In the game: help foundry Also smelt furnace craft refine refine metal refining purify temper concentrate
Refine raw metal and other materials at a foundry before you craft with them.
Put ore or scrap metal into a foundry, and you get refined metal that a forge can use. You can take cheap scrap straight to a forge, but what you make from it will be poor. Better metal has to be refined first. Other refining stations, such as a loom, use the same commands.
If a room has more than one station, add at <station> to each command.
load
craft load <item> [at <station>]
craft load <slot> <item> [at <station>]
Put a carried material into the station. Name the slot when a recipe has more than one. You can name the material in full.
If you do not choose a recipe, the station will automatically pick one that works for the material. If more than one can be chosen, the station will name them for you to choose.
The material stays in the station until you claim the work. If you change your mind, craft cancel gives it back to you.
Example: craft load low-grade iron ore
recipe
craft recipe [<recipe>] [at <station>]
Choose what the station will make. You can name the recipe the way the crafting menu shows it, or by the material it makes. If you do not give a name, the station lists what it can make.
Example: craft recipe shear steel
refine
craft refine [<technique>] [at <station>]
Start the station. The work takes time. Alias: craft smelt.
A technique steers the result. Every technique costs some of the yield:
purify: cleaner material, and less of it.
harden: harder, stiffer material, and a little less of it.
temper: tougher, slightly softer material, and a little less of it.
concentrate: stronger, more toxic material, and much less of it. It suits chemicals, not metal.
If you leave the technique out, you get the plain result. In the crafting menu, you can type the technique after your choice, as in 2 harden.
Example: craft refine harden
status
craft status [at <station>]
See how the work is going.
claim
craft claim [at <station>]
Take the finished material out of the station.
To find raw materials, see help scavenging and help survival.
To make weapons from refined metal, see help weaponsmithing.
For blueprints and plans, see help crafting.