Charcoal is an essential material for any smith looking to use a town’s smithy in Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord. Unfortunately, the material is not readily available after taking down looters or in the trade shop in town. You need to do a bit of work to get it, but it’s not difficult once you understand where you need to go.
To create charcoal in Bannerlord, all you need to do is speak to the town’s trader. From there, click over to the Misc. tab when attempting to purchase something from them. You should find a variety of food and material they have for sale. The one you’re after is hardwood, and you can usually purchase it from most traders who are in a large town. Purchase as much as you can carry, and then you’re ready to create charcoal.
With the hardwood in your inventory return to the smithy and click over to the refine page. You can now refine hardwood for charcoal, and it should be one charcoal for every two hardwood you use in the process. You can freely use as much as you need to create charcoal, based on how much smithing stamina you have for the day. When you run out, you can choose to wait in town or you can run around the area, attacking looters or completing other tasks.
Charcoal is an essential material for those looking to begin their smithing journey in Bannerlord. It’s important to know the best way to obtain, and the quickest way to do so is typically by speaking to your town’s trader. You can use this same process for many other materials in the game, so be on the lookout for them if you want to train as a smith, and don’t always freely sell everything in your inventory for some quick money.
