Crafting stations in Project Zomboid Build 42

Build 41 let you craft almost everything from your inventory. Build 42 moved much of the work onto stations: you stand next to a piece of furniture or a built structure, and the recipes that need it only show up in the crafting window while you are in range. Simple jobs still work on any table or counter, while metal, clay and some wood recipes need a dedicated station. The full recipe system is covered on the crafting guide; this page is a map of the stations themselves.

Stations come from two places. Some are map objects you find, such as workbenches in garages and sheds or stoves in kitchens. Others you build from the build menu or a crafting recipe, usually out of clay, stone, planks and nails. Built stations are heavy and fixed in place, so pick your base before you start laying them down.

The table lists the stations we could confirm for Build 42.20 to 42.21 sources. Build costs marked as one source come from a single guide, so treat them as likely rather than certain, and expect small changes between patches.

Any table or counter acts as a basic crafting surface. That covers sandwiches and other cooking prep, sewing and patching from tailoring, and bandage work. Carved spoons, forks and many advanced carving recipes also want a surface rather than your hands.

Workbenches are a step up. One source lists them as the gate for advanced carpentry, mechanics and electrical recipes; we could not confirm a full list of which recipes require a workbench rather than a plain table in 42.22. They spawn in garages, tool sheds, warehouses and some farm buildings. Check the carpentry guide for what you can build once you have one.

Opinion: claim a house with a garage workbench early. Having one next to your storage saves a lot of walking.

Heat stations are the backbone of the late-game crafting chain. Each pottery kiln firing uses one fire starter (lighter, matches, a magnesium firestarter or a lit candle) and one log or one charcoal item; planks and large branches do not work (one source). A full clay sack yields 8 Clay (one source), so a 20 Clay kiln takes about three sacks.

• Primitive and advanced kilns fire everything shaped on the pottery wheel. The advanced kiln doubles bricks (3 to 6) and tiles (4 to 8) per firing and is the only one that fires the clay anvil mold (one source). Full recipes are on the pottery guide.
• Dome kiln does no pottery. It turns 2 Logs, 3 Large Branches or 6 Planks into 12 Wood Charcoal, and 8 charcoal into 4 Coke, a high-heat fuel for metal work (one source).
• Furnace melts ore and metal chunks into ingots, using a large crucible made through pottery.
• Forge and anvil are where tools, weapon parts and cookware get hammered out. Crude wooden tongs work at first; metal tongs come later. See blacksmithing for the progression and fuel for charcoal.

Sources disagree slightly on what a forge needs: one guide lists a stone anvil, ten stone and a clay cement bucket, while others only describe it in general terms. Check the build menu in your version.

Drying racks hold crops and herbs only. One source states clearly that no meat recipes use them, and leather drying is not mentioned, so do not plan on jerky from a rack. Drying flax and hemp is the first step toward fibre for tailoring, and dried herbs feed medicine and tea. More on storing food is on food preservation.

Animal processing in Build 42 involves hanging and skinning carcasses before you cut them up, and hides need scraping with a fleshing tool or bone fleshing tool before tanning. We could not confirm the exact station names, build costs or skill levels for the butchering hook, butcher table or any tanning barrel in 42.22. Follow the butchering guide and the leather guide for the current steps.

We also could not confirm that a spinning wheel, loom, quern or millstone exists as a player-built station in the current build. If you see one in the build menu of a newer patch, treat this page as out of date on that point.

Opinion: most players get the most value from this order.

1. A workbench house and a few tables, before anything else.
2. Drying racks, since they cost Carpentry 1 at most and support farming and medicine. See farming.
3. A pottery wheel and a primitive kiln, which give you clay bowls, pots, crucibles and molds.
4. A dome kiln for charcoal and coke, then a furnace and forge once you have a steady fuel supply.

Skill magazines unlock many named station recipes, so read every smithing and craft magazine you find. The magazines page lists them.