Is there a Valheim mod to speed up smelting and crafting?
Short answer
Yes. Mods can raise smelter and kiln speed, increase how much ore and fuel they hold at once, and reduce crafting times — turning long waits into a quick top-up.
AzuCraftyBoxes is a Valheim mod that allows players to access and use resources from nearby containers when crafting and building, based on a configurable range and item restrictions. Restrictions are controlled by the yaml file Azumatt.AzuCraftyBoxes.yml
AzuAnti-ArthriticCrafting. Gives you an input field to enter the amount of items you want to craft, a search filter feature, and recipe tracking. Controller friendly, with virtual keyboard.
A mod that allows you to recycle items back into resources used to make them. Adds a 'Reclaim' tab/button to the crafting menu. Additionally can be used inside of your inventory directly.
Adds a skill that makes taming animals faster and increases item yield of tamed creatures.
⬇ 424K Downloads
The details
Smelter-focused mods usually let you configure processing speed, input/output stack capacity, and fuel usage, so you can load a huge batch and walk away instead of babysitting the furnace.
Some also remove the need to feed coal, or auto-pull ore from nearby chests, which combines nicely with craft-from-container mods for a hands-off metal pipeline.
If you want everything faster (not just smelting), look for broader 'crafting speed' or production tweaks that also cut workbench craft times. Keep values reasonable so progression doesn't collapse.
Roughly 30 seconds per ore in a smelter, and smelters hold limited ore and coal, so big batches take a while. Speed/capacity mods remove that bottleneck.
Can smelters pull ore from chests automatically?
Not in vanilla. Some smelter or craft-from-container mods add auto-feeding from nearby chests so you don't hand-load every batch.