The Long Dark Crafting, Repair and Tools Guide

A hatchet chops wood and breaks down furniture and branches into fuel, and it can also serve as a weapon in an emergency. A hunting knife harvests carcasses faster and cleaner, and it cuts cloth and opens cans. A hacksaw cuts metal and opens certain containers, and a hammer is needed for some workbench crafting and repairs. A whetstone sharpens blades, and a sewing kit with cloth repairs clothing. You do not need all of them on day one, but a hatchet, a knife, and a sewing kit together cover firewood, food, and Warmth, which is the whole early game.

A workbench is a crafting station found in workshops, garages, and some larger buildings. At a workbench you craft and repair tools and gear, make items like bandages and arrow shafts, and work with metal and wood that cannot be handled in the field. The rule for beginners is: if a recipe needs a workbench, bring the materials to the bench instead of carrying the bench idea around in your head. Mark workbench locations on your map the first time you find them, because a base near a workbench is a base that can keep its gear working.

Clothing gives Warmth and Windproof bonuses, and both fall as condition falls. A coat at 50% condition protects far less than the same coat at 100%, so clothing repair is not cosmetic: it is Warmth maintenance. Repair with cloth and a sewing kit, and repair early and often, because a small repair costs little cloth while a ruined garment may be unrepairable. Carry cloth always, and harvest cloth from curtains, towels, and ruined clothing you do not need.

Blades lose condition as you use them, and a dull blade harvests carcasses more slowly and yields less. Sharpen with a whetstone before a hunt, not after you are already standing over a carcass in the cold. Tools also break if used past their limit, and a broken tool mid-task wastes the trip. Check tool condition at base each evening, the same way you check food and water, and repair at the workbench before the next day starts.

Animal hides become some of the warmest clothing in the game, but only after curing. Fresh hides must be cured indoors over several days, then crafted at a workbench into items like deer-hide boots, a wolfskin coat, a bearskin bedroll or coat, and a moose-hide satchel that raises carrying capacity. Hide clothing is heavy and takes real time, so it is a mid-game goal, not a day-one project. Start curing hides early so they are ready when you need them, and keep one set of ordinary looted clothing for travel while hide gear is being made.

A good travelling loadout is: a hatchet, a knife, a sewing kit with cloth, a whetstone, matches and tinder, and a light source. That set weighs real kilograms, so leave the hacksaw and hammer at base unless the trip specifically needs them. The test for any tool is simple: if you have not used it in three days of travel, it belongs in base storage, not in your backpack.

The common mistakes are crafting too early, repairing too late, and carrying everything. Crafting a hide item before you have spare clothing leaves you cold while it is being made. Repairing at 10% wastes cloth or fails outright. Carrying every tool makes you slow, and slow is what gets you caught by weather and wolves. The fix for all three is the same habit: base storage is part of your inventory, and a trip is a plan with a tool list, not a move of house.

In workshops, garages, and larger industrial buildings. Mark the first one you find on your map and consider basing near it.

Place fresh hides indoors and let them cure over several in-game days, then craft them at a workbench. Start curing early so the hides are ready when you need the clothing.

Most tools can be repaired at a workbench if you have the materials and the tool itself. The danger is a break in the field, far from any bench, so check condition before trips.