How to get Iron Nuggets fast in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Daniel Megarry
Animal Crossing New Horizons Iron Nuggets

Animal Crossing: New Horizons allows players to craft many new items using Iron Nuggets for your island. If you need to find Iron Nuggets fast, here is how to do it in the game.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons has significantly evolved the series, introducing features like Nook Miles, useful tools such as ladders, terraforming capabilities, and more diverse options for character customization.

A fully realized crafting system was one of the biggest additions to the latest game but before you can start crafting, you’ll need to find the right materials.

One of your island’s hottest commodities in New Horizons is Iron Nuggets as they allow you to craft a DIY workbench that can in turn craft bigger and better items for decorating your perfect island paradise.

So, here’s everything you need to know about how to get Iron Nuggets in the game.


Contents


Animal Crossing New Horizons Rocks that get be used to get Iron Nuggets.
Materials can be found by hitting rocks.

Where to find Iron Nuggets in Animal Crossing New Horizons

The only way to find Iron Nuggets in New Horizons is to hit rocks with a shovel or an axe. These are the small-ish silver rocks, not the big dark grey rocks that you’ll find around the coast.

Every hit will spawn one single crafting material at random, and it’s certainly not guaranteed that they’ll be Iron Nuggets, so you’ll want to hit as many rocks as you can for maximum gathering potential.

The following materials can appear when you hit a rock:

  • Stone
  • Clay
  • Iron Nuggets
  • Gold Nuggets
  • Money

You can get a total of eight materials from a rock, and each rock resets once every calendar day. You have a limited time to get all eight hits in before the rock stops giving out materials, so you’ll have to be fast.

As your character will bounce away from the rock every time you hit it, the best way to maximize your materials is to dig holes around yourself with a shovel to keep you in place and stop you from moving.

Animal Crossing New Horizons Nook Miles Ticket.
Nook Miles Tickets are the key to farming Iron Nuggets.

What’s the fastest way to get Iron Nuggets in Animal Crossing?

The fastest way to get Iron Nuggets in Animal Crossing is by farming them and here is how you can do it. If you’ve exhausted all Iron Nuggets on your island for the day, the next best method is to get a Nook Miles Ticket from the Nook Stop terminal at Resident Services.

For a total of 2000 Nook Miles, you can purchase a Nook Miles Ticket that will let you fly to another island. While these deserted islands spawn at random every time, they’ll always have at least two rocks on them.

So, here’s how to farm Iron Nuggets quickly in New Horizons:

  1. Purchase a Nook Miles ticket from the Nook Stop terminal.
  2. Visit the airport on your island.
  3. Use your Nook Miles ticket to visit a deserted island.
  4. Search for rocks and hit them with your shovel or ax.
  5. Collect any Iron Nuggets that pop out of the rocks.
  6. Rinse and repeat!

You can purchase as many Nook Miles Tickets as you like, and there’s no limit on how many deserted islands you can visit in a single day.

As long as you’ve got enough Nook Miles saved up, you can farm as many Iron Nuggets as you need using this method.

Animal Crossing New Horizons Crafting workbench that can be unlock after you get Iron Nuggets.
Iron Nuggets can be used for loads of crafting recipes.

What are Iron Nuggets used for in Animal Crossing?

There are countless DIY Recipes you can craft with the help of Iron Nuggets, and as a result, it’s one of the best materials you can gather in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The most obvious use for them is tools.

Here are the tools you can craft using Iron Nuggets:

  • Ax: Flimsy Ax (1), Wood (3), Iron Nugget (3)
  • Shovel: Flimsy Shovel (1), Iron Nugget (1)
  • Fishing Rod: Flimsy Fishing Rod (1), Iron Nugget (1)
  • Net: Flimsy Net (1), Iron Nugget (1)
  • Watering Can: Flimsy Watering Can (1), Iron Nugget (1)
  • Iron Wand: Iron Nugget (3), Star Fragment (3)

You’ll need to craft these tools to then be able to build the elusive Golden tools, which are the best tier of tools you can get in the game – although you’ll have to unlock the DIY Recipes for them first.

Aside from crafting tools, there are multiple pieces of furniture that require Iron Nuggets, from basic homeware like the Iron Closet and the Ironwood Chair, to huge items like the Robot Hero and the Flying Saucer.


So that’s everything you need to know about how to get Iron Nuggets, one of Animal Crossing New Horizons’ most elusive materials.

Looking to craft the best island you can? Check out our list of guides:

How to get an Axe in Animal Crossing New Horizons | Best games like Animal Crossing to play on Switch Animal Crossing turnips guide | Animal Crossing flower guide | How to get Gold Roses in New Horizons | How to get Gayle in Animal Crossing | ACNH art guideBest way to plan your island layout | How to get Ruby in Animal Crossing New HorizonsHow to get a villager to move outHow to restart your New Horizons island | Stop villagers moving outAnimal Crossing New Horizons Villager gift guide

About The Author

Daniel graduated from university with a degree in Journalism and English Language, before spending five years at GAY TIMES covering LGBTQ+ news and entertainment. He then made the switch to video game journalism where he produces news, features, and guides for Pokemon, Fortnite, Nintendo, and PlayStation games. Daniel also has a passion for any games with queer representation.