Quick answer
Craft Polished Bronze at a Woodworking Workbench with a Tool Rack next to it: 2 Bronze Detail + 2 Sand + 1 Melted Fat = 2 Polished Bronze. You need the Bronze Polishing technology and Building mastery 5.[1][2] If you cannot craft it yet, several town traders also sell it.[2]
Requirements checklist
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Technology | Bronze Polishing (Metallurgy tree, 30 red tech points)[3] |
| Story gate | Reach the tower lab behind your house by helping the Plague Doctor, found under the rubble below your house[1] |
| Station | Woodworking Workbench I or II with the Tool Rack extension placed beside it[1][4] |
| Mastery | Building mastery 5[1][2] |
| Ingredients | 2 Bronze Detail, 2 Sand, 1 Melted Fat (makes 2)[2] |
Game Rant also lists the chain of technologies you will pass on the way: Bronze Craft, Bronze Polishing, Woodworking I, Tool Rack, and the basic and distillation Alchemy nodes.[1]
Step by step
- Unlock the lab. Follow the Plague Doctor story until the tower behind your house opens.[1]
- Research Bronze Polishing and the Tool Rack, then place the Tool Rack beside your Woodworking Workbench.[1]
- Raise Building mastery to 5. Equipping a Bronze Axe and a Bronze Pickaxe helps (Game Rant counts +2 per bronze tool), and Building inspirations add perk points.[1]
- Gather the ingredients. Sand is dug with a shovel south-west of the Inquisition Base near the stream.[5] Melted Fat is one of the recipes on the lab's Distillation Cube (the Distillation Cube guide shows that station), unlocked by Alchemy, Distillation: 1 Fat + 2 Clay Urns + 20 Fuel makes 4 Melted Fat.[6]
- Craft. Each batch takes 6 ticks and costs 2 energy per tick.[2]
Buying it instead
If mastery 5 is out of reach, buy it. Base price is 75 bronze. The Furniture Maker, Jeweler and Smithy all stock it from the start of their trade levels.[2]
| Trader | Stock by trade level |
|---|---|
| Furniture Maker | 10 / 20 / 40 |
| Jeweler | 20 / 40 / 50 |
| Smithy | 10 / 15 / 20 |
What needs Polished Bronze
| Use | Amount |
|---|---|
| Repair the bridge left of your garden (to the vineyard, brewery and sauna) | 1 |
| Underground well repair | 2 |
| Writing Desk | 1 |
| Formulation Bench | 1 |
| Embalming Table I | 1 |
| Woodworking Workbench II, Furnace II, Weaving Loom, Sewing Table | 2 each |
| Monument II | 3 |
| Jeweler II / Jeweler III | 5 / 10 |
| Broken Conveyor Mechanism repair | 2 |
| Bronze tools, Starter Alchemist's Kit | 1 each |
| Copper Trinkets, Amateur Rod | 2 each |
Amounts are from the Wikily item page;[2] the bridge destination is from Game Rant.[1] Planning tip: the bridge, the well, the Writing Desk and the Formulation Bench together take 5, so three crafting batches (6 bars) cover the early game with one spare.
Common problems
- Recipe greyed out at the workbench: the Tool Rack is missing or not adjacent.[1][4]
- "Insufficient mastery": Building mastery is below 5.[1]
- No Bronze Polishing in the tech tree yet: you have not reached the tower lab in the Plague Doctor story.[1]
Related guides
- Writing Desk and Formulation Bench: both need 1 Polished Bronze.
- Sauna pre-order bonus: across the bridge this unlocks.
- Graveyard Quality 20 for Agatha: the well repair also uses Polished Bronze.
Sources & References
- Get Polished Bronze in Graveyard Keeper 2 to Repair the Bridge, Game Rant (Joe Grantham) ↩ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
- Polished Bronze: recipe, where to buy it and price, Wikily ↩ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
- Bronze Polishing: Metallurgy tech cost and unlocks, Wikily ↩
- Polished Bronze, Graveyard Keeper 2 Wiki (Fextralife) ↩ 1, 2
- Graveyard Keeper 2 Material Locations, Prima Games (Hadley Vincent) ↩
- Melted Fat: recipe, where to buy it and price, Wikily ↩