As the headline says.
You can make steal much earlier in your game by making the traincraft crafting bench that only costs a workbench + 2 iron and some wood.
The recipe is as follows. 4 coal in a square makes 4 coal dust
8 coal dust and a single clay makes 8 graphite.
3 iron the top row with a single graphite in the middle gives 4 steel dusts. melt in a vanilla furnace and get 8 steel.
So at the cost of 1 clay and 8 coal and 24 iron you get a full stack of steel. and this steel is compatible with all of the steel requiring recipes in the game.
You can make steal much earlier in your game by making the traincraft crafting bench that only costs a workbench + 2 iron and some wood.
The recipe is as follows. 4 coal in a square makes 4 coal dust
8 coal dust and a single clay makes 8 graphite.
3 iron the top row with a single graphite in the middle gives 4 steel dusts. melt in a vanilla furnace and get 8 steel.
So at the cost of 1 clay and 8 coal and 24 iron you get a full stack of steel. and this steel is compatible with all of the steel requiring recipes in the game.