So you want to use something better than a stone hatchet, a spear, and some hide armor? Well, you had better be able to stand the heat of the forge and be willing to brave the wilds to find the ore you need.

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Preparation: Resources

     Kanga Blacksmith adds several of its own resources, and utilizes several vanilla resources. The Kanga resources can be found at two new nodes, the impure node and the pure node, that will be placed throughout the world, generally tied to the spawns of specific creatures. Learning which nodes tend to be around which creatures is a must--impure nodes tend to be found around Parasaurs and Dilos, where the pure nodes tend to be found around Ankies and Kentros. For the Lithium server, ore nodes have been manually placed by staff in various locations, generally on the highest peaks or in the hottest places.

     The impure node is a smallish sized grayish rock with the barest hint of gold shimmer to it, and provides impure ore, stone, and clay.

     The pure node is a smallish sized blackish rock with a faint hint of copper-color to it, and provides impure ore, metal ore, and stone.

     Both nodes can be hard to spot, so keep your eyes peeled!

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Step 1: Coal Burners

     To begin with, it is highly recommended that the first thing you focus on is crafting and filling at least two Primitive Coal Burners. This structure is one of two that provides you with the coal you need to fuel your forges and bloomery. They work incredibly slowly, so having more than one is imperative.

     Fill them up with wood, then let them burn down while you focus on the next steps.

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Step 2: Workbench

     Next, you will need to learn and craft the Primitive Blacksmith Workbench. As you might imagine, this workbench will be the heart of your primitive stage of blacksmithing. This is where the various pieces of items will be made, as well as other structures you will need for your trade. Place it somewhere relatively centralized in your workshop so that it's easy to get to.

     Now craft and place the structures available within the Primitive Blacksmith Workbench. They are: Sharpening Stone, Stone Anvil, Primitive Forge, Primitive Bellows, and Bloomery. Again, you will want these all within reach of the workbench.

     Go ahead learn the engrams for and then make yourself an ingot mold and a hammer head mold.

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Step 3: Bloomery

     The Bloomery is where you will melt the impure metal ore than you harvest into metal bloom, and then into worked hot bloom, and finally into metal ore. You will need ample coal to fuel the bloomery, as it is incredibly inefficient, so make sure you keep your coal burners going 24/7!

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Step 4: Forge

     The Primitive Forge is where you will take your metal ore, and vanilla metal, to create ingots and hammer heads using molds. The forge also requires coal, but it requires one step further: you must place coal in, then use the bellows to create air enriched coal, which acts as the fuel to keep the fires hot enough to work the metal. This creation of air enriched coal is where your crafting skill first comes into play for the blacksmith mod; The higher your crafting skill, the more coal is converted into air enriched coal at once.

     Place your ingot mold and your hammer head mold into the forge. Then, using metal ore and vanilla metal, make a hot weak metal ingot, followed by a weak hammer head.

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Step 5: Back To Bench

     Return to the Primitive Blacksmith Workbench to craft a wooden handle, then combine the weak hammer head and handle to create a weak blacksmith's hammer.

     Now, you can get to making some weak metal tools.

     To do so, start by learning the Primitive Tool Blacksmithing engram. We're going to follow the same basic procedure, with the addition of sharpening the metal.

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Step 6: Second Verse, Same As The First

     Use the Bloomery and Stone Anvil to get some metal ore, and place that ore along with some vanilla metal into the Primitive Forge. With your ingot mold in the forge, craft 6 hot weak metal ingots.

     Take those hot ingots to the Stone Anvil, and put your new weak blacksmith's hammer in alongside them. Pound the ingots into the weak sickle blade, weak pickaxe head, and weak hatchet head. Note: Each time you use an anvil, the structure itself will take damage. This is to simulate the wear and tear of use. You can repair it as you would any other structure.

     With those heads and blade in hand, go to your Primitive Blacksmith Workbench. Place them inside, and craft three wooden handles. Then craft each tool in turn. You will notice that these tools are labeled as 'blunt,' which means you cannot use them just yet. You'll need to take those over to the Sharpening Stone next.

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Step 7: Sharpening

     In order to sharpen tools and weapons, you will need cutting fluid. This is an engram that, once learned, enables you to craft cutting fluid in your inventory. Go ahead and make three, then add it to the Sharpening Stone along with your tools. Then, craft the sharpened versions of each tool. This is where your crafting skill truly comes into play: the higher your crafting skill, the higher chance of crafting items with higher quality, damage, and durability; A blacksmith reaches their full potential after 15 levels are put into their crafting skill and they have reached level 70 themselves.

     Et voila! You now have a set of basic tools, and know the basic process to blacksmithing! All tools, weapons, and armor, are made using these same steps, although there are different engram and upgraded structure requirements for higher tiers.

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     Let's go over some of the other structures to fill in any gaps:

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Pocket Whetstone

     Used to keep a bladed tool or weapon at maximum efficiency when out in the field. All you have to do is drag the whetstone over the item you wish to hone in your inventory. You can see an item's effectiveness by hovering over it in your inventory and looking in the bottom right of the info pane.

     The Pocket Obsidian Whetstone is a longer-lasting version.

     Note: A whetstone will only return effectiveness to 100%. If your item has more than 100% effectiveness, the whetstone will not work until it falls below 100%.

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Storage

     The Ingot Shelf, Spear Rack, and Weapon Rack, are as self-explanatory as can be. Craft it, place it, and use it to store your items.

     The Hammer Shelf is both storage and use. If placed close to the Advanced Anvil, it will automatically use any hammers within its inventory when you craft in the anvil itself. This clears up space in the anvil, and makes it easy to see how many hammers you have left: the exact number is displayed by how many hammers are in the rack visually.

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Upgrades

     The Blacksmith Workbench, the Advanced Coal Burner, Advanced Forge Large Bellows, Blacksmith Anvil, Sharpening Wheel, and Advanced cutting fluid, are all a better version of their primitive counterparts. They work much faster and allow you to craft higher quality items.

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Stamp Mill

     As important as it is loud. It is highly recommended to place this somewhere out of earshot of areas you frequent.

     This mill allows you to crush impure ore directly into metal ore, stone to gravel, and obsidian to obsidian powder. Effectively, the mill replaces the extremely inefficient Bloomery.

     To operate, it requires four Stamp Mill Pistons, which can be made at the Blacksmith Workbench. Make sure you keep an eye on the pistons, as they degrade through use.

     Though not readily apparent, there are a total of three inventories on a Stamp Mill: the mill itself, the gravel hopper, and the stone hopper.

     The mill's inventory can be accessed by standing at its side and looking at the middle of the structure--this is where you will place the Stamp Pistons.

     The stone hopper can be accessed by standing at the rear of the mill--this is where you will place stone, impure metal, or obsidian, to be crushed.

     The gravel hopper can be access by standing at the front of the mill--this is where the pulverized products will be stored for you to pick up.

     Once you have the pistons installed, and place something into the stone hopper, the mill will automatically begin crushing until the stone hopper is empty or a piston degrades entirely.