When you first spawn in Enshrouded, you’re probably scrambling to cobble together a stone axe, a campfire, and a rough temporary shelter to keep the Shroud’s creatures out. You’ll hit your first major progression wall pretty quickly when you realize you can’t build a sturdier base or craft better tools without a steady supply of finished building materials, and that’s when you’ll need to figure out how to make planks enshrouded. I’ve put 70+ hours into Enshrouded across three playthroughs, and I wasted almost an hour of my first run clicking through every crafting menu trying to make planks by hand before I figured out the correct process. This guide skips all the confusion and gives you the exact steps, tips, and troubleshooting fixes to keep your plank supply full at all times.
How to Make Planks in Enshrouded: Core Required Materials & Tools
The first thing you need to know is that you can’t craft planks in your personal inventory or a basic workbench, no matter how much raw wood you have. I learned this the hard way when I sat with a stack of 60 wood logs clicking through every crafting slot hoping the plank recipe would pop up. You only need two core components to make regular planks: raw wood logs and a basic sawmill.
To unlock the sawmill recipe, you first have to rescue the Carpenter NPC from her trapped location north of the starting Ancient Spire. She’s held up in a half-collapsed stone cabin guarded by three low-level bandits, which you can take down with a basic stone axe or even a lit torch if you don’t have better weapons yet. Once you escort her back to your base, she’ll automatically add the sawmill recipe to your workbench menu, no extra quests or materials required to unlock it.
You’ll need 8 raw wood logs, 3 rough stone, 1 metal scrap, and 2 pieces of charcoal to build the basic sawmill. Place it on a flat, solid surface near your base, and you’re ready to start processing wood. 1 unit of raw wood yields 2 regular planks in a basic sawmill, no extra resources or fuel needed to run the machine. Don’t make the common mistake of putting Shroud Wood into the regular sawmill, that material only works in a late-game Shrouded Sawmill to make specialized Shroud Planks for corrupted zone builds.
Fastest Ways to Farm Raw Wood for Plank Production
Once you have your sawmill set up, you’ll burn through planks way faster than you expect. I built my first 3-room permanent base and used 320 planks in less than 10 minutes, so having a steady supply of raw wood is non-negotiable for smooth progression. You don’t have to spend hours running across the map chopping random trees though, there are simple tricks to cut your farming time in half.
The best early-game farming spot for raw wood is the rolling pine forest west of the starting spire. There are dozens of fully mature pine trees in this area that give 3-4 logs each, and there are no Shroud enemies or high-level bandits wandering around unless you stray too far south. I do all my bulk wood farming here when I’m just starting a new playthrough, and I can collect 200 logs in 15 minutes flat.
A bronze axe cuts trees 40% faster than a basic stone axe, so upgrade your logging tool as soon as you rescue the Blacksmith NPC, which you can do right after you get the Carpenter set up in your base. You don’t need to waste iron or steel axes on regular wood farming, bronze works perfectly for all early and mid-game logging runs. For even faster farming, follow these simple tips:
- Chop only fully grown trees: saplings give 1 log max, while mature trees give up to 5 logs each, so you save twice the time for the same amount of effort
- Clear a small area near your base to plant tree saplings: you collect saplings automatically when you chop mature trees, and they grow to full size in 10 in-game minutes, so you never have to leave your base to get wood
- Bring a follower with the logging perk: some hireable wandering NPCs have a passive perk that gives you 20% extra wood per tree chopped, which adds up to hundreds of extra logs per hour of farming
I used to run 10 minutes away from my base to chop trees every time I needed planks until I realized I could plant a 20-tree grove right next to my sawmill. Now I can make 500 planks in 5 minutes without ever leaving my base perimeter, which saves me hours of playtime every run.
Smart Uses for Planks to Avoid Wasting Your Hard-Earned Resources
Planks are one of the most versatile resources in Enshrouded, so you don’t want to blow your entire stock on decorative items before you cover your basic progression needs. I made this mistake in my first playthrough, I spent 150 planks on a fancy front porch for my base right before I realized I needed 200 planks to build the Forge, and I had to spend an hour chopping wood to make up the difference.
Prioritize base structural parts first when you start making planks. Plank walls, floors, and roofs are 3x more durable than the rough wood parts you start with, and they don’t take damage from regular rain or small enemy attacks. That means your base won’t need constant repairs every time a stray wolf or bandit wanders by. Next, use planks to craft mid-game workstations: almost every workstation from the Forge to the Alchemy Table requires 10-20 planks to build, so keep a stack of 50 planks set aside for these unlocks as you progress.
You’ll also need planks for every tool repair and new tool craft, since every axe, pickaxe, and sword uses a plank for its handle. I keep a stack of 20 planks in my inventory at all times so I can repair my tools mid-exploration without running back to base. You can store up to 1000 planks in a single standard storage chest, so it’s smart to keep a dedicated plank chest right next to your sawmill to avoid mixing them up with other building materials.
Save decorative items like chairs, tables, and wall hangings for later once you have a fully automated tree farm and sawmill setup. You should also avoid using planks for temporary outposts in the Shroud, use cheap rough wood for those since you’ll probably abandon them once you clear the area of loot and quests.
Troubleshooting Common Plank Crafting Issues
Even if you follow all the steps correctly, you might run into small issues when you first start making planks. I’ve had every one of these problems in my playthroughs, so these fixes work 100% of the time if you’re stuck.
The most common issue is a sawmill that won’t produce planks even when you put raw wood in the input slot. First, check if the sawmill is placed on a completely flat, solid surface. If it’s on uneven ground, partially floating, or blocked by another object, it won’t activate. Also double check that you’re putting regular raw wood in the slot, not Shroud Wood or twigs, those won’t work in a basic sawmill. If it still won’t run, try picking it up and placing it again, sometimes the game glitches if you place the sawmill while you’re moving too fast.
If you can’t find the Carpenter NPC to unlock the sawmill, make sure you’ve explored the area north of the starting spire. She’s inside a small stone building with a barricaded front door, you have to break the wooden barricade to get inside and talk to her. If you’re playing in multiplayer, make sure another player on your server hasn’t already rescued her and brought her to their base, you can ask them to share the sawmill recipe or build one for your own base.
If you’re only getting 1 plank per log instead of 2, your sawmill is probably low on durability. Basic sawmills lose durability after every 100 planks they produce, and yield drops by 50% when they’re below 20% durability. You can repair a sawmill with 2 stone and 1 raw wood log, it takes 2 seconds to fix and will go back to full yield immediately. Once you get to late game, you can upgrade to an Improved Sawmill that gives 3 planks per log, which is a game-changer for large castle builds.
Whether you’re building your first permanent base or crafting a full set of bronze tools to explore deeper Shroud zones, knowing how to make planks enshrouded is one of the core skills that will make your playthrough way smoother. Don’t rush the process, take 10 minutes to set up a small tree farm next to your sawmill early on, and you’ll never run out of planks when you need them most. I still use the same setup I made in my first playthrough months later, and it’s never let me down when I’m halfway through building a castle or repairing my tools mid-exploration. If you have your own tricks for faster plank production, drop them in the comments below, I’m always looking for ways to cut down on farming time.