Shiv is a weapon crafted item in Project Zomboid. As a weapon it hits for 0.3–0.5 damage with 0.8 reach and a maximum condition of 5. Build 42.21 data, November 2026.
Weapon Crafted Melee weapons
As a weapon it hits for 0.3–0.5 damage with 0.8 reach and a maximum condition of 5. It weighs 0.5.
Melee weapons use one of the weapon skills. Condition drops as you fight, a broken weapon is useless until repaired, and heavy two-handed weapons drain endurance faster.
More: Melee weapon stats · Weapons and ammo.
Use the item ID in sandbox loot settings, admin tools and mods.
| Item ID | Game category |
|---|---|
Base.KnifeShiv | Weapon Crafted |
Shiv is on 7 loot tables in the game files. Share is how much of a table's total weight this item takes, before your sandbox loot settings. Each container rolls its table several times, so a bigger share and more rolls both mean you see it more often.
| Loot table | Where that table is used | Share | Rolls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drug Shack Weapons | Drug lab (cupboard); Drug shack (crate, box) | 3.9% | 4 |
| Melee Weapons | Survivor safehouse (early) (box, cupboard, crate, …); Survivor cache 1 (cupboard); Survivor cache 2 (cupboard); and 1 more place | 3.0% | 4 |
| Derelict House Crime | Derelict (other); Derelict steel factory (other) | 0.46% | 1 |
| Melee Weapons Mid | Survivor safehouse (mid game) (box, cupboard, crate, …) | 0.35% | 4 |
| Prison Cell Random | Cells (drawer); Prison cells (drawer) | under 0.1% | 4 |
| Prison Cell Random Classy | Cells (drawer); Prison cells (drawer) | under 0.1% | 4 |
| Prison Laundry | Special spawn (vehicles, events or zombies) | under 0.1% | 4 |
On zombies: zombies in these outfits can carry it: Inmate, Inmate Khaki.
Inside bags and cases: Duffel Bag, Book.
Town by town: loot locations.
| Recipe | Ingredients (used up) | Tools (kept) | Requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Make Shiv In hand | Steel Bar Quarter or Iron Bar Quarter or Steel Sheet - Small or 10 more; simple binding or any tape | any whetstone or any file or any smallfiles or 2 more | Maintenance 1. Read: The Cheapskate's John Spiral - Prison Defense or reach Maintenance 4 and Short Blade 1 |
Needed as a tool in 3 recipes (it is not used up): Sharpen Blade, Sharpen Blade Poorly with File, Sharpen Blade with Grindstone.
It weighs 0.5 in Build 42.
Base.KnifeShiv.
0.3–0.5 per hit, with 0.8 reach.
Stats and item IDs from the Build 42 game data as listed on pzfans.com. Item art is from Project Zomboid.