boudica: You can smith a level 1 copper ore into a level 1 copper bar. You can craft 3 level 1 copper ores to make 1 level 2 copper ore. You can craft 3 level 2 copper ores to make 1 level 3 copper ore. It is the same until you get to level 4, you can craft 3 level 4 copper ores to make 1 level 5 copper ore. It can go no higher than level 5. To smith the copper ores into copper bars, you must go to the anvil that is located outside your 2nd city. You smith copper ores 1 at a time to make copper bars. Then you go to your first city & craft the copper bars into RANDOM items. If you craft 1x level 1 copper bar, you will always get a buckler. All the rest of the combinations are totally random. You never know what you will get until you start to craft it. You can craft 1 copper bar or 2 copper bars or 3 copper bars together. You can craft different level copper bars together. The higher the level of the copper bar, the higher the level of the random item that you will get.

boudica: What to do with copper ore:

Take your copper ores to your 1st town & craft it to make it bigger if you want to make bigger ores. Then take your ores to the Anvil outside of your 2nd town to smith it into copper bars. Take your copper bars back to your 1st town & craft them into random items. You can craft 1, 2 or 3 copper bars together. The higher the level of the copper bars, the higher the level the random item will be. The end.