How to efficiently farm iron nuggets?

Every day you can hit the rocks around your town for iron nugget drops. Some rocks might be inaccessible across rivers, but you should have something like four accessible.

To maximize your return on these rocks, you need to strike them with an axe or shovel FAST. The problem is that you'll recoil back after striking the rock. The solution is to place two holes behind you, such that when you recoil backwards, the holes propel you forward so you can strike the rock eight times in quick succession.

This will let you maximize your iron yield.

For more iron, you can also travel to other towns to hit their rocks (but you'll need to be a "best friend" of the host to get shovel permissions) or find iron nuggets in gifts. The Nook Miles Ticket (2,000 miles) will bring you to a generated island, but I haven't found those islands particularly more likely to have rocks, though you might find some. Hitting your town's rocks each day is your best bet for your time/money.

image from Polygon