How to Get Iron: A Quick Stardew Valley Guide for Beginners

Obtain iron for your crafting needs

Written by Kyle Smith

Last Updated: February 6, 2023 References

In the Mines

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On Your Farm

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Buying Iron Ore

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Fishing & Foraging

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Late-Game Locations

In Stardew Valley, iron ore is essential for crafting and upgrading your tools to the steel tier. You can easily get iron from a variety of places! The Mines are the typical location to find iron, but you can also buy iron, farm it, and find ore while fishing and foraging. This wikiHow shows you the fastest and easiest ways to get iron in Stardew Valley.

Things You Should Know

Go to the Mines floors 41 to 79 to find iron nodes.
Choose Hill-top Farm or Four Corner Farm for iron to spawn directly on your farm.
Buy iron ores from Clint the Blacksmith on the right side of town.

Section 1 of 5:

In the Mines

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Head to the mines to find iron ore. You can enter the mines by going to the north part of the map, at the base of the mountains. Floors 41 to 79 have the most iron nodes.^{[1]
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- Make sure to bring a pickaxe to mine the iron! (And a weapon to protect yourself).
2
Look for iron nodes. These are gray or blue rocks with light gray pieces of iron sticking out of them. Hit these with your pickaxe to get iron ore.

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3
Destroy crates and barrels. These breakable items in the Mines can contain iron ore. Hit them with your weapon to smash them open!
4
Till the soil. Use your hoe to till the soil in the Mines. There’s a 1.33% chance of finding iron ore in dirt patches.^{[2]
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- You need to be on floors 41 to 79 to find iron through tilling.
5
Fight enemies. A few enemies in the Mines can drop iron ores: Metal Heads, Stone Golems, Dust Sprites, and Iron Slimes.

Section 2 of 5:

On Your Farm

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Select the Hill-top Farm. When starting a new game in Stardew Valley, choose this option for iron ore to appear on your farm. The iron nodes are located on top of the hill in the south west corner of the farm.^{[3]
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- There will be 7 to 13 stones, ore nodes, and geode nodes on the hill. They replenish every fourth day.
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Select the Four Corner Farm. This is the second farm that has a small quarry area. It’s located in the bottom right corner of the farm. There will be stones, ores, and geodes.

Section 3 of 5:

Buying Iron Ore

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Visit Clint to buy iron ore. Clint is Stardew Valley’s blacksmith. He sells iron ore for 150 gold in year one and 250 gold in year two. You can find the blacksmith shop on the right side of town, to the right of the river.
- 150 gold is already a lot of money in the early game, but if you’re looking to increase the difficulty, try lowering the profit margins.
2
Visit the traveling cart. This shop is located on the left side of Stardew Valley, to the right of the wizard’s tower, left of the lake. The cart is only available on Friday and Sunday, with the stock changing every day it appears.
- The traveling merchant will sell ten random items, which may include iron ores and iron bars. The price will also vary, from 100 gold to 1,000 gold for iron ore, and 360 gold to 1,000 gold for iron bars.

Section 4 of 5:

Fishing & Foraging

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Go fishing! Iron ore has a 5 to 10 percent chance of appearing in a treasure chest while fishing. There will be 1 to 24 ores in the stack. Treasure chests have a 15 percent chance of appearing while fishing.^{[4]
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- To get the treasure chest, move the green bobber to the chest and fill its progression bar. Make sure not to lose the fish, or you’ll also lose the chest.
- Check out our guide to attaching bait to your fishing rod.
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Find some geodes. All four types of geodes can contain iron ore. You can find geodes in these locations:
- The Mines - found by breaking stones
- The Farm - found by tilling dirt
- Fishing treasure chests
- Feast of the Winter Star - can be given as a gift
3
Look in the blacksmith garbage can. There’s a chance of getting coal, copper ore, or iron ore from the can!^{[5]
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- Make sure there aren’t any villagers nearby. You’ll lose 25 friendship points if they see you looking in the trash (more specifically, if they’re within a 15 by 15 square around your character).
- You’ll actually gain 5 friendship points if Linus sees you.

Section 5 of 5:

Late-Game Locations

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Note that this section contains late-game spoilers. Skip this section if you don’t want to see spoilers!
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Visit the Quarry. It’s the area across the bridge next to the Adventurer's Guild, in the top right of the map. Ores and gems of any kind can appear here.
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Visit the Skull Cavern. You can find iron ore nodes on any floor of the Skull Cavern. The cavern is in the top left section of the Desert.
4
Try panning for iron. Use the Copper Pan on a shimmering section of water. There’s a 35.9 percent chance of getting iron ore.^{[6]
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Use the Recycling Machine. Put trash into a Recycling Machine for a 21 percent chance of getting 1 to 3 iron ores. Note that it needs to be the item “Trash,” not just any trash!^{[7]
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