Why This Matters
Abandoned mineshafts are packed with rails, and villages and structures leave behind minecarts. If you're short on iron and don't want to strip-mine, smelting these finds is a fast way to top up your supply.
Gathering the Items
1. Explore mineshafts and collect every rail you can carry — they're cheap to grab and stack well.
2. Pick up any minecarts you find in mineshafts, villages, or abandoned structures.
3. Bring them all back to a base furnace (or set up a furnace right at the mine entrance).
Smelting Them Down
1. Load rails and minecarts into the top slot of your furnace.
2. Add fuel in the bottom slot.
3. Let each item finish and pull the output.
Minecarts return an iron ingot each. Rails are smaller, so expect nuggets rather than full ingots — but a stack of rails adds up quickly. Don't expect a 1:1 return on the iron that went into crafting them; the mod deliberately gives back less than the full cost.
Making It Worthwhile
- Set up a dedicated "recycling furnace" near your storage so you can dump scavenged metal without interrupting your main smelting.
- Combine this with normal mining: smelt ore for ingots and scavenged items for bonus nuggets in the same session.
