How to Get Iron in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

This article explains how to get iron in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It includes information on visiting other islands for additional resources.

How to Get Iron

Iron is an essential resource in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It’s used to craft the most durable, standard version of several tools, it’s a component in many desirable DIY recipes, and you need a lot of it to finish upgrading Nook’s Cranny.

Unlike many common resources, however, Iron can be difficult to find. Hitting the rocks found on your island with a shovel or axe sometimes yields Iron Nuggets.

1. Face a rock with a shovel or axe equipped.

2. Swing the shovel or axe at the rock. It will bounce off, pushing you back slightly, and a resource will appear nearby.

3. Continue striking the rock until no additional resources appear. 

The resource that appears when you strike a rock is random. Iron Nuggets are a possibility, but you’ll also see Stone, Clay, Bells, Gold Nuggets, and even bugs.

How to Maximize Iron From a Rock

Hitting a rock with a shovel or axe is the simple way to obtain resources, but it’s not the most efficient option. The number of resources generated also depends on two factors. How fast you hit the rock, and if there’s enough room for resources to spawn.

Here’s how to maximize the resources you obtain.

1. Clear all objects immediately adjacent to the rock. This includes items not placed by players, like weeds and flowers.

2. Stand at a diagonal to the rock and dig two holes behind your character, as shown in the screenshot below. These stop your character from moving back after striking the stone. 

3. Strike the rock as quickly as possible until it stops producing resources. You can obtain a maximum of eight resources.

How to Farm Even More Iron

Your home island will have only six rocks on it at a time, and one of those will be a Bell Rock that produces no resources. Rocks, like trees, produce a limited number of resources each day. That puts a cap on the amount of Iron Nuggets you can get from rocks on your island each day.

However, you can get even more iron by visiting other deserted islands.

1. Visit Resident Services and use the Nook Stop to redeem 2,000 Nook Miles for a Nook Miles Ticket.

2. Take the Nook Miles Ticket to the Airport and redeem it for a trip to another deserted island.

3. Strike the rock to obtain resources.

The only limit on the number of islands you can visit is the amount of Nook Miles you have available, so this is a great way to rack up Iron Nuggets if you have lots of Nook Miles to spare.