In Stardew Valley, crafting the right equipment makes all the difference. Through leveling up skills, completing bundles, and some of the quests villagers give to the player, various useful crafting blueprints can be unlocked to make life on the farm a million times easier. Not just that, many of these items are great for making money.
However, with crafting resources limited, players will want to know instantly which items are worth crafting and which ones can wait for a bit longer. The best objects tend to be relatively cheap, easy to unlock early on, and provide great value for seasons and years to come through their utility.
10 Recycling Machine
Upon reaching level 4 of the Fishing skill, players will be able to unlock the Recycling Machine crafting blueprints. This machine is insanely useful, especially for those who have accumulated a lot of trash and useless items from fishing, such as broken CDs and glasses. All of that can be put inside the Recycling Machine and turned into something useful. Make it with 25 Stone, 25 Wood, and 1 Iron Bar.
Each trash item corresponds to a useful crafting material. Here's what players can expect to get from each trash item they place inside the machine:
- Soggy Newspaper: Torches or Cloth
- Driftwood: Wood or Coal
- Broken CD: Refined Quartz
- Trash: Coal, Iron Ore or Stone
- Broken Glasses: Refined Quartz
9 Preserves Jar
Artisan goods are the best way to make money in Stardew Valley, so it's no surprise that the Preserves Jar is on this list. This object can be unlocked extremely early on by reaching Farming skill level 4, and it can really bump up the value of crops. To craft it, combine 50 Wood, 40 Stone, and 8 Coal.
Put any vegetable or fruit inside the Preserves Jar and after a while, it will either produce pickled vegetables or jam. Both of these make for fantastic gifts for the villagers as well. They can also be sold directly for quick cash.
8 Keg
The ultimate best artisan object is the keg. Granted, it can only be unlocked at level 8 of the Farming skill, but it's definitely worth grinding for due to how versatile it is. It requires 30 Wood, 1 Copper Bar, 1 Iron Bar, and 1 Oak Resin to make. Any item placed into the keg will massively increase in value.
Hops can be turned into Pale Ale and fruit can be turned into expensive wines and then aged inside casks for an even higher price. The Starfruit Wine, in particular, is known as one of the best money-making artisan goods in the game, so the sooner the keg is unlocked, the better.
7 Seed Maker
Those wondering what to do with an excess of crops, the Seed Maker is the answer. Unlocked at Farming level 9, it's an extremely handy contraption that can be crafted with 25 Wood, 1 Gold Bar, and 10 Coal. Almost any crop placed inside will provide the player with its seed.
It's a great way to also get some Ancient Fruit Seeds, which are incredibly rare but yield expensive Ancient Fruits after growing for a long time. There's also a chance the Seed Maker will give Mixed Seeds.
6 Furnace
The furnace is gained quite early on for free from Clint. Once the player has visited the mines, Clint will automatically show up at their doorstep and hand over the blueprints. To craft it, combine 25 Stone and 20 Copper Ore together.
The furnace is the bread and butter of Stardew Valley. It's used to turn ore into bars, so having a few furnaces around is pretty much a necessity for any farm in the game. Without it, there's no way to upgrade tools and get high-quality crafting items that require bars.
5 Bug Steak
This might come as a surprising addition to many players, but food is an important part of Stardew Valley, especially early on when the player still has no kitchen inside their farm home. Food allows players to spend more time doing energy-heavy activities like crawling in the mines or cutting down trees.
That's why the Bug Steak is a great source of early food in the game. It's unlocked at level 1 of the Combat skill and simply requires 10 Bug Meat to craft, making it incredibly cheap. It restores 30 Health and 45 Energy, which is better than the Field Snack, for example.
4 Mayonnaise Machine
Once the coop has been unlocked and a few chickens have been put in, the next natural step is to craft a Mayonnaise Machine. It's much cheaper than most other artisan objects, and becomes available as soon as level 2 of Farming.
Craft the machine with 15 Wood, 15 Stone, 1 Earth Crystal, and 1 Copper Bar. Any eggs placed inside the machine will be turned into mayonnaise, which is a nice gift and also sells for a decent price.
3 Crystalarium
The Crystalarium is definitely an end-game item, but it's such a powerful tool to make a bit of extra money, especially for players who enjoy crawling in the mines and gathering various gems. Unlock it at Mining level 9 and craft it with 99 Stone, 5 Gold Bars, 2 Iridium Bars, and 1 Battery Pack. It can also be gained by completing the 25K Vault bundle inside the Community Center.
The Crystalarium will replicate any gem infinitely once the gem is placed inside. Some gems will take longer to replicate, such as Diamonds, which take 5 days to make. However, Jade, Fire Quartz and Aquamarine have fairly low replication times and decently high selling prices.
2 Crab Pot
Unlocked at level 3 of the Fishing skill, Crab Pots are excellent fishing tools for players who absolutely hate the fishing mechanics in Stardew Valley. The downside is that they're not that cheap to craft, requiring 40 Wood and 3 Iron Bars.
Place the Crab Pots with bait inside in water and all sorts of things can be caught inside, from trash to lobsters, shrimp, crabs, and clams of all kinds. Placing Crab Pots in freshwater will yield rarer bounty like Periwinkle, Snail, and Crayfish.
1 Tapper
Tappers might seem like such small objects, but they're vital when it comes to making resources for other, better crafting objects, such as kegs. Tappers are unlocked early on by reaching level 3 in the Foraging skill tree and need to be crafted with 40 Wood and 2 Copper Bars.
Place a Tapper onto a tree and depending on the type of tree it will either produce Maple Syrup, Oak Resin, or Pine Tar. All of these are incredibly useful crafting ingredients, but can also be sold for a bit of money. The tapping process is pretty lengthy, so make sure to start it early.