Hard iron

Use the smithing table and an upgrade template to combine iron ore and a special item called deep-slate plate to make hard iron, a little better than iron but not good as diamond, just slowing down the player the tiniest tiniest bit. A deep-slate plate is crafted with 3 deepslate (not cobbled, actual deepslate) in a row on top, 3 on bottom, with 1 iron ingot in the center. It would appear as a dark deepslate color with a bulkier size and pixel colors giving an idea of plating on the armor.