First welcome to TS Hell.
When you say "just starting out" you really mean it don't you. Did you do the TS tutorial on the Isle of Refuge?
It looks as though you either haven't done it yet or missed it. In that you make "refined tin" which is a Tin Bar.
I am curious how you know you are "needing raw tin, and raw iron for what I am doing". The recipes are in your recipe books and without the books you can make nothing.
Unlike EQ where you could read the recipe on a TS site and put the components in the appropriate container and pray. EQ2 works the opposite way round. You need the book with the recipe for what you wish to make. You then double click the machine used to make it - which is listed when you examine the recipe - and it shows all items you have the knowledge to make on tht machine. You cannot make anything that you do not have the in-game recipe for.
And you can only scribe recipes as your Artisan level increases. Iron bar for example is the "refined" form of Iron and is a level 10 recipe. forget all thoughts of nice Iron things until you reach that level as an Artisan
There is a lot to this TS thing and I suggest you read the tutorials on the SOE forum which describe it in detail.
Here is a link to the basic one