This guide details how to utilize the Volcano Forge in Stardew Valley 1.6, including weapon forging, enchantments, and obtaining Cinder Shards.
Obtaining Cinder Shards:
Cinder Shards are crucial for forge functions. Acquire them by:
- Mining Cinder Shard nodes (pink-orange specks) in the Volcano Dungeon.
- Obtaining them as drops from Magma Sprites (50%), Magma Duggies (40%), Magma Sparkers (50%), and False Magma Caps (50%).
- Harvesting from a fishing pond with 7+ Stingrays (7-9% daily chance of 2-5 shards).
Note: Cinder Shards, unlike gemstones, cannot be duplicated in a Crystalarium.
The Mini-Forge:
After achieving Combat Mastery, craft a Mini-Forge:
- 5 Dragon Teeth
- 10 Iron Bars
- 10 Gold Bars
- 5 Iridium Bars
It functions identically to the Volcano Dungeon forge.
Weapon Forging:
Enhance weapons (up to three times) using gemstones and Cinder Shards (10, 15, then 20 shards per forge).
- Amethyst
: +1 knockback per forge. - Aquamarine
: +4.6% crit chance per forge. - Emerald
: +2/+3/+2 speed per forge. - Jade
: +10% crit damage per forge. - Ruby
: +10% damage per forge. - Topaz
: +1 defense per forge. - Diamond
: Three random upgrades (10 shards).
Best Weapon Upgrades: Emerald & Ruby for DPS; Topaz & Amethyst for survivability.
Unforging Weapons: Use the red X in the forge to remove upgrades (recovers some shards, not gemstones).
Infinity Weapons:
Upgrade Galaxy Sword, Dagger, or Hammer using three Galaxy Souls (20 shards each).
Galaxy Souls: Obtain from Mr. Qi (40 Qi Gems), Big Slimes, Island Trader (10 Radioactive Bars), or as drops from Dangerous Monsters (after killing 50).
Enchantments:
Add random effects using a Prismatic Shard 
and 20 Cinder Shards. Re-enchant for a different effect.
Weapon Enchantments: Artful, Bug Killer, Crusader, Vampiric, Haymaker (Bug Killer & Crusader generally best).
Innate Enchantments: Use a Dragon Tooth for additional enchantments (Slime Slayer, +Crit Power, +Attack, +Speed, potentially Slime Gatherer, +Defense, -Weight).
Tool Enchantments: Twelve enchantments, tool-specific. (See table in original text for details). Bottomless (Watering Can), Shaving (Axe), Generous/Archeologist (Hoe/Pan), Preserving (Fishing Rod), Swift/Powerful (Pickaxe/Axe) are generally considered top choices.
