Originally posted by AugustusKron:

if you kill the 2nd boss you will unlock plenty of build pieces and lots do to in the swamp to keep you busy, before you ever feel the need to start upgrading to silver unless you are in a hurry. and it sounds like you aren't in a hurry.

I agree. The best looking build pieces are the tar-treated ones you unlock very late game with fancy carved patterns and multi-tonal build pieces. But after beating the second boss and going into the swamp you gain iron reinforcements to build larger structures and also the ability to build out of stone. So even without those late game build pieces you can still do a lot and make some really cool builds. Look at any popular screenshot dated more than 3 months ago and you'll see just how much you can do with just the iron-tier build items.