Iron

The lifeblood of any productive town. Used for creating essential tools, machinery, and weapons and protection, this is arguably the most valuable resource in the game. Cantr's process for creating iron was complicated over the years.

Iron Ore

Iron ore is created by starting a hematite crushing project on a stone table or work bench. You will be able to crush 525 grams of ore a day, and it will require the use of 750 grams of hematite. Either a hammer or sledgehammer must be in your inventory at the time of working on the project, and either one works just as well as the other. However, there are separate projects for each tool, so one may not help on a hematite crushing project designed for hammers, while using a sledgehammer.

Smelting

Either a smelting furnace or a primitive smelting furnace will work for smelting iron, although a smelting furnace is more efficient. A primitive smelting furnace should only be used in communities that have no access to a it's counterpart yet. For instance, this could be their first batch of iron. However, it makes more sense economically to build a smelting furnace as soon as possible, as the improvements in quality are worthy.