How to Smelt Steel Ingots and Craft Steel Gear

Steel is the backbone of every defensive build in the apocalypse. You need a steady supply before you can wall off a base or arm yourself properly.

Getting Steel Ingots

Steel ingots come from a blasting recipe. Feed your raw materials into a blast furnace and collect Steel ingot. Once you have ingots, you can also break them down into Steelnugget for finer recipes, or stack nine into a Steel block for storage and building.

Crafting Steel Equipment

From Steel ingot you can craft the full steel kit:

• Steel sword for melee
• Steel picaxe and Steel shovel for mining and digging
• Steel axe and Steelhoe for wood and farming
• Steel helmet, Steel chestplate, Steel leggins, Steel boots for armor

Building with Steel

Use Steel block and Steel pillar to reinforce walls and doorways. Steel Door and Steel Trapdoor give you entry points that hold up far better than wood. Place them at chokepoints so you control where anything can get in. Keep a stack of Steel ingot on hand at all times — you will burn through them fast once you start reinforcing a base.