Best way to get Limestone/Lime in general?

[Big Lax Johnny]

Hi all! This is my first post on here so please direct me to another thread if my question has been asked already. My brief skim of the questions forum helped me none, and the wiki can only do me so much good, so here i am! So yeah, what's the best way to find limestone or get lime so I can kickstart my leatherworks? I have made countless worlds and not one has had notable deposits of limestone or sufficient ways to get lime, so I'm starting to wonder if I'm doing anything wrong. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

Edit: I forgot to mention that I have been scrounging for seashells and grinding them in my quern, but a man can only dedicate so many days to seashell hunting before going mad.

Edited July 22, 2023 by reallitup2

[Ashery]

There are actually a few more potential sources of lime: Besides limestone and seashells, chalk is another type of sedimentary rock that can be ground into lime. Marble can be used as well, and it can be found in metamorphic layers (Phyllite and slate). Borax is your final option, and it's an ore that spawns in sedimentary layers. If you don't get lucky with nearby limestone or chalk layers, borax is probably the most reliable option as it can spawn in any sedimentary layer besides bauxite and you can find it with the propick.

In terms of finding limestone or chalk, it largely comes down to a matter of luck and covering a lot of distance, as the rock layers can be absolutely massive. You can utilize some knowledge of the game mechanics to help narrow things down a bit (Granite top layer? Keep moving. Basalt? Might be worth checking a cave to see what the next layer is, but if that next layer's andesite, keep moving. Claystone? Peak into a cave and see what's underneath.), but how far you travel ultimately comes down to luck.

[Big Lax Johnny]

30 minutes ago, Ashery said:

There are actually a few more potential sources of lime: Besides limestone and seashells, chalk is another type of sedimentary rock that can be ground into lime. Marble can be used as well, and it can be found in metamorphic layers (Phyllite and slate). Borax is your final option, and it's an ore that spawns in sedimentary layers. If you don't get lucky with nearby limestone or chalk layers, borax is probably the most reliable option as it can spawn in any sedimentary layer besides bauxite and you can find it with the propick.

In terms of finding limestone or chalk, it largely comes down to a matter of luck and covering a lot of distance, as the rock layers can be absolutely massive. You can utilize some knowledge of the game mechanics to help narrow things down a bit (Granite top layer? Keep moving. Basalt? Might be worth checking a cave to see what the next layer is, but if that next layer's andesite, keep moving. Claystone? Peak into a cave and see what's underneath.), but how far you travel ultimately comes down to luck.

I did try most of the stuff in the first paragraph, but I had no clue that there was a method to lime hunting! Though, yeah. My luck has been completely awful with my last few worlds and I'm still working on building my food stores

 

Thanks a ton for your suggestions though!

[Maelstrom]

Certain traders will also sell lime.  Take stuff to sell them then turn around and buy the lime.

[Varenvel]

if you want you can try generating few worlds and settle on one who has limestone or chalk nearby  (you can generate few worlds and see if any has any nearby chalk or limestone on surface)

generaly i wish there was better way to get it but game keeps itself quite realistic

other then finding it is traders(not recomended) and sometimes you can find it in loot

 

id share you my seed but unless you would also ran with my settings(i just tried) would not generate same world

 

[Thorfinn]

You can also use borax and I think alum for leather, too.

Far and away, on those weird situations where I can't find limestone or chalk, so long as you have ample shoreline, it's not that hard to collect 25 shells, enough for a full barrel. Carry the quern with you because you won't find shells that stack.

[pigfood]

Finding Limestone or Bauxite can easily take 5000 - 10000 tiles. So I think, you have unreasonable expectations.

[Thorfinn]

10,000 isn't even that far. With good terrain, 2 days, with bad, maybe 4. In fact, if you crank view distance all the way up. you "see" a block over 3k across.

[Owktree]

And be aware that if the top strata rock is basalt or a sedimentary rock (claystone, shale, etc.) there can be other sedimentary rock layers between the top rock strata and the igneous bedrock in the area.  (For example near my current base the usual layers are basalt, shale, slate, andesite.)

 

[Raging Thunder]

Guys common now...you gotta look for water and mountains. thats where i always find my limestone. if you see what looks like white sand on the map, go to that sand and you will find limestone very very close 

 

[Wolf builds]

25 000 Blocks travel and no limestone yet

[Thorfinn]

Have you found any sedimentary layers yet? It's not unusual at all to find chalk, limestone or marble under them. But once you get to igneous rock might as well stop.

[PineReseen]

This doesn't bode well for my journeys for finding chalk or limestone... All I've seen so far is granite, shale, and some basalt.

Edited March 20, 2025 by PineReseen
Wrong stone mentioned

[Thorfinn]

Both shale and sometimes basalt can have sedimentary layers below them.