Deeper Mining Levels

[Gabe "the Glueman" Degrossi]

Hello friends!

I'm just starting to bash my head against a little bit of a wall - I'm trying to get to mine level 3. So far, with just a little bit of luck, I was able to get a strong enough stone axe to get to mine level 2, giving me access to copper, and therefore bronze.
This helped production a ton!
I've been able to scale up a lot of my tools and workstations - but I have run into a little bit of a wall.

I have a pickaxe with q35, a smithy hammer with 31, an anvil of 33, an ore smelter of like, 48 or something... but I'm having trouble finding high quality ore. I think so far, I've topped around 38 at highest.
Starting to feel very stuck. My Masonry skill is 64 after gildings, strength 105 after gildings, and again, pick is q35. How do i ratchet my way up to being able to punch down another layer so i can get access to iron, and I can do more of my (sometimes really crazy) quarryman credos?
I'm sort of trying to do this without engaging in trade (I haven't found my continent's Thingwall yet, despite going super far in every direction), but if push comes to shove and I have no other route, I can! (If you've got a pick up for trade lmk I guess).

Thank you for your consideration!

[VDZ]

Originally posted by Gabe "the Glueman" Degrossi:

(I haven't found my continent's Thingwall yet, despite going super far in every direction)

There's a Hearth Magic called 'Sense Thingwall' that helps you locate the Thingwall in your province.

[Ichzilla]

Qnodes are random. you could mine out 40 tiles of wineglance on level 4 and only ever get Q60 ore. then again you could mine out 30tiles of lead glance on cave level 1 and hit Q80.

its all kinda random. i know masonry and possibly smithing does effect Q to a point.
just got to keep mining pretty much. its a chore but welcome to hnh lolol