Crafting in Permafrost follows a simple loop: gather materials, bring them back and turn them into better gear at the right workbench. You unlock recipes in the Blueprints menu with points earned by levelling, plus world recipes you find and quest recipes from the story. Your pickaxe decides which ores you can mine, so the path runs from Stone to Flint, Copper, Iron and finally Moonrock. Build a Workbench first, then a Stone Furnace to smelt ore into ingots.
The crafting loop
The official crafting video lays out the loop in a few lines. You bring resources back, put them to work and craft better tools, stronger weapons and equipment for the cold. Different workbenches unlock new possibilities as you progress through the world.
The same video adds a habit worth keeping: when gear is no longer useful, break it down and recover what you can. Every resource has a purpose, and every upgrade opens the way to harder areas. Crafting is how you push deeper into the frozen world.
Resource management sits at the center of it all. The official Steam post on resources says every scrap you gather has value, whether for tools, repairs or shelters. Inventory space is limited, so you will learn to prioritize what you carry home.
Blueprints, recipes and skill points
Recipes live in the Blueprints section of your journal. You spend blueprint points, earned by levelling up, to unlock them. Playtest footage shows building and crafting recipes sharing the same pool of points, so choose carefully early on.
Not every recipe comes from points. World recipes are found lying around in the world, and quest recipes are rewards from the story. Streamers in the playtest found useful items like a wooden chest this way.
Early on, points are scarce, and one streamer had to choose between a rabbit trap and a candle for their first unlock. Another saved a point until they knew what they needed. Spending your first points on tools you will use every day is the safest choice.
Your skills also improve as you use them, for example Crafting, Axes, Pickaxes and Skinning. Fan data from the preview build says the Crafting skill cuts crafting time as it levels. Axe and pickaxe skills add damage to those tools.
What you can craft by hand
A handful of basics need no bench at all, which is how the opening quest gets you started. You can make them anywhere as long as you have the materials. These are the ones seen in the playtest and in preview data.
- Stone Axe and Stone Pickaxe
- Stone Shiv for skinning and simple locks
- Rope, which unlocks the bow
- Crude Bow and Wooden Arrows
- Improvised Tea and Improvised Coffee
Crafted items at a bench appear on the bench itself, and you have to pick them up. Playtesters who missed this thought their crafting had failed. Check the bench before you walk away.
Workstations and the order to build them
Benches are the gates of progression, and each one unlocks a new set of recipes. Preview data lists seven benches that craft recipes, plus smelters and other stations. This is the usual build order seen in playtest footage.
| Station | What it makes |
|---|---|
| Workbench (10 Wood) | Tools, bows, bandages, heaters, components |
| Campfire / Stove | Cooked food |
| Tanning Rack | Treated Hide and Cloth from pelts |
| Tailoring Bench | Every clothing set (needs Copper Ingots) |
| Stone Furnace (40 Stone) | Coal and metal ingots |
| Weapon Bench | Guns, ammunition and gunpowder |
| Repair and Dismantle Benches | Fixing gear and breaking it down |
The Workbench is the first real step, and the quest New Home asks you to build it. A streamer who built a Stone Furnace early noted that it needs a lot of stone, so plan a mining trip. Place stations on a foundation inside your base, as covered in the base building guide.
A fan database of the preview build counts 176 crafting recipes spread across seven crafting stations, with 15 that can be made by hand. Most of those recipes sit on the Workbench and the Tailoring Bench. Expect the exact numbers to change as Early Access updates arrive.
Tool tiers: the pickaxe decides
Your pickaxe sets which ores you can mine, so it is the true measure of progress. A Stone Pickaxe only handles stone and flint. Players on the forum confirmed that you need a better pickaxe before copper becomes available.
- Stone — stone and flint.
- Flint — adds copper, coal and sulfur.
- Scrap / Copper — adds iron.
- Iron — adds Moonrock.
- Quality Metal / Moonrock — mines everything.
Flint is the first big gate, because a Flint Pickaxe made at the Workbench is what reaches copper and coal. Those two materials feed the Stone Furnace and everything after it. The tier list above comes from preview build data and may shift in the launch build.
Smelting ore into ingots
Raw ore is not much use until you smelt it. The Stone Furnace turns wood into coal and ore into copper and iron ingots. Copper Ingots are the key to the Tailoring Bench, which makes warm clothing.
Quality Metal comes from smelting iron in a smelter, as the official building post confirms. Moonrock Ingots need a more advanced smelter in the preview data. Each step needs coal, so keep a stock of wood for burning.
Moonrock: the rarest material
When the moon shattered, fragments of it fell to Earth, including a large moon rock near one of the forest areas. The official Steam post calls Moonrock extremely rare and valuable for high-quality, highly durable tools and equipment. It is not to be confused with coal, which is far more common.
Moonrock sits at the top of the tool chain and also feeds the warmest endgame clothing. You will not reach it in your first hours. Treat it as a long-term goal while you work through the lower tiers.
The six essential tool types
The official tools video names six types every survivor needs. Knives slip locks and skin your next meal, and axes cut trees and break things. Hammers build, repair and demolish, while mining tools dig through stone.
Weapons, from bows to guns, let you hunt food or defend it. Traps catch animals for you, from rabbits up to larger prey. Covering all six early makes every other system easier.
What the roadmap adds to crafting
The official Early Access roadmap brings several crafting changes. Update 1 adds quality-of-life improvements for crafting, building and inventory, plus new firearms and clothing sets. A map content update adds new chests, recipes and items.
Update 2 brings weapon parts into crafting, so you can build more weapons yourself. Update 3 adds a new tool, the sledgehammer, for demolishing obstacles while you scavenge. Check the beginner guide if you are just starting out.
Built from the official crafting and tools videos, official Steam posts on resources, Moonrock and the Early Access roadmap, and playtest footage from October 2026. Bench costs and tool tiers come from a fan datamine of preview build 0.44.2. Last updated: October 8, 2026.
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References and further reading for this article.
