Permafrost Workbench: How to Build and Use It
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Quick answer: unlock the workbench with blueprint points, then build it from the build menu (B) for 10 wood — it must sit under a roof. The workbench crafts the flint tool tier, wire, bandages, heaters and components. The story asks for your first workbench during the "New Home" quest.
Handcrafting vs workbench crafting
Handcrafting (open inventory with TAB or I, panel on the right) covers basics: stone tools, rope, arrows, campfires. It's better than it looks:
- Filters and a search bar for finding recipes
- A pin button that tracks a recipe's materials on your HUD while you gather
- Batch crafting with a queue that continues with the menu closed — even while walking
Workbench crafting covers the flint tier and utility items. The hard rule: no remote crafting. Materials must be in your personal inventory — a chest full of copper next to the bench counts for nothing.
Workbench quirks worth knowing
- Crafted items appear on the bench, not in your pockets. Pick them up — one player hand-collected 260 rounds of ammo round by round after leaving them on the counter.
- Benches placed on bad geometry can drop items through the floor; build on a flat foundation.
- Public workbenches exist in the world (map data counts 18), and repair benches in Horizon and house camp are free to use — you don't need to build everything yourself on day one.
The station network at a glance
| Station | Cost (reported) | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Workbench | 10 wood | Flint tools, wire, bandages, heaters |
| Stone furnace | 40 stone | Ore → ingots, wood → coal |
| Repair bench | 10 flint + 10 wood | Repair tools and clothing |
| Kitchen stove | 30 scrap | Two-ingredient cooked meals (Anna's quest schematic) |
| Tanning rack | 2 blueprint pts | Pelts + animal fat → treated hide |
| Tailoring bench | 3 copper ingots + wood | Clothing sets (Hunter's Glade reward) |
| Radio station bench | 3 wire + 10 wood | Story progression ("New Home") |
| Weapon bench | 10 iron ingots | Firearms and ammo (later story) |
Station blueprints cost around 2 blueprint points each and share one pool across crafting, building and quest categories — spend deliberately. A preview-build datamine counted 176 crafting recipes across 7 stations plus 15 hand-crafted ones, so the tree is deep.
Blueprint points and leveling crafting
You earn blueprint points by leveling the crafting and building skills — that is, by crafting and building anything. Every crafted item grants crafting XP (about 10 per item reported), so the cheap loop is: chop wood, craft arrows in batches, spend points. Leveling crafting also shortens crafting times.
Early quests expect you to spend 2 points on tribal clothes and 2 on the scrap tool set — don't blow the pool on decorations first.
The weapon bench exception
The weapon bench normally arrives with chapter 4 / the "Parking Zoo" quest. A useful economy trick: scrapping a looted weapon returns a weapon part, which lets you recraft pistols at the weapon station — effectively an infinite pistol supply once you have the bench.
FAQ
Why won't the recipe start? Materials are in a chest, not on you — no remote crafting. Or the bench needs a roof.
Where's my crafted item? On the bench surface. Walk up and pick it up.
Related: Flint pickaxe recipe · Copper and wire · Base building
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Related guides
- Permafrost Flint Pickaxe: Recipe and Pickaxe TiersCraft the flint pickaxe at a workbench (2 flint + 4 wood) to unlock copper, coal and sulfur mining. Here is the whole pickaxe ladder.
- Permafrost Base Building: Shelters, Beds and RenovationPress B, snap foundation → walls → door → roof, claim a bed, and avoid no-build zones. Plus material tiers, renovation zones, decay and known placement bugs.
- Permafrost Copper: Mining, Smelting and WireCopper boulders need a flint pickaxe. Smelt 3 ore + 5 coal into an ingot, turn ingots into wire, and build the radio station to progress the story.
- Permafrost Tailoring Bench: Unlock, Build and UseThe tailoring bench blueprint comes from Skinwalker's reward box at Hunter's Glade. It costs 3 copper ingots to build and crafts the clothing sets.