Deconstrucing for Materials

[Redwood]

I am currently at a blacksmith crafting station in Vivec. I have deconstructed five iron weapons and am not able to find the iron that is supposed to be extracted from it. Where are you supposed to look for the iron?

[Tomibouzu]

check materials tabin inventory. should be there, might not be specifically called Iron

[Redwood]

Do deconstructed iron weapons and iron armor produce manganese, molybdenum, nickel and starmetal? I have those materials in my inventory. I thought iron weapons and iron armor would deconstruct into iron. I could sure use the iron.

[Zornvel]

These four things were style materials you can also get them from deconstructing. Deconstructing is used to lvl up the crafting not really to farm materials. Iron bras cost about 5 gold to buy if you sell the stuff and buy the iron bars it's more effective. But however if you really want to level your crafting then deconstruct (not the one you made they will give you very little exp)

[DrFeelWorse]

You can deconstruct, mine, or trade.

Deconstruct generally will yield less, unless you know where to farm equipment to deconstruct. Spending skill points in deconstruction will produce better yield. Mining will be your best bet if you do not have the gold to spend at a guild trader.

[Redwood]

Thanks. I will just decoonstruct for leveling up crafting then, and mine for iron to craft.

[amapola76]

If you are deconstructing low level white/grey items, it is very rare to actually get materials when you deconstruct items... I mean, it happens, but it's more of a nice surprise when it does. You're primarily deconstructing to level up, as Zornvel said.

I tend to do the following:

gold/purple/blue items: wear or try to sell/trade to other players. If you don't need it or can't sell it, and it doesn't have a trait you need to learn, only then would I deconstruct, unless you need to level up faster.
green items: wear if you have nothing better at your level/fitting your skill lines... otherwise, learn traits from them if they have ones you don't know already. If none of the above, then deconstruct for materials and to level up.
white items: deconstruct to level up, unless you are running out of inventory space, in which case if they have zero value, they are they first things you should destroy to make room for more valuable items

Also, if the item has a little gold money bag, and says Ornate, you will be able to sell it for more money than most similar items, so I generally sell those. Similarly, if it has a little blue icon (? I can't quite visualize it at the moment to describe it better), it's something that provides extra inspiration, so always deconstruct those to level up. Basically, always hover over the description text for the item to figure out the best way to dispose of it.