How do you craft a chest to store items in your shelter?

Crafting a chest in Valheim is one of the first essential steps to organizing your shelter and managing your resources efficiently. Chests allow you to store items, freeing up inventory space and ensuring you have room to gather more materials. To craft a chest, you’ll need to gather specific resources and unlock the crafting recipe by building a workbench, which is the foundation of most early-game crafting.\n\nTo begin, you’ll need to gather wood, which is the primary resource for crafting a chest. Wood can be obtained by chopping down trees using a stone axe, which is one of the first tools you’ll craft. Simply equip the axe, target a tree, and swing until it falls. Once the tree is down, continue chopping the logs to collect wood. You’ll need at least 10 wood to craft a chest, so gather a bit extra to account for other early-game needs.\n\nNext, you’ll need to build a workbench if you haven’t already. The workbench is a crafting station that unlocks a variety of recipes, including the chest. To craft a workbench, you’ll need 10 wood. Open your inventory (press Tab), navigate to the crafting tab, and select the workbench. Place it in a suitable location within your shelter or nearby. Keep in mind that the workbench requires a roof and walls to function, so ensure it’s placed in a covered area.\n\nOnce the workbench is built, interact with it to access its crafting menu. Scroll through the available recipes until you find the chest. The chest requires 10 wood to craft, so ensure you have enough in your inventory. If you’re short on wood, return to chopping trees or gather branches from the ground. Once you have the required materials, select the chest and place it in your desired location within your shelter.\n\nA common challenge new players face is running out of storage space quickly. To address this, consider crafting multiple chests and organizing them by item type. For example, dedicate one chest to food, another to building materials, and a third to tools and weapons. This system will save you time when searching for specific items and help you stay organized as your inventory grows.\n\nAnother tip is to place chests near your workbench or other crafting stations. This allows you to access stored materials quickly while crafting, reducing the need to run back and forth. Additionally, chests can be labeled using signs, which are crafted using wood and coal. Labeling chests is especially helpful in multiplayer games, where multiple players may be accessing the same storage.\n\nIn terms of biome considerations, chests can be crafted and placed in any biome, but their durability is not affected by environmental factors. However, if you’re building in a dangerous biome like the Black Forest or Swamp, ensure your shelter is well-protected to prevent enemies from destroying your chests. Reinforce your base with walls, gates, and defensive structures to keep your items safe.\n\nFor experienced players, upgrading to larger storage options like the reinforced chest or iron chest is a natural progression. These require more advanced materials like iron or bronze but offer significantly more storage space. However, for early-game players, the basic chest is more than sufficient to get started.\n\nIn summary, crafting a chest in Valheim is a straightforward process that involves gathering wood, building a workbench, and accessing the crafting menu. Organize your chests effectively, label them for convenience, and place them strategically near crafting stations. By following these steps, you’ll have a well-organized shelter and a solid foundation for your Viking adventures.