An ingot is a material, usually metal, that is cast into a shape suitable for further processing. It requires a secon procedure of shaping, by means of cold/hot working to produce the final product. They involve relatively simple procedures. However, this only works for simple objects, such as shaping a bar ingot into a mallet tip. The advantages are low initial costs for producing the moulds. If cold worked, it can also improve hardness in the second procedure, an advantage for such things as the mallet tip. However, more input energy is required for the final object if hardness (by cold working) is not required.