Minecraft Achievement Guide: Acquire Hardware

Minecraft players can turn their iron ore into iron ingots, by smelting the ore at a furnace with a fuel source.

Iron ingots are an important and useful resource for players to obtain in Minecraft, as they allow for the creation of more powerful items.

With iron ingots, players will be able to make an iron pickaxe that is capable of mining diamond ore. Furthermore, players with enough iron ingots, will even be able to make iron blocks and possibly even an iron golem.

The most traditional way to get iron ingots in Minecraft is through mining and then smelting ore, which can be found throughout the depths, caves, and ravines of the Overworld.

Minecraft Bedrock players actually earn an achievement for smelting their very first batch of iron ore into an iron ingot.

This article breaks down how to find and smelt iron ore in Minecraft, in the process explaining how to earn the "Acquire Hardware" achievement on Bedrock Edition.

Minecraft Achievement Guide: Acquire Hardware

In order to mine iron ore, Minecraft players are going to need a stone quality pickaxe or higher. A stone pickaxe can be made by combining three pieces of cobblestone with two sticks at a crafting table.

Cobblestone can be obtained from mining all of the various stone blocks that can be found in plentiful abundance throughout the Overworld.

Players who are interested in more information regarding how to build the four major tools in Minecraft, can find that here.

Once players have at least a stone quality pickaxe, they can begin their hunt for iron ore. The ore itself can be found naturally generated in every Overworld biome from Y=0 to Y=63.

This means that players can find iron ore, all the way down near where bedrock is found up to right around below sea level.

However, searching through cavines, scanning the walls of ravines, and strip mining are likely a player's best bets for finding iron ore quickly.

Once Minecraft players have mined up some iron ore, all they will need to do is place it into a furnace and supply a fuel source. The fuel source that players use is entirely up to them, but options include coal, charcoal, and dried kelp blocks.

Smelting iron ore into iron ingots at a furnace in Minecraft. (Image via Minecraft)

Minecraft players will just need to wait a moment for their iron to smelt, and then they will be able to retrieve their own iron ingot. Once Minecraft players have pulled out their iron ingot from the furnace, they will earn the "Acquire Hardware" achievement on Bedrock Edition.