Project Zomboid Build 42 Blacksmithing Guide: From Stone Anvil to Steel Armor
TL;DR: start with a Primitive Forge. In the 42.21 files the forge and furnace builds carry no "must be learned" flag, so the magazine is not what stops you; materials are. It costs 10 Stones, a bucket of concrete or clay cement and a Stone Anvil (Masonry 2, a hammer and a Large Stone). Fuel it with charcoal: 2 logs make 12 Wood Charcoal in a Charcoal Pit. Your first bars need no magazine, only a hammer and Simple Wooden Tongs. Metal armor needs the second-tier Forge, Blacksmithing 4 to 8 plus Tailoring 2 to 4, and one of two armor magazines.
Blacksmithing is the Build 42 skill that most players never touch, because the first step looks like it is hidden behind a magazine and the chain from scrap to steel looks endless. It is shorter than it looks. Every recipe, cost and skill level below is read from the 42.21 game scripts that ship with the server build, so you can plan a run around it. For the torch-and-rods side of metal (walls, fences, scrap armor), see our welding guide.
Step 1: Know what needs a magazine and what does not
A common answer on the forums is that you need Magazine: Iron Age Blacksmithing before you can build a forge. In the 42.21 scripts the forge, furnace, Charcoal Pit and charcoal burner builds have no "needs to be learned" flag, while the metal armor, the swords and most tools do, and the game only blocks a recipe when that flag is set. The magazines and character options below still list the builds, and they matter for the item recipes you will want next:
| Source | Forge builds and recipes it teaches |
|---|---|
| Magazine: Iron Age Blacksmithing | Charcoal Pit, Primitive Forge, Primitive Furnace |
| Magazine: Modern Blacksmithing at Home | Forge, Advanced Forge |
| Magazine: Medieval Blacksmithing | Smelting Furnace, Blast Furnace |
| Mason trait (costs 2 points, +2 Masonry) | Every forge and furnace build from Primitive to Advanced, plus the Dome Kiln |
| Blacksmith Knowledge trait (costs 6 points, +2 Blacksmithing, +1 Maintenance) | 80 recipes in all: every forge and furnace build, the Charcoal Pit and drum burner, and the forging recipes for tools, blades and cookware |
| Blacksmith occupation (+4 Blacksmithing, +1 Maintenance, +1 Small Blunt) | The same large recipe list, plus the Blacksmith Knowledge trait for free |
Levelling the Blacksmithing skill does not teach any of these recipes. If you want to forge tools from day one, the occupation or the 6-point trait saves you hunting six or seven magazines; Mason is mostly worth it for the Masonry boost, since the Stone Anvil needs Masonry 2 and every Stone Block needs Masonry 1.
Step 2: Build a Stone Anvil and a Primitive Forge
| Build | Materials | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Stone Anvil (item) | 1 Large Stone, plus a hammer or club hammer kept | Masonry 2. Can be made on the floor. |
| Primitive Forge | 10 Stones, 1 Bucket of Concrete or Clay Cement, 1 Stone Anvil | Runs every "Primitive Forge" recipe. |
| Primitive Furnace | 6 Clay, 4 Stones, 1 Bucket of Concrete or Clay Cement | Melts iron items into Iron Chunks and turns Iron Ore into Iron Blooms. |
| Charcoal Pit | A digging tool, kept (Spade, Shovel, Wooden Spade or Entrenching Tool) | Makes Wood Charcoal. |
| Charcoal Burner | 1 Metal Drum or barrel, 4 Stones | Same charcoal recipes as the pit. |
A bucket of concrete or clay cement is part of every forge and furnace build, so secure one before you collect the stones.
Fuel: charcoal
Every forge recipe burns charcoal. Anything tagged as charcoal works: Charcoal from loot, Wood Charcoal you make, and Coke. In a Charcoal Pit or Charcoal Burner, 2 Logs make 12 Wood Charcoal, and the recipe also takes branches or planks instead of logs. Budget it: a single steel bar from four chunks burns 4, extracting chunks from an Iron Bloom burns up to 18, and the Coat of Plates burns 25 on its own.
Step 3: Get a hammer and tongs
Almost every recipe keeps a hammer in one hand and tongs in the other. What the game accepts:
- Hammer: Ball-peen Hammer, Claw Hammer, Smithing Hammer or Stone Hammer. Some recipes also take a Club Hammer. Later recipes ask specifically for a smithing hammer (the Smithing Hammer or a Ball-peen Hammer) or a ball-peen hammer.
- Crude tongs: Simple Wooden Tongs (Carving, made in hand with a sharp knife or meat cleaver, a plank, branch, wooden rod or large handle, and twine, rag, denim strips, leather strips or rope) or Kitchen Tongs. Many early recipes accept these.
- Real Tongs: needed for blocks, full bars from chunks and most later work. The Tongs recipe (Blacksmithing 1, learned from Magazine: Everyday Smithing - June 1993) takes 2 bar quarters and 3 charcoal, and needs a Metalworking Punch and a Heading Tool, which the same magazine teaches you to forge first.
Step 4: Get metal
Forging works on Iron Chunks and Steel Chunks. You get iron chunks in a Primitive Furnace with an empty Large Ceramic Crucible (kept) and crude tongs, by melting down iron items:
| Iron item size | Examples | Charcoal | Iron Chunks out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small | Can Opener, Cheese Grater, Dumbbell, Fireplace Poker | 1 | 1 |
| Medium | File, Metalworking Chisel, Broken Iron Pipe, Iron Bar Half | 3 | 2 |
| Medium plus | Iron Pipe, Simple Shortsword Blade | 4 | 3 |
| Large | Iron Bar, Iron Block, Axe Head, Club Hammer Head | 6 | 4 |
The crucible itself is pottery: Pottery 1 on a pottery wheel, 2 Clay and a Sack of Sand, then fired. The other iron source is Iron Ore: a Primitive Furnace turns 1 ore and 8 charcoal into an Iron Bloom, and a Primitive Forge hammers one bloom into 12 Iron Chunks.
Steel needs the top-tier Blast Furnace. There, one large steel item such as a brake, a crowbar or a circular sawblade gives 4 Steel Chunks for 9 charcoal, and iron items can be turned into steel with Coke and Limestone instead of charcoal.
Step 5: Your first recipes, no magazine needed
These Primitive Forge recipes are not flagged as learned, so anyone with the forge can run them. They are how you start levelling. Each grants 10 Blacksmithing XP.
| Recipe | Input | Tongs | Charcoal | Output |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bar quarter from chunk | 1 Iron or Steel Chunk | Crude or real | 1 | 1 Bar Quarter |
| Half bar | 2 Chunks or Bar Quarters | Crude or real | 2 | 1 Bar Half |
| Pierce chunk | 1 Chunk, plus a Metalworking Punch | Crude or real | 1 | 1 Pierced Chunk |
| Small Iron Band | 1 Bar Quarter | Crude or real | 1 | 1 Iron Band - Small |
| Bar from chunks | 4 Chunks | Real | 4 | 1 Bar |
| Block from chunks | 4 Chunks | Real | 2 | 1 Block |
The first blade, the Simple Metal Blade, is also unflagged, needs no skill and gives 25 XP from a bar quarter. Beyond that, items are magazine recipes with a skill floor: Tongs, Heading Tool, Draw Plate, Metalworking Punch and the Smithing Hammer Head at level 1, the Fleshing Tool, Mason's Chisel and Bucket at 3, sheets and gardening tools at 4.
The forge tiers and what each one adds
| Tier | Build cost | Recipes it adds | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primitive Forge | 10 Stones, concrete or clay cement, Stone Anvil | 58 | Bars, blocks, nails, tongs, punch, knives, crude blades, smithing hammer head |
| Forge | 30 Stone Blocks, concrete or clay cement, Blacksmith Anvil, Wooden Bucket, Log, a Mason's Trowel or Wooden Trowel kept | 56 more | All metal armor, steel sheets, saw, file, drill, pliers, chisels, crude swords |
| Advanced Forge | As the Forge, plus Large Bellows | 25 more | Sword and shortsword blades, axe and pickaxe heads, crowbar, buckle, steel rod |
Each tier also runs everything the tiers below it run. The furnaces follow the same pattern: the Smelting Furnace (40 Stone Blocks, concrete or clay cement, a trowel kept) adds casting bars and ingots and melting glass, and the Blast Furnace (the same plus Large Bellows) adds all the steel recipes.
The step from Primitive Forge to Forge is the Blacksmith Anvil, and it is a project in itself: build a Wooden Blacksmith Anvil Mold (Carpentry 2, 4 Planks and Nails), press it with 8 Clay at a hand press, fire the clay mold in a kiln, then cast it at a Smelting Furnace with 32 crucibles of molten iron and 10 charcoal. Stone Blocks are Masonry 1: a hammer, a chisel and one Stone per block. The Large Bellows is Carpentry 1: 2 Planks, 2 Nails, 2 Medium Handles and a piece of crude-tanned medium leather.
Metal armor: what it really costs
The forged armor recipes all run at the second-tier Forge and need both Blacksmithing and Tailoring. Magazine: Armor in the Iron Age teaches the basic limb pieces, the Metal Body Armor and the Metal Mask; Magazine: European Armor in the Late Medieval Era teaches the articulated pieces, the Crude Metal Helmet, the gorget, codpiece and armored gloves, and the Coat of Plates.
| Piece | Skills | Steel Sheet - Small | Charcoal | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metal Thigh, Shin, Forearm or simple Shoulder Armor | Blacksmithing 4, Tailoring 2 | 1 | 3 | Leather Strips, Buckles |
| Metal Body Armor | Blacksmithing 6, Tailoring 3 | 8 | 17 | 6 Leather Strips, 4 Buckles |
| Crude Metal Helmet | Blacksmithing 6, Tailoring 3 | 4 | 9 | 1 Leather Strip |
| Articulated thigh, shin, shoulder, full forearm | Blacksmithing 8, Tailoring 4 | 2 or 3 | 5 to 7 | Leather Strips, Buckles |
| Coat of Plates Body Armor | Blacksmithing 8, Tailoring 4 | 12 | 25 | 6 Leather Strips, 4 Buckles |
The body armor, the helmet and the limb pieces also keep a sewing needle and an awl and use heavy thread. Each Steel Sheet - Small is its own forge recipe: Blacksmithing 4 at the Forge, 1 Steel Chunk and 1 charcoal, with a ball-peen hammer, tongs and a metalworking chisel, learned from Magazine: Everyday Smithing - April 1993. So the real bill for Metal Body Armor is 8 Steel Chunks and 25 charcoal, and for the Coat of Plates 12 Steel Chunks and 37 charcoal. Buckles are forged at the Advanced Forge (Blacksmithing 4).
Body armor compared
| Item | Bite | Scratch | Bullet | Combat speed | Run speed | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metal Body Armor | 80 | 90 | 20 | 0.95 | 0.90 | 4.0 |
| Coat of Plates Body Armor | 80 | 90 | 15 | 0.97 | 0.95 | 4.0 |
The Coat of Plates does not protect better against zombies. What the extra 4 sheets and two skill levels buy is a smaller penalty: combat speed 0.97 instead of 0.95, and run speed 0.95 instead of 0.90. The Crude Metal Helmet is 100 bite and 100 scratch for 2.0 weight.
Levelling Blacksmithing
- Bars, quarters, blocks and pierced chunks give 10 XP each and need no magazine. They are the grind.
- The level 1 tool recipes (Tongs, Heading Tool, Draw Plate, Punch, Smithing Hammer Head) give 25 XP each.
- Recipe XP rises with the level: steel sheets 45, the Buckle 40, the Metal Body Armor 50, the Coat of Plates 100.
- Bars can be cut back into halves at the forge (with a metalworking chisel) and reforged, so a stack of chunks is reusable practice material.
Server admins can change the rate with the Blacksmithing Multiplier in the sandbox XP settings, which is worth raising on a long multiplayer world where one player becomes the group's smith. Our sandbox settings guide covers where to change it.
Frequently asked questions
How do you start blacksmithing in Project Zomboid Build 42?
Make a Stone Anvil (Masonry 2, a hammer and a Large Stone) and build a Primitive Forge from 10 Stones, a bucket of concrete or clay cement and the anvil. Fuel it with charcoal and use Simple Wooden Tongs for your first bars.
Do you need a magazine to build a forge?
Not in Build 42.21. The forge and furnace builds carry no learn flag in the game files, so the materials are the real gate. Magazine: Iron Age Blacksmithing, Modern Blacksmithing at Home and Medieval Blacksmithing list them, as do the Mason and Blacksmith Knowledge traits and the Blacksmith occupation, and those also teach the item recipes that do need learning.
How do you get a Blacksmith Anvil?
Cast it. Make a Wooden Blacksmith Anvil Mold, press it with 8 Clay, fire the clay mold in a kiln, then cast it at a Smelting Furnace with 32 crucibles of molten iron and 10 charcoal. The Primitive Forge only needs a Stone Anvil.
What level do you need for metal armor in Project Zomboid?
Blacksmithing 4 and Tailoring 2 for the basic limb pieces, Blacksmithing 6 and Tailoring 3 for Metal Body Armor and the Crude Metal Helmet, and Blacksmithing 8 and Tailoring 4 for the articulated pieces and the Coat of Plates. All of them need the second-tier Forge and an armor magazine.
What counts as charcoal for the forge?
Charcoal from loot, Wood Charcoal you make (2 Logs give 12 in a Charcoal Pit or burner) and Coke all carry the charcoal tag the forge recipes use.
One player smithing for the whole group is a long-world plan. Host a Project Zomboid server with Supercraft, set the XP multipliers your group wants, and keep the forge burning.