Refined, Reclaimed and Scrap: The Basics of the TF2 Economy

New TF2 traders run into prices like "1.33 ref" or "2 keys 15.66" and assume the decimals are arbitrary. They aren't. TF2's small-change currency is metal, it comes in three denominations that convert in steps of three, and once you see the ladder, every price in the game reads cleanly. This guide covers how metal is made, how it's counted, and where keys take over.

Where metal comes from

Metal isn't bought; it is crafted from duplicate weapons. Crafting arrived with the WAR! Update on December 17, 2009, and the core blueprints have stayed the same since:

The raw material is the item drop system. Players receive random items, mostly weapons, at intervals of roughly 30 to 70 minutes of play, up to a weekly cap the TF2 Wiki estimates at about 10 hours of playtime. Every duplicate weapon that gets smelted adds metal to the economy. That steady faucet is a big part of why a key is now worth dozens of refined: keys are only issued by Valve's store and are destroyed when crates are opened, while metal is minted every day by players.

How metal is counted

Because one refined equals nine scrap, traders express everything in refined with two decimals:

• 1 Scrap Metal = 0.11 ref
• 1 Reclaimed Metal = 0.33 ref
• 1 Refined Metal = 1.00 ref

So 1.33 ref is one refined plus one reclaimed. 2.66 ref is two refined plus two reclaimed. 0.55 ref is five scrap. Nobody writes 0.111; the rounding is a convention, and every trader reads it the same way.

A single weapon is half a scrap, or about 0.05 ref, since two smelt into one scrap. In practice, scrap bankers often sell individual weapons for a full scrap and buy two for one, making a small margin on the convenience.

Familiar price points

Some numbers come up constantly because of how the recipes work:

• 0.05 ref: one ordinary weapon.
• 1.33 ref: the TF2 Wiki's trading guide gives this as the general price for most craftable cosmetics, a level that "cosmetic bankers" buy and sell around.
• 3 ref: the cost of the Fabricate Headgear blueprint, which turns three refined into a random hat. Because the result is random, most common craftable hats trade well below that, closer to the 1.33 ref banking level.

Metal versus keys

Metal works for cheap items. Above a few dozen refined it becomes clumsy, and keys take over. A mid-priced item is usually quoted in both: "2 keys 15.66 ref".

The rate between them floats, and trackers don't agree to the scrap. One community tracker recorded a weekly close of 64.44 ref per key for October 5–11, 2026. Treat any single number as approximate and check a live price guide before a trade that mixes keys and metal. As of October 14, 2026, a Mann Co. Supply Crate Key listed from $2.16 on Steam, which puts a refined at a few cents in dollar terms.

A worked example helps. Take an item priced at "2 keys 15.66 ref". At $2.16 per key and roughly 64 ref per key, the two keys are $4.32 and the 15.66 ref adds about $0.52, so the whole price is a little under $5 in Steam terms. If you buy keys cheaper on a third-party site, the same item costs you less in real money, which is why traders think in keys and metal rather than dollars.

Why you can't buy metal on Steam

Plain Scrap, Reclaimed and Refined Metal don't appear among the Steam Community Market items tf2skins.gg tracks. Metal changes hands in direct trades, through trading bots and on classified sites. Only special variants show up in the catalog, such as the Vintage Refined Metal pictured above in the craft item category. If you want to turn metal into money, the usual path is to trade it up into keys, then sell the keys.

Rules that catch beginners

• Free-to-play accounts can't trade. Buying anything from the Mann Co. Store upgrades an account to Premium, which unlocks trading and full crafting.
• Untradable ingredients spread. If any weapon in a smelt is untradable, such as an achievement weapon, the scrap it produces is untradable, and so is anything crafted from that scrap. The crafting window warns you.
• Same class, not same slot. Smelting needs two weapons used by the same class. Weapons shared by several classes count for any of them.
• Metal is permanent. Smelting consumes the weapons. Check a weapon's value first; some Strange, Vintage or Festive weapons are worth far more than half a scrap. The weapons catalog is the quick way to check.

Tokens: the other recipe currency

Weapons can also become tokens. Three weapons of the same class make a class token, and three weapons in the same loadout slot make a slot token. A class token plus a slot token plus one scrap fabricates a random weapon matching both, and three tokens smelt into one reclaimed. Tokens matter mostly for targeted crafting; traders rarely price anything in them.

Common trading habits built on metal

The TF2 Wiki's trading guide describes several long-running practices:

• Scrap banking: buying weapons two for a scrap and selling them one for a scrap.
• Cosmetic banking: buying common craftable cosmetics at or below 1.33 ref and selling at or above it.
• Key banking: swapping keys for metal and back, earning on the spread.
• Pure trading: paying for items in keys and metal ("pure") rather than other items.

Trading bots automate much of this now. For larger trades and cash-out options, the marketplace comparison page shows how key prices differ across sites, which matters more than a few scrap once your trades reach key level.

Quick reference

• Two same-class weapons make one scrap.
• Three scrap make a reclaimed; three reclaimed make a refined.
• 0.11, 0.33 and 1.00 are scrap, reclaimed and refined.
• Keys take over above a few dozen refined, at a rate you should always check.