Stardew Valley: Copper
How to get Copper Ore, Find Coal, and Craft a Furnace
You can find copper in the mine, once you brave its depths and explore. There are over 100 levels with escalating difficulty.
Players looking to find Copper in Stardew Valley may be at first confused, because the stones on the farm do not really drop it when you hit them with the pickaxe. Aside from buying it for inflated prices from the Blacksmith on the eastern side of Pelican Town (75g per ore is 375g per copper bar, of which you'll need around 5 to upgrade a tool), the main way to get this metal is to go looking for copper directly in the mines. Once you've got that, you may be confused on what to do next. This tutorial will show you how to find copper and get copper bars from it, which are needed to upgrade tools and craft various structures for the farm.
How to Get and Make Copper Bars
- Wait until day 5, when you have access to the Mine.
- Enter, take the starter sword from the head of the Guild and begin searching the mines for copper veins.
- With 20 Copper and 25 Stone, you can now make a Furnace.
- Have one Coal in your inventory and at least 5 Copper
- Hold the Copper ore and click on the Furnace to turn the 5 Copper into a Copper Bar.
Where to Find Copper: The Mines
Coal is sometimes found in mine carts inside the mine. Otherwise, you'll get it at random when breaking rocks. Going on a lucky day increases your odds.
These are found on the far Northeastern side of town. It's fastest to get there by going through the top exit of the farm, then heading East until you see the bridge. The first backpack upgrade for 2000G in Pierre's store is highly recommended before going past ~level 10+ as you will begin to collect far more items than you can carry. The mines get progressively harder as you go deeper. By killing monsters, you'll level your combat skill. Mining ore will help to level that associated skill as well. Progress is made in the Mine by finding the ladder down, which can be used any time it's revealed. On each pass through a level look for anything useful, kill a few monsters, then begin breaking rocks etc. until you find a ladder. On to the next. You'll know copper ore when you see it, and most useful items do stand out there. Be sure to break any barrels, crates, and click on any mine carts/satchels for the chance at some coal.
Make a furnace using the crafting menu. You have to do this even if you buy your own copper ore.
Combat is relatively easy in Stardew Valley, you can take food to help heal your character. Cooked foods are best, but any fruit or vegetable will do. You will not find an abundance of copper until level 25+. Thankfully, every 5 levels in the mine you will find an elevator. You can use the ladder/elevator to leave any time immediately to level 0. When you return to the mine, you will be able to use the elevator to go back to the last level you visited ending in 5 or 0. Take care not to pass out or 'get killed' in the mines, because you can lose items and money. Some will be returned to you via mail shortly after your 'accident', depending whether you passed out (just lose gold) or get knocked out by a monster (lose some items and gold). You can always escape to a ladder and return to make progress later. Leaving by around midnight (preferably a little earlier) is advisable, because it takes about an hour to get home.
Always water your crops before venturing into the mines. You've essentially got to keep going back until you can either afford to buy copper ore to combine with what you've found, or have enough coal to craft the bars (1 coal per bar). Always follow any rails you see in the mines. You're likely to come across a cart with about 10 ore inside. Don't worry though, you will find more and more coal the deeper you go in the mine. By around level 40-50 you should have plenty of everything and start to find even better metal ore with more frequent drops of coal.
Crafting a Furnace to Make Metal Bars
Click the furnace with copper in hand (and coal in your inventory) to turn the ore into purified bars.
Whether you buy your copper ore or find it yourself, you'll need to make a furnace to smelt the copper into usable bars. Hit ESC to bring up the menu and go to the crafting tab. There you can find the Furnace item. Putting this on your hot bar, you can place it nearly anywhere you like. It takes about 30 seconds to turn 5 ore into one bar. This is done by holding the copper and clicking on the furnace. It should fire up and, when the wait is over, you've got your bar!
Crafting Coal: The Charcoal Kiln
At Foraging level 4, you get the ability to craft a Charcoal Kiln. This converts 10 pieces of wood into 1 coal after about 30 seconds, and it is a godsend if you've had bad luck with coal drops. However, you must come up with a gold bar to make it. Gold ore can be bought from Clint the Blacksmith for 400g each, totaling 2000 for one gold bar which could be used to make the Charcoal Kiln. So long as you have the one charcoal needed to make that, you should have an infinite supply given your ability to plant seeds and grow trees.
