Scrap Metal is one of those resources in Outbound that you barely notice until you desperately need it. Early on, the game hands you just enough to stay curious, then suddenly you're staring at a Sawmill recipe you can't complete because your supply ran dry. Knowing exactly where to look, and how to keep a healthy stockpile, saves you a lot of backtracking.
Where to find Scrap Metal in Outbound
The primary source is Signal Towers, which are marked on your map and scattered across the first two areas. These tall metal structures have large, dark pieces of fallen metal lying on the ground around their base. They look like debris that's dropped off the tower itself, so they're easy to spot once you know what you're after.
Scrap Metal at Signal Towers
Here's the mechanic that makes Signal Towers your best farming option: each individual piece of fallen metal you pick up gives you 3 Scrap Metal in your inventory. That's a much better yield than most harvestable resources in the game, where picking up one log of Everwood gives you exactly one unit. Three or more pieces typically sit around each tower, so a single visit can net you 9 or more Scrap Metal without much effort, according to both Prima Games and Game Rant.
Scrap Metal respawns at Signal Towers after you sleep through a night and return the next day. If you're farming for a big crafting project, plan a rest stop between tower runs.
The second source is supply caches found at campfire locations. These boxes are easy to identify by the campfire sitting next to them. The catch is that their contents are random. Testing across multiple playthroughs documented by Game Rant confirms that caches frequently drop Fiber, Everwood, or Stone instead, so treat any Scrap Metal you find here as a bonus rather than a reliable farm.
There are also a handful of landmark areas and select campsites where Metal Scraps appear on the ground outside of Signal Tower zones, according to Prima Games. These are rarer, but worth grabbing whenever you pass through.
What about the canyons area?
Once you push into the canyons, the Signal Towers there are built from wood rather than metal. No metal towers means no Scrap Metal on the ground around them. Game Rant specifically flags this as a reason to stock up heavily before you leave the first two areas. Backtracking just for Scrap Metal is a genuine time sink, so treat your pre-canyon supply run seriously.
Signal Towers on the map
How to farm Scrap Metal efficiently
The loop is straightforward once you understand it:
- Open your map and identify all accessible Signal Tower icons.
- Visit each tower and collect every piece of fallen metal on the ground.
- Return to your van, sleep through the night, and the metal respawns.
- Repeat before pushing into the canyons, where the supply dries up.
Bridge access gates off some early towers, so not every Signal Tower is reachable from the start. Focus on the ones marked as accessible and expand your route as you repair bridges and open new areas, as documented by Prima Games.
Do not burn through your Scrap Metal on decorations and furniture before you've built your core workstations. Running out mid-progression can literally stop you from advancing.
What is Scrap Metal used for in Outbound?
Scrap Metal feeds into a wide spread of crafting recipes. The workstations and tools that require it early are the ones that matter most for progression. According to Game Rant, the confirmed early-game recipes that need Scrap Metal include:
The Sawmill is the most time-sensitive recipe on that list. You need it to craft Everwood Planks, which are required to repair the bridge leading to the next area. Skipping it means you're stuck. The Recycler and Axe follow closely behind as tools that expand what you can do with other resources.
If you're working on getting the Base Building Deck to unlock the upper deck on your van, that recipe also pulls from your Scrap Metal supply alongside 10 Everwood and 3 Scrap Metal, so factor that into your planning.
Sawmill needs Scrap Metal
Game Rant recommends keeping 5 to 10 Scrap Metal in your van's carry capacity at all times as a buffer. The total number of recipes that need it isn't visible upfront, so a reserve prevents surprise shortages.
How does Scrap Metal compare to other early resources?
Understanding Scrap Metal's place in the resource hierarchy helps with prioritization:
The 3-per-pickup yield makes Scrap Metal one of the more efficient resources to farm in bulk once you know the tower locations. The regional limitation in the canyons is the main constraint.
For players pushing deeper into the crafting tree, Scrap Metal is just one piece of the puzzle. Progression also depends on harder materials like Coarse Ore for unlocking the Metal Smelter and Pickaxe Level 2, so balancing your resource runs across multiple material types pays off.
Should you prioritize Scrap Metal early?
Yes, but with a clear order of operations. Hit Signal Towers before you do anything else in a new area, collect everything on the ground, and immediately allocate what you need for the Sawmill and Recycler. Lock the rest away in your van storage.
Furniture and decorations are satisfying to build, but they can wait. The Owl Bobblehead isn't going anywhere. Your ability to reach the next biome absolutely is time-sensitive, because once you're in the canyons, the tower-based respawn farm stops working.
For everything else you need to build and upgrade on your journey, the full Outbound guides collection covers resources, van upgrades, and crafting priorities across all areas of the game.