How to Make Pig Iron in Dwarf Fortress?

Dwarf Fortress is a big game. And, for obvious reasons, that is an understatement. It is a massive game, with its available content only able to rival the amount of love the game has received from both the developers and the gamers alike. You can do a lot of stuff in the game, but by your units being dwarves, smelting, building and manufacture is one of the main things you will be able to do. On that note, here is how to make pig iron in Dwarf Fortress.

How to Make Pig Iron

Pig Iron is not made from pigs. So don’t expect a building smelling like bacon or something. It actually is a component most commonly used for the manufacture and production of steel, although you can also use it to create buildings and construction that have no bar type restrictions whatsoever. In fact, dwarves usually feel happier in rooms or floors made of pig iron. Here is how to make pig iron in Dwarf Fortress:

Pig Iron Recipe

• In order to make pig iron, you will need a Furnace and a dwarf with the furnace operating labor activated.
• Pig Iron’s recipe is the following and will create one pig iron bar:
  • One iron bar, whose ores (Hematite, Magnetite and Limonite) can be found in sedimentary layers, although Hematite can be found in igneous extrusive layers from time to time.
  • One flux material, which are stones that have a value of 2 and can be: Calcite, Chalk, Dolomite, Limestone and Marble. For pig iron, you can only use stones, not blocks.
  • A unit of fuel for a Magma Smelter: either coke or charcoal, not wood. You will need two units of fuel if using a Normal Smelter
• Enjoy your pig iron for steel production or room building!

Related: How to get seeds in Dwarf Fortress

Well, that was very informative, am I right? It is only a bit of what Dwarf Fortress has to offer. It can get a little bit overwhelming, but any game that has been developed for 20 years really deserves a bit of patience and a shot for it to do its magic. Furthermore, it is not a surprise that it is currently being universally praised. Good luck with those pig iron bars!

Dwarf Fortress, with updated graphics and content, is available on Windows. Please check out Gamer Journalist on Facebook to join the discussion and keep up to date with our content. You might also like to check out or guides on What to do when your Dwarf Falls into a secretive mood in Dwarf Fortress and How to Bury Your Dead in Dwarf Fortress.