Timberborn Crafting Guide: All Recipes and Production Buildings

Crafting in Timberborn is the backbone of your beaver colony's survival and growth. Every advanced resource your beavers need, from processed food and metal components to bot parts and explosives, is produced through a network of specialized production buildings, each with its own recipes and input requirements. Understanding how these crafting chains connect is essential for building an efficient settlement that can thrive through droughts and beyond. This guide covers every crafting recipe currently available in Timberborn, organized by production building and faction, so you can plan your production lines with confidence.

Timberborn features two playable factions, the Folktails and the Iron Teeth, each with distinct crafting buildings and recipes. Some production buildings like the Lumber Mill, Smelter, and Gear Workshop are shared between both factions, while others are faction-exclusive. The Folktails lean toward natural and agricultural processing with buildings like the Grill, Bakery, and Gristmill, while the Iron Teeth favor industrial methods using the Food Factory, Fermenter, and Oil Press. A handful of advanced buildings, including the Bot Part Factory, Bot Assembler, Explosives Factory, and Centrifuge, are available to both factions as common infrastructure. Knowing which recipes belong to your chosen faction will help you plan your resource chains from the very start of a new map.

Basic Resource Processing: Lumber and Planks

The most fundamental crafting chain in Timberborn begins with raw Logs and the Lumber Mill. The Logs to Planks recipe is shared by both factions: 1 Log produces 1 Plank at the standard Lumber Mill. Planks are one of the most heavily consumed resources in the game, required for construction, further crafting into Gears, Treated Planks, and even bot components. Every colony needs at least one Lumber Mill running from the earliest moments of a new settlement, and most players end up building several as their population grows.

The Iron Teeth also have access to the Industrial Lumber Mill, which processes Logs to Planks at a faster rate through the Logs to Planks (Industrial) recipe. While the conversion ratio remains 1:1, the increased throughput makes this building a strong upgrade for Iron Teeth colonies that need to scale plank production without dedicating excessive land to standard mills. Regardless of faction, maintaining a healthy surplus of Planks is critical, as they feed into the Gear Workshop, Wood Workshop, and many construction projects.

Beyond basic planks, the Wood Workshop converts Planks into Treated Planks using the recipe: 1 Plank plus 1 Pine Resin yields 1 Treated Plank. Treated Planks are a higher-tier construction material needed for advanced buildings. Pine Resin is gathered from pine trees, so you will need to manage your forests carefully to sustain this production chain alongside your regular logging operations.

Gears and Mechanical Components

The Gear Workshop is a common building available to both factions that converts Planks into Gears using the Planks to Gears recipe: 1 Plank becomes 1 Gear. Gears are essential mechanical components used in numerous advanced construction projects and, critically, in bot production. The simple 1:1 conversion ratio means Gear production directly competes with your Plank supply, so plan your lumber operations accordingly.

Because Gears feed into the Bot Part Factory for producing Bot Limbs (3 Gears + 1 Plank per limb) and Bot Heads (3 Gears + 1 Metal Block + 1 Plank per head), the demand for Gears escalates rapidly once you begin automating your colony with bots. A single bot requires parts that consume at least 12 Gears total across its three component types. Building multiple Gear Workshops near your lumber storage and Bot Part Factories will help keep the supply chain flowing smoothly.

Metal and Industrial Processing: Smelter and Beyond

The Smelter is a common building that handles one of the game's most important industrial recipes: Scrap Metal to Metal Blocks. This recipe requires 2 Scrap Metal plus 1 Log to produce 1 Metal Block. Scrap Metal is a finite resource found on maps, making Metal Blocks inherently scarce and valuable. Every Metal Block you produce should be allocated carefully, as they are needed for advanced buildings, bot production, and various late-game structures.

The Smelter's consumption of Logs alongside Scrap Metal means your logging operations serve double duty: feeding both the Lumber Mill for Planks and the Smelter for Metal Blocks. On maps where Scrap Metal deposits are far from your main settlement, you may need to establish remote districts with dedicated Smelters to process the metal before hauling the finished blocks back. Since Scrap Metal does not replenish, experienced players recommend smelting conservatively in the early game and reserving Metal Blocks for high-priority projects like bot production.

Folktails Food Processing: Grill, Gristmill, and Bakery

The Folktails faction processes food through a multi-step chain that begins with raw crops and ends with cooked or baked goods. The simplest food processing building is the Grill, which offers three recipes: Grill Potatoes (1 Potato yields 4 Grilled Potatoes), Grill Chestnuts (1 Chestnut yields 2 Grilled Chestnuts), and Grill Spadderdock (1 Spadderdock yields 3 Grilled Spadderdock). The Grill is your earliest and most reliable food processing option as a Folktails player, and Grilled Potatoes offer the best output ratio of the three recipes.

For more advanced food, the Gristmill converts raw grain into flour: Wheat to Flour (1 Wheat yields 1 Wheat Flour) and Cattail Root to Flour (1 Cattail Root yields 1 Cattail Flour). These flour products then move to the Bakery, where three distinct recipes transform them into finished food. Wheat Flour to Bread converts 1 Wheat Flour into 5 Bread, making it one of the most efficient food recipes in the game. Cattail Flour to Crackers turns 1 Cattail Flour into 4 Cattail Crackers, which is slightly less efficient but uses the widely available Cattail crop.

The Bakery's premium recipe is Maple Pastries, which requires 1 Wheat Flour plus 1 Maple Syrup to produce 3 Maple Pastries. While the output count is lower, Maple Pastries provide higher satisfaction to your beavers, making them a worthwhile investment once your wheat farms and maple tapping operations are well established. The Folktails food chain rewards players who plan multi-step production lines: fields feed the Gristmill, the Gristmill feeds the Bakery, and the Bakery feeds your population.

Iron Teeth Food Processing: Fermenter, Food Factory, Oil Press, and Coffee Brewery

The Iron Teeth approach food processing through industrial methods centered on the Oil Press, Fermenter, Food Factory, and Coffee Brewery. The chain often starts at the Oil Press, where Canola Seeds to Oil converts 1 Canola Seed into 1 Canola Oil. This intermediate product is a linchpin of Iron Teeth food production, feeding into multiple downstream recipes across the Fermenter and Food Factory.

The Fermenter offers three preservation recipes. Ferment Mushroom converts 4 Mushrooms into 16 Fermented Mushrooms, delivering a remarkable 4:1 output ratio. Ferment Cassava turns 4 Cassava into 10 Fermented Cassava. Ferment Soybean is the oil-dependent recipe, requiring 6 Soybean plus 1 Canola Oil to produce 20 Fermented Soybean, which is the highest single-batch yield in the game. These fermented foods are the staple diet of Iron Teeth colonies and can be stockpiled in large quantities for drought survival.

The Food Factory handles ration production with three recipes: Corn to Rations (1 Corn yields 5 Corn Rations), Eggplant to Rations (1 Eggplant + 1 Canola Oil yields 6 Eggplant Rations), and Algae to Rations (1 Algae + 1 Canola Oil yields 6 Algae Rations). The oil-based ration recipes offer a slightly better yield but require a functioning Oil Press supply chain. Meanwhile, the Coffee Brewery converts 2 Coffee Beans into 3 Coffee, providing a valuable morale-boosting beverage for your Iron Teeth beavers.

Paper, Books, and Knowledge Production

The Paper Mill is a Folktails building that converts Logs into Paper using the Logs to Paper recipe: 1 Log produces 2 Paper. This is a solid conversion ratio that makes the Paper Mill an efficient way to generate this resource. Paper serves as the input for the Printing Press, which is a common building available to both factions.

The Printing Press uses the Paper to Books recipe, converting 1 Paper into 1 Book. Books are important for beaver well-being and education. Since the Paper Mill is Folktails-exclusive, Iron Teeth players will need to find alternative ways to obtain Paper or rely on different strategies for their knowledge production needs. The Folktails' ability to produce Paper from renewable Logs gives them a distinct advantage in sustaining long-term book production.

Badwater Processing: Centrifuge and Explosives Factory

Badwater is a hazardous liquid resource that appears on many maps and poses a threat to crops and beavers alike. However, two common buildings can convert this dangerous substance into valuable resources. The Centrifuge processes Badwater using the Badwater to Extract recipe: 5 Badwater yields 1 Extract. Extract is a concentrated chemical resource used in advanced crafting chains, including Treated Plank production and, for Iron Teeth, Grease production.

The Explosives Factory offers the Badwater to Explosives recipe: 5 Badwater produces 1 Explosives. Explosives are used for demolishing terrain features and clearing new areas for expansion. Both the Centrifuge and Explosives Factory share the same 5:1 Badwater input ratio, so you will need to decide how to allocate your Badwater supply based on your colony's priorities. On maps with abundant Badwater, running both buildings simultaneously is a strong strategy that turns a environmental hazard into a pair of useful outputs.

Bot Production Chain: Bot Part Factory and Bot Assembler

Bots represent the pinnacle of Timberborn's crafting system, requiring a complex multi-step production chain that draws on nearly every basic resource in the game. The Bot Part Factory produces three distinct components. Bot Chassis requires 5 Planks plus 1 Metal Block. Bot Head requires 3 Gears, 1 Metal Block, and 1 Plank. Bot Limbs require 3 Gears plus 1 Plank. Each of these parts must be produced separately before final assembly.

The Bot Assembler then combines these components using the Bot Assembly recipe: 1 Bot Chassis, 1 Bot Head, and 4 Bot Limbs come together to create a finished bot. When you tally the total raw materials for a single bot, the numbers are substantial: 10 Planks, 2 Metal Blocks, and 15 Gears (which themselves require 15 Planks), plus the Logs and Scrap Metal needed upstream. This means each bot costs roughly 25+ Planks worth of lumber and 2 Metal Blocks worth of scarce Scrap Metal.

Planning bot production requires dedicated infrastructure. You will want multiple Gear Workshops feeding into at least one Bot Part Factory, with a Smelter consistently producing Metal Blocks nearby. Keeping storage buffers of each component type near the Bot Assembler prevents production stalls. Bots are available to both factions and represent a shared end-game goal that rewards players who master the full crafting pipeline from raw Logs and Scrap Metal all the way to a finished automaton.

Faction-Specific and Chemical Recipes

Several recipes are exclusive to one faction and define the unique playstyle of each. The Folktails have access to the Refinery, which offers three specialized recipes. Biofuel from Carrots converts 2 Water plus 2 Carrots into 5 Biofuel, providing a renewable fuel source. Catalyst from Maple Syrup transforms 1 Maple Syrup plus 2 Sunflower Seeds into 3 Catalyst, a chemical resource used in advanced production. Dandelion to Antidote converts 2 Dandelions into 1 Antidote, which is vital for treating beavers affected by Badwater contamination.

The Iron Teeth have their own exclusive recipe in the form of Grease Production, which converts 1 Canola Oil plus 1 Extract into 2 Grease. Grease is an industrial lubricant needed for certain Iron Teeth buildings and mechanical systems. This recipe highlights the Iron Teeth's reliance on the Oil Press chain, as Canola Oil serves as a prerequisite for both food and industrial recipes. The Extract component also means Iron Teeth players who want Grease must run a Centrifuge to process Badwater alongside their oil production.

Understanding these faction-exclusive recipes is crucial when choosing your faction at the start of a game. The Folktails' Refinery recipes center on renewable agricultural inputs (Carrots, Maple Syrup, Dandelions, Sunflower Seeds), while the Iron Teeth's Grease recipe ties together their industrial Canola Oil chain with Badwater processing. Neither faction has a strict advantage; rather, they offer different crafting philosophies that reward different resource management strategies.

Production Ratios and Efficiency Tips

Efficient crafting in Timberborn depends on matching your production building counts to your resource supply rates. For Folktails food, the Grill's Potatoes recipe (1:4 ratio) provides the best caloric output per input, while the Bakery's Bread recipe (1:5 after milling) is the most efficient baked good. For Iron Teeth, the Fermenter's Soybean recipe (6 Soybean + 1 Oil yields 20 output) offers the highest volume per batch, but it requires Oil Press infrastructure. The Mushroom Fermenter recipe (4:16) is simpler since it needs no oil.

When scaling production, consider that each building can only process one recipe at a time. If you need both Corn Rations and Eggplant Rations, you will need separate Food Factories or switch recipes manually. Building dedicated production clusters, where a warehouse sits between input suppliers and output consumers, minimizes beaver travel time and maximizes throughput. For bot production, a single Bot Part Factory can become a bottleneck, so plan for at least two when you intend to produce bots at any meaningful scale.

Resource prioritization matters during droughts. Stockpile processed food before a dry season rather than raw crops, since processed food is more space-efficient per unit of nutrition. Keep your Smelters running during droughts when possible, as Metal Block production does not depend on water or crops. And remember that Logs serve triple duty as fuel, Plank input, and Smelter fuel, so maintain a healthy reserve of raw Logs at all times to avoid cascading shortages across your entire production network.

Complete Recipe Quick-Reference

Common Recipes (Both Factions)

Lumber Mill: 1 Log yields 1 Plank. Gear Workshop: 1 Plank yields 1 Gear. Wood Workshop: 1 Plank + 1 Pine Resin yields 1 Treated Plank. Smelter: 2 Scrap Metal + 1 Log yields 1 Metal Block. Printing Press: 1 Paper yields 1 Book. Centrifuge: 5 Badwater yields 1 Extract. Explosives Factory: 5 Badwater yields 1 Explosives. Bot Part Factory: 5 Planks + 1 Metal Block yields 1 Bot Chassis; 3 Gears + 1 Metal Block + 1 Plank yields 1 Bot Head; 3 Gears + 1 Plank yields 1 Bot Limb. Bot Assembler: 1 Bot Chassis + 1 Bot Head + 4 Bot Limbs yields 1 Bot.

Folktails-Exclusive Recipes

Grill: 1 Potato yields 4 Grilled Potatoes; 1 Chestnut yields 2 Grilled Chestnuts; 1 Spadderdock yields 3 Grilled Spadderdock. Gristmill: 1 Wheat yields 1 Wheat Flour; 1 Cattail Root yields 1 Cattail Flour. Bakery: 1 Wheat Flour yields 5 Bread; 1 Cattail Flour yields 4 Cattail Crackers; 1 Wheat Flour + 1 Maple Syrup yields 3 Maple Pastries. Paper Mill: 1 Log yields 2 Paper. Refinery: 2 Carrots + 2 Water yields 5 Biofuel; 1 Maple Syrup + 2 Sunflower Seeds yields 3 Catalyst; 2 Dandelions yields 1 Antidote.

Iron Teeth-Exclusive Recipes

Industrial Lumber Mill: 1 Log yields 1 Plank (faster throughput). Oil Press: 1 Canola Seed yields 1 Canola Oil. Fermenter: 4 Mushrooms yields 16 Fermented Mushrooms; 4 Cassava yields 10 Fermented Cassava; 6 Soybean + 1 Canola Oil yields 20 Fermented Soybean. Food Factory: 1 Corn yields 5 Corn Rations; 1 Eggplant + 1 Canola Oil yields 6 Eggplant Rations; 1 Algae + 1 Canola Oil yields 6 Algae Rations. Coffee Brewery: 2 Coffee Beans yields 3 Coffee. Grease Production: 1 Canola Oil + 1 Extract yields 2 Grease.