Iron is not hard to get as most people think.
“One of the reasons that the change from using bronze (or copper) as tool metals to using iron was so important historically is that iron is just so damn abundant. Of course iron can be used to make better tools and weapons as well, but only with proper treatment: initially, the advantage in iron was that it was cheap.”
https://acoup.blog/2020/09/18/collections-iron-how-did-they-make-it-part-i-mining/