Furnace Recycle
by Serilum
Furnace Recycle lets players smelt metal-containing items such as rails, bells and iron doors in a furnace to recover some of their raw materials.
What it does
Every metal-containing vanilla item gets a smelting recipe that returns raw material, such as iron nuggets, iron ingots, gold ingots or an iron block. The yield is smaller than the cost of crafting the item, so the returned iron and gold add up slowly rather than creating a loop. Mineshaft rails and village bells become a source of metal, which can reduce the need for mining. Each smelt is slow and yields a small amount of experience on completion.
The recipes cover items including the activator rail, anvil, cauldron, crossbow, hopper, minecart, piston, shield and tripwire hook, with the full list defined by the mod. Because each item returns less than it cost, the mod carries no risk of item duplication. Installation needs Collective, which must be present alongside Furnace Recycle on Fabric, Forge, NeoForge or Quilt. Only the server needs it, and players join without installing anything. Files cover 29 release versions, 1.16.5 – 26.3, under All rights reserved, and the project is not open source, though its source code and issue tracker are public.
Key features
Metal item recipes
Rails, anvils, buckets, chains, hoppers and shears all have furnace recipes that return iron or gold.
Lower-yield returns
Each recycled item gives back less metal than it cost to craft, so returns stay modest.
Fixed smelting time
Every recipe takes 200 ticks in a furnace and grants 0.1 experience on completion.
No duplication risk
Because returns fall short of crafting costs, recycling cannot be used to multiply items.
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
26.x5 of 5 versions with builds
1.21.x12 of 12 versions with builds
1.20.x7 of 7 versions with builds
1.19.x3 of 3 versions with builds
1.18.x1 of 1 version with builds
1.16.x1 of 1 version with builds
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Requirements
Dependencies declared by the latest file for each loader.
Required 1
Use cases
Reclaiming mineshaft rails
Rails found in mineshafts can be smelted for their nuggets instead of being left behind.
Salvaging village bells
A bell taken from a village can be smelted for gold ingots.
Who it’s for: Survival players who want a small supplement to mining, and server owners who want a metal recycling option without exploitable returns.
How it compares
Smelting Plus is server-side, with files for 1.19 – 1.21.11 under All rights reserved and not open source. Better Iron Recycling covers 1.20 – 26.3 under the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike 4.0 license and is not open source. Smelt Raw Ore Blocks [PurpurPack] is open source under the MIT License and targets 1.20.1 – 26.2, so its license differs from Furnace Recycle's.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Furnace Recycle | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.16.5 – 26.3 | Server-side only | 2026-10-02 |
| Smelting Plus | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.19 – 1.21.11 | Server required, client optional | 2026-04-01 |
| Better Iron Recycling | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.20 – 26.3 | Server required, client optional | 2026-10-05 |
| Smelt Raw Ore Blocks [PurpurPack] | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.20.1 – 26.2 | Server required, client optional | 2026-06-24 |
Questions
Does Furnace Recycle need Collective?
Do players need the mod installed?
Which game versions does Furnace Recycle support?
In the catalog
Furnace Recycle is one of 29,952 Game mechanics mods on ModsFinder, and one of 19,630 Game mechanics mods for Fabric. 8,071 mods support Minecraft 26.3.
More from Serilum
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What the author says
Furnace Recycle adds smelt recipes to all metal-containing vanilla items. You won't get as much back as it costs to construct the item, but the little iron and gold adds up. Smelt the rails from mineshafts or steal the bell from a village. You probably don't even have to go mining anymore! As each item returns less…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/furnace-recycle
- Owner
- Serilum
- Published
- 2022-09-01
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2026-10-02
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15