or is otherwise pulled away from the heat, and if the crucible cools down far enough without being casted, the liquefied metal will be rendered solid and be otherwise unusable until heated up again.

Adding or removing ores after the process has begun will reset the temperature.

Casting metal

Once smelted, liquified metal is available within a crucible, it is ready to be cast within ingot or tool molds.

Filling molds

1. Place the required mold to be filled on a solid surface. Tool molds occupy one block while ingot molds may be placed two to a block.
2. With the glowing crucible in an empty hand (active hotbar slot) and a pair of tongs in your off-hand , select the desired mold with the display crosshairs and pour the liquid metal into that mold.
3. When the mold is filled, metal will no longer be allowed to be added into the mold.
4. The metal will reach various states of cooling in the mold- from liquid to soft to hardened to cold - which can be identified with the current item temperature in the mold GUI.
5. Except for ingot molds, a mold can be broken before the metal has cooled down, both mold and metal will be dropped intact¹. The metal can then be cooled by dropping it in water. Alternatively, when the tool or ingot is hardened or completely cold, it can be removed from the mold by right clicking.

¹This is not intended and will be removed in 1.21

A partially filled mold cannot be picked up, even if the metal is cold, because there are no assets available for metals that are too small to be fully cast and utilized.

Protip: Liquid metal of two different types cannot be added to a mold to get an alloy. Pure metals and alloys must be heated and liquified within the crucible before being poured.

Fuel Calculations

See Fuel - Calculating Fuel Cost For more technical information on firepit temperatures and calculations

Calculating how long it takes to heat ore nuggets up to the smelting temperature is tricky, although it does not depend on how many nuggets you are smelting. Here are some rough results on the amount of time (given in seconds) it takes certain fuels to heat ore nuggets to the given temperatures, assuming the firepit and nuggets both begin at 0°C, based on testing:

Fuel	1000°C	1100°C	1200°C	1300°C	MAX
Brown Coal	~65s	~110s	N/A	N/A	~110s
Black Coal / Anthracite	~55s	~70s	~110s	N/A	~110s
Charcoal	~50s	~60s	~75s	~110s	~110s
Coke	~46s	~54s	~66s	~90s	~110s

Upon reaching the ore nugget's smelting temperature, it takes (nuggets ÷ 20) × 30 seconds (30 seconds per 100 units) to smelt them. After reaching their smelting temperature, the speed at which ore temperatures rise is reduced down to ~9%.

Mold availability

Mold	Mold Type	Tool Type	Uses
	Anvil	Crafting	Manual and mechanized smithing.
	Axe	Harvesting	Chopping leaf, plant, and wood blocks, including trees, logs, planks, fences, gates, and other wooden building components; creates firewood.
	Falx blade	Combat	Mob damage, melee combat weapon.
	Hammer	Crafting	Crushing ores, crystal clusters, and certain soft stones; crafting components for mechanical power, item transportation, and steel carburization; polishing stone; cutting stone brick.
	Helvehammer	Crafting	Mechanized smithing.
	Hoe	Crafting	Tilling and converting soil for farming.
	Ingot	Crafting	Ingot distribution, which can be used for manual and mechanized smithing and crafting components.
	Lamallae	Combat	Creating and repairing body lamellar armor.
	Pickaxe	Harvesting	Mining ceramic, rock, stone, ore, metal, and ice blocks.
	Prospecting Pick	Harvesting	Damaging rock blocks for long and short range ore and mineral detection.
	Shovel	Harvesting	Digging clay, gravel, peat, sand, soil, and snow blocks.

Metals

See Metals for more information on the various metals and alloys created from casting

Casting Tutorial Videos