How to Make a Furnace in Terraria
How to Make a Furnace in Terraria — Crafting Guide
⚡ QUICK ANSWER
Craft a Furnace at your Work Bench using 20 Stone + 4 Wood + 3 Torches. Stone is mined underground, Wood from trees, and Torches from 3 Wood + 1 Gel. Place the Furnace next to your Work Bench and stand near it to smelt ores into bars. It is the second crafting station you need after the Work Bench and unlocks all metal smelting.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Recipe | 20 Stone + 4 Wood + 3 Torches at a Work Bench |
| Stone source | Mine any Stone block underground with any pickaxe |
| What it smelts | Copper, Tin, Iron, Lead, Silver, Tungsten, Gold, Platinum, Hellstone, Meteorite |
| Also crafts | Glass (2 Sand), Glass Bottles, Hellstone Bars (with Obsidian) |
| Upgrade | Hellforge — found in the Underworld, smelts Hellstone Bars |
| Size | 3 tiles wide × 2 tiles tall |
How to Make a Furnace — Step by Step
Collect 20 Stone blocks
Stone is the most common block in Terraria — it covers the majority of the underground. Mine it with any pickaxe starting just below the dirt surface. You need exactly 20 Stone for the Furnace recipe. Stone appears as plain grey blocks underground and is easily distinguished from dirt above and ore-bearing stone deeper down. A 10-second mining session near the surface usually yields all 20 Stone you need. Keep extra for later — Stone is used in many recipes throughout the game.
🪨 20 Stone — mine just below the surface with any pickaxeCollect 4 Wood and craft 3 Torches
You also need 4 Wood and 3 Torches. Wood comes from chopping any tree. Torches are crafted from 3 Wood + 1 Gel (from Slimes) by hand from your inventory — no station needed. You likely already have Torches from day one survival, so check your inventory before crafting more. The Furnace recipe consumes 3 Torches, so make sure you have at least 3 available. Having extra Torches on hand for underground exploration is always useful anyway.
🔥 3 Torches = 3 Wood + 1 Gel (crafted by hand in inventory)Craft the Furnace at your Work Bench
Stand next to your Work Bench and open your inventory. Find the Furnace in the crafting list — it requires 20 Stone, 4 Wood, and 3 Torches all at once. Click it to craft. The Furnace appears in your inventory as a large orange item. This is your second essential crafting station after the Work Bench, and building it as soon as possible — ideally within your first 10 minutes of play — is one of the most important early game steps.
🛠️ Furnace = 20 Stone + 4 Wood + 3 Torches at Work BenchPlace the Furnace next to your Work Bench
Select the Furnace from your hotbar and right-click to place it. It needs a flat solid surface of 3 tiles. Place it directly next to your Work Bench so both stations are accessible without moving. The Furnace glows with an orange flame when placed — it is always «on» and does not require fuel. Standing near it automatically adds the Furnace recipes to your crafting panel alongside your Work Bench recipes.
📐 Place next to Work Bench — 3 tiles wide, always activeSmelt your first ore into bars
With ore in your inventory, stand near the Furnace and open your crafting menu. You will see smelting recipes — 3 Copper Ore = 1 Copper Bar, 3 Iron Ore = 1 Iron Bar, and so on for every ore type in the game. Click to smelt in bulk by holding the button. Smelt everything you collected during your underground session immediately — raw ore cannot be used in crafting, only bars. The Furnace also crafts Glass (2 Sand = 1 Glass) for Glass Bottles and building.
⚗️ 3 Ore = 1 Bar — smelt all your collected ore in one sessionFind a Hellforge in the Underworld for Hellstone Bars
The regular Furnace cannot smelt Hellstone Bars — that requires a Hellforge, the upgraded version found inside houses in the Underworld. When you reach the Underworld during pre-Hardmode progression, look for the small brick buildings with a Hellforge inside — it looks like a Furnace but made of Hellstone and obsidian. Mine it with a Nightmare or Deathbringer Pickaxe and bring it back to your base. The Hellforge does everything the regular Furnace does plus Hellstone Bar smelting.
🔥 Hellforge: found in Underworld buildings — upgrades Furnace for Hellstone BarsPro Tips
Build the Furnace within your first 5 minutes of play — you need it to smelt Copper Bars for the Iron Anvil, and the Iron Anvil unlocks almost all other early crafting. The sooner you build it the faster your progression.
Place multiple Furnaces next to each other if you smelt large quantities of ore — you can interact with any one of them to access all the same recipes, and having them bunched together keeps your crafting area compact.
The Furnace also crafts Glass Bottles (requires making Glass first from 2 Sand, then Bottle from 2 Glass) — essential for potion crafting once you have a Placed Bottle.
Once you get the Hellforge, you do not need to keep your regular Furnace — the Hellforge is a strict upgrade that replaces it entirely. Keep the Hellforge and recycle the Furnace into building materials if you need space.
Stone is one of the most commonly needed crafting materials in Terraria — stockpile several hundred in a chest early on. It is used for Platforms, Stone Bricks, the Furnace itself, and dozens of furniture recipes.
The Furnace is the second station every player builds in Terraria and the one that unlocks the entire metal crafting chain. Without it you cannot smelt ore, which means no Iron Bars, no Iron Anvil, and no metal tools, weapons, or armor. The recipe is intentionally cheap — 20 Stone, 4 Wood, 3 Torches — so there is no reason to delay building it. If the Work Bench is your first infrastructure, the Furnace is your second. The moment you have these two stations you have access to the majority of early game crafting and can begin the ore-smelt-craft loop that drives the first half of a Terraria playthrough.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a Furnace do in Terraria?
A Furnace smelts raw ore into metal bars — Copper, Tin, Iron, Lead, Silver, Tungsten, Gold, Platinum, and Meteorite. It also crafts Glass from Sand and Glass Bottles. It cannot smelt Hellstone Bars — that requires the Hellforge found in the Underworld.
Can you make a Furnace without a Work Bench in Terraria?
No. The Furnace is crafted at a Work Bench — you need the Work Bench first. Since the Work Bench itself is crafted by hand from 10 Wood without any station, the progression is: collect Wood → craft Work Bench by hand → craft Furnace at Work Bench.
Does the Furnace need fuel in Terraria?
No. The Furnace in Terraria is always active and does not consume any fuel. Once placed it glows permanently and is ready to smelt at any time. This is different from real-life furnaces or Minecraft furnaces that require fuel items.
What is the difference between a Furnace and a Hellforge in Terraria?
The Hellforge is an upgraded version of the Furnace found in the Underworld. It does everything the Furnace does plus smelts Hellstone Ore + Obsidian into Hellstone Bars, which are required for Molten Armor and the Fiery Greatsword. Once you have the Hellforge, it completely replaces the regular Furnace.