Crafting 101: Workstations
Survival in 7 Days to Die 1.0 requires more than just a stone axe. You must progress through the tech tiers to stay ahead of the game's difficulty scaling. This guide covers every workstation, what it unlocks, and the optimal order to build them.
Workstation Overview
Each workstation unlocks new crafting recipes and improves efficiency. Here's the complete list:
| Workstation | Forge Ahead Magazines | Key Materials | Primary Use |
|---|
| Campfire | Tutorial (free) | 8 Stones | Cooking, boiling water |
| Forge | 4 magazines | 50 Stone, 10 Clay, 3 Leather, Short Iron Pipe | Smelting, forged items |
| Workbench | 10 magazines | Forged Iron, Mechanical Parts, Wood | Tools, weapons, vehicles |
| Chemistry Station | 6 magazines | Forged Iron, Beaker, Cooking Pot | Medicine, gunpowder, fuel |
| Cement Mixer | 8 magazines | Forged Iron, Mechanical Parts, Engine | Concrete, cobblestone |
How to Unlock Workstations
In 1.0, workstations are unlocked by reading Forge Ahead magazines. Find them in:
- Broken workstations in POIs (guaranteed 1 magazine each)
- Trader POIs (each trader has broken workstations inside)
- Bookshelves and mailboxes
- Quest rewards and trader purchases
Campfire - Your First Workstation
The campfire is available from the moment you spawn and is essential for survival.
What It Does
- Boils Water: Turns murky water into clean water (prevents dysentery)
- Cooks Raw Meat: Grilled meat restores more food and prevents food poisoning
- Crafts Basic Recipes: Bacon and eggs, stews, teas, and basic medicines
Campfire Upgrades
Add cooking tools to unlock more recipes and slots:
- Cooking Pot: Required for boiling water, stews, and dyes
- Cooking Grill: Enables meat grilling, increases cooking speed
- Beaker: Unlocks medicine crafting at the campfire level
Pro Tips
- Place your campfire in an enclosed room to reduce heat map signature
- Craft multiple campfires for parallel cooking during horde prep
- Coal burns 4x longer than wood—use it for overnight smelting
Forge - The Foundation of Industry
The forge transforms raw resources into usable crafting materials. Without it, you cannot progress past primitive tools.
What It Smelts
| Input | Output | Ratio |
|---|
| Iron Ore / Iron items | Forged Iron | ~1:1 |
| Lead Ore | Lead | 1:1 |
| Brass items (doorknobs, trophies) | Brass | Varies |
| Small Stone / Cobblestone | Stone for molds | - |
| Clay Soil | Clay for molds | - |
Forge Molds
Molds unlock new craftable items. Install them by opening the forge and placing them in the mod slot:
- Iron Mold: Forged Iron (essential)
- Steel Mold: Forged Steel (requires Brass in crucible)
- Bullet Casing Mold: Brass casings for ammunition
- Bullet Tip Mold: Lead bullet tips
Forge Efficiency Tips
- Smelt brass radiators and doorknobs—they're the most common brass source
- Always keep clay and stone in the forge input—molds require constant material
- Forging is loud and generates heat—build the forge underground or in a reinforced room
Workbench - Unlocking Technology
The workbench is your gateway to modern equipment. Most recipes require both a schematic (or perk) and the workbench.
Workbench Recipes Include
- Weapons: Compound bow, hunting rifle, SMG, shotgun, sniper rifle
- Tools: Steel tools, auger, chainsaw, nailgun
- Armor: Iron armor, steel armor, military armor
- Vehicles: Bicycle, minibike, motorcycle, 4x4 truck, gyrocopter
- Electrical: Generator bank, battery bank, solar panels, traps
Workbench Mods
The workbench has three tool mod slots that improve crafting quality:
- Tool and Die Set: Increases crafted item quality
- Workbench Tools: Speeds up crafting time
- Advanced Bellows: Further quality and speed improvements
Chemistry Station - Advanced Crafting
The chemistry station enables mass production of ammunition, explosives, and advanced medicine.
Key Recipes
| Category | Items |
|---|
| Ammunition | Gunpowder, 9mm rounds, 7.62mm rounds, shotgun shells, rockets |
| Medicine | First Aid Kits, Antibiotics, Painkillers, Steroids |
| Explosives | Pipe bombs, dynamite, frag grenades, contact grenades |
| Fuel | Gas cans (from oil shale and animal fat) |
| Materials | Acid, glue, military fiber, polymers |
Chemistry Station Tips
- Craft gas from animal fat if oil shale is scarce in your biome
- Beakers are required for medicine—find them in medical POIs or craft at the forge
- Gunpowder requires coal + nitrate—mine nitrate in caves and deserts
Cement Mixer - Building Infrastructure
The cement mixer converts raw stone into building materials for fortified bases.
Cement Mixer Output
- Cobblestone: 10 Small Stone = 1 Cobblestone block
- Concrete Mix: Stone + Cement + Sand
- Rebar Frames: For reinforced concrete
When to Build It
Build the cement mixer after your first horde night when you need to upgrade from wood to concrete defenses. It requires an engine, so consider buying one from a trader or salvaging a wrecked vehicle.
Crafting Quality System
In 1.0, crafted items have quality levels from 1-6:
- Quality 1-2: Basic crafting, low durability
- Quality 3-4: Requires skill points in relevant crafting perks
- Quality 5: Requires maxed perks + workbench mods
- Quality 6: Legendary—can only be found as loot, not crafted
Crafting Efficiency Tips
- Use the Track Feature: In the crafting menu, click 'Track' on any recipe to see missing ingredients
- Parallel Processing: Build multiple forges to smelt iron while crafting at the workbench
- Queue Management: Right-click to craft 5x, Shift+click to craft max quantity
- Schematic Priority: Read schematics before spending skill points—you might find a free unlock
- Nerdy Glasses: Equip for 10% reduced crafting time on all recipes
- Advanced Engineering Perk: Reduces resource costs in the Forge and speeds up Workbench/Cement Mixer crafting
Picking Up Workstations
Player-owned workstations within your Land Claim Block can be picked up by holding E and selecting "Take" from the radial menu. This lets you relocate your base without losing valuable stations.