The TiC version needs blaze ingredients I think (so not early game, unless you find the desert flowers). What does the DC one need?This time time around I used dartcraft for a while as my first mod. It was nice to have a pickaxe that would pulverize and smelt the ores for me (You can also use TiC for the same purpose). Of course, this is no needed once you have a quarry or something similar .