Rust Smelting Calculator
Calculate exact smelting time and wood needed for any stack of metal ore, sulfur ore, or HQM ore. Small furnace, large furnace, electric furnace — includes parallel slots, wood-to-ore ratio, and AFK time.
What Are You Smelting?
Furnace Type
Smelting Results
Metal Fragment
1,000
Total Time
2m 19s
Wood Needed
500
Parallel Smelts
18
Time assumes you feed the furnace continuously. If you can't afk, double the estimate.
Ore Yield Reference
- • Metal / Sulfur: 1 ore = 1 fragment. Fast smelt (2.5s).
- • HQM: 1 ore = 1 HQM. Slow smelt (10s). Requires furnace that accepts HQM ore.
- • Charcoal production: wood burned in furnace yields ~0.75 charcoal each. Keep extra slots open for charcoal.
- • Electric furnace: needs 5 electricity, no wood — infinite smelting with a battery + solar setup.
How the Rust Smelting Calculator Works
Each ore type smelts at a fixed rate in Rust: metal ore and sulfur ore both take 2.5 seconds per ore; HQM ore takes 10 seconds. Multiply that by your ore count and divide by parallel furnace slots, and you know exactly how long you'll be stuck AFK-smelting.
Small furnaces and campfires run 18 parallel slots and burn ~0.5 wood per ore. Large furnaces run 15 slots and burn ~0.7 wood per ore. Electric furnaces run 5 slots but need zero wood — just electricity. Pick the one that matches your farm style.
Charcoal production is a free byproduct. Every wood burned for smelting yields ~0.75 charcoal. Keep a slot open for charcoal extraction or your furnace fills up and stalls. For serious gunpowder runs, set up a dedicated charcoal farm with multiple small furnaces kept on wood.
On modded servers with loot multipliers, the smelting ratio still defaults to 1 ore = 1 refined output. If your server is 2× smelt speed or 2× yield, apply the multiplier after this calculator's vanilla baseline — or host with XGamingServer where all smelt rates are tunable in the panel.
Rust Smelting Calculator — FAQ
How long does it take to smelt metal ore in Rust?
2.5 seconds per ore in any furnace. Small furnaces smelt 18 in parallel (2.5s total for a batch). A stack of 1,000 metal ore takes ~2.3 minutes in a small furnace running at full capacity.
How much wood do I need to smelt 1,000 ore?
A small furnace burns ~0.5 wood per ore = 500 wood for 1,000 ore. Large furnace burns ~0.7 wood/ore = 700 wood. Electric furnace burns zero wood but requires 5 electricity input.
Can I smelt HQM in a small furnace?
No — HQM requires a Large Furnace or Electric Furnace. HQM ore smelts at 10 seconds per ore, 4× slower than regular metal ore.
How does the electric furnace compare to small furnaces for smelting?
Electric furnace has only 5 slots (vs 18 for small) so it's slower per-batch, but it needs no wood and runs forever on 5 electricity. Best for long unattended smelts with a solar/battery setup.
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