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[Ancalagon_TB]

Hello

So on my fort I have lots of iron, lots of zinc, and no other metal (I've been looking) or coal. 

I know that zinc can be used to make brass, so I've been buying copper bars and items, melting them, then mixing them with zinc and then making brass crafts for resale.  It's reasonably lucrative...  but I recently realized it's a waste of time and charcoal.  Why?  Iron is worth more!

Iron, like zinc, has to be smelted.  But I don't need to buy other items and then melt them and then mix them together.  I can simply smelt the iron and right away make crafts or whatever out of it, and make items that are worth more than brass!  So why bother?

If I had copper ore it could be a bit different, but I don't.

So... what should I do with that zinc?  Is there any use for it?

[StagnantSoul]

Just make it into barrels and bins, or crafts, and sell those. Extra money is good money.

[PillarsOfSalt]

It could be useful to train your smiths without wasting iron.

[Aslandus]

Use it to make floor bars so you can have drains all over your fortress, otherwise the first flood you experience will likely be the last...

You could also use it to make an above-ground minecart track to boost efficiency (for things like hauling wood or building a minecart-based defense system), which is usually not a good idea because it requires loads of metal, but if you've got it just lying around...

[Tacomagic]

If you're trying to trap wildlife, Zinc makes relatively decent cage traps because it's lighter than a lot of other metals so doesn't take as long to haul.

Statues, tables, chairs, doors, and sarcophogusses are also a good way to utilize "junk" metals.

Otherwise, zinc flasks are probably the most bang for your buck.  Make a slew of those and sell them to caravans.

You could also decorate stuff with zinc.  That's what I tend to do with all the lead I end up with if my embark has galena.

[Button]

Whatcha gonna do with all that zunc
All that zunc inside your trunk

Ahem.

I usually just keep sphalerite in ore form. It's magma-safe.

[Jackboot]

Floor tiles are the fastest ways to eat up spare metal. If you had magma forges you could just use it to train up your metalsmiths, but for now either find dwarves that like Zinc and make them zinc /everything/ or just lay down zinc flooring everywhere it would look nice.

[Baffler]

You could mod in galvanization (just replace billon or something else nobody uses for that world's RAW files.) Improve your steel with it.

[EvilBob22]

Use it to make floor bars so you can have drains all over your fortress, otherwise the first flood you experience will likely be the last...

You could also use it to make an above-ground minecart track to boost efficiency (for things like hauling wood or building a minecart-based defense system), which is usually not a good idea because it requires loads of metal, but if you've got it just lying around...

Umm, you don't need any metal to make an above ground minecart track.  Stone tracks (carved or constructed) work just fine.

[StagnantSoul]

Billon is incredibly useful.

[Tacomagic]

Billon is incredibly useful.

Billion and Billion of zinc.

[TruePikachu]

Billon is incredibly useful.

Billion and Billion of zinc.

Then mod something else that's useless, like zinc. Oh wait...
Nickel silver?

[Maolagin]

Billon is incredibly useful.

Billion and Billion of zinc.

Then mod something else that's useless, like zinc. Oh wait...
Nickel silver?

Ouch, too close to home! My current fort's only ore is garnierite. I figured if the local dwarves like nickel enough to base their civilization in a mountain range that contains little else, the passes where the road ascends into the mountains could use some nice imposing nickel megastructures.

[Sirbug]

I use trash metals to make furniture when I build quarters. Another production line and no good metal to waste.

Otherwise, you can stud items with it. It doesn't take fuel so it's probably the best way to add it somewhere.

[Larix]

Nickel is a magmaproof metal, so it's the perfect material for minecarts, chains, blocks and pipe sections for your magma moving needs without using up iron or platinum or adamantine.

Zinc, though - outside of alloying to brass it has only some niche applications; it's mostly just a value multiplier 2 material that can be used to train metalworkers without harming the military metal industries.

As a potential niche application you could make use of its very low melting point: use a zinc hatch or bridge as security valve against magma overflow? Tin would be even better for such purposes.