Steel bar

A Steel bar is an item used for creating weaponry and armour. It can be created through the Smithing skill by using 1 iron ore and 2 pieces of coal on a furnace or by using the magic spell Superheat Item.

Usage
A steel bar can be forged on an anvil to create steel weapons and armour, granting 37.5 Smithing experience per bar used. A list of steel items that can be smithed from steel bars and the Smithing levels required can be found on the Smithing tables.

Steel bars are commonly used to create cannonballs, ammunition used by the Dwarf multicannon. In order to create cannonballs, players must be a member, complete the Dwarf Cannon quest, possess an ammo mould, have some steel bars, and level 35 Smithing. Cannonballs are made by using a steel bar on a furnace, with an ammo mould in inventory or tool belt, yielding 4 cannonballs per bar. Players gain 25.5 Smithing experience per bar. Smithing cannonballs has a net income of 0 coins per steel bar at current prices.

Steel bars are also used in construction and earn 20 construction experience per bar when required. They can be used to make Clockworks on a Crafting table 2 with level 8 Crafting for 15 construction experience.

Steel bars are also the tertiary ingredient in infusing Steel minotaur pouches.

Training
Steel bars can be a very good non-members money-making method, depending on the price of the steel bar compared to its raw materials at the Grand Exchange. Based on current prices, the profit (or loss) of making a steel bar is coins if all materials are bought and the bars are sold at the Grand Exchange. This method can be a profitable way to train free-to-play Smithing of level 30+.

It takes 26 seconds to make a full load of 9 iron and 18 coal into 9 steel bars (42 loads an hour in Falador). With a coal bag more bars can be made in one run increasing the experience per hour greatly (36 coal and 18 iron ores becomes 18 steel bars).

Players commonly use steel bars to train the Smithing skill, despite being able to smith mithril bars or better, because it has the optimum traits of requiring only three ores, and gives a decent amount of experience. Some players prefer smelting silver bars, given that it requires only 1 ore per bar, and hence is supposedly faster than smelting steel bars and then smithing the steel bars into weapons/armour - even though experience earned with the smelting and smithing process for steel bars is significantly more on a per-ore basis than smelting silver ores.

Other
Thieving Trahaearn Workers in Prifddinas provide one noted steel bar at a time sometimes. Its noted form can sometimes be found inside barrels.