Valheim: How to Make a Tanning Rack

The Tanning Rack is one of the small structures that quietly gates your progress in Valheim. It is not a crafting station on its own. It is a Workbench improvement, and dropping one next to your bench is what pushes that bench to level 3 so you can start upgrading leather armor.

Quick answer: Equip your hammer, open the build menu inside Workbench range, and place the Tanning Rack within two meters of the Workbench using 10 Wood, 15 Flint, 20 Leather scraps, and 5 Deer hide. The Workbench flashes a new station level message and jumps to level 3.

Tanning Rack materials and requirements

Everything on the list is early-game, but the Flint and Leather scraps counts are high enough that most players hit the recipe before they have the stock for it. Gather first, build second.

Requirement	Details
Wood	10
Flint	15
Leather scraps	20
Deer hide	5
Crafting station	Workbench (you must be standing in its range)
Type	Workbench improvement

Flint is the piece people get stuck on. It does not drop from trees or rocks in the Meadows. It sits on the ground along riverbanks and river shorelines, and you pick it up by hand without a tool. Open your map, find the nearest river, and walk the water’s edge — a single run usually nets far more than the 15 you need.

Valheim map view showing a river running through the Meadows where flint can be collected — Rivers on the map are your flint runs. Image: Iron Gate Studio

Build the Chopping Block first

Workbench upgrades stack in order. The Chopping Block takes the bench from level 1 to level 2 and costs 10 Wood and 10 Flint. The Tanning Rack then takes it from level 2 to level 3. If you have not placed a Chopping Block yet, add it to the same flint run — you will need 25 Flint total for both.

Valheim build menu with the Chopping Block selected and its red placement preview inside a wooden hut — The Chopping Block, previewed in red before placement, handles the level 2 upgrade. Image: Iron Gate Studio

How to place the Tanning Rack

Stand next to your Workbench with the materials in your inventory. The rack is built through the Workbench, so if you wander outside its range the game will refuse the placement.

Valheim Categories build menu with the Workbench entry selected, showing its description and wood cost — The Workbench itself costs 10 Wood and has to be in range for everything that follows. Image: Iron Gate Studio

Equip the hammer from your hotbar to open the build menu, then scroll to the Crafting category and highlight the Tanning Rack. Its tooltip reads “Workbench improvement,” with a note that leathers and hides need proper treatment before they can be used.

Aim at a clear patch of floor within two meters of the Workbench. The rack occupies roughly a 2×1 footprint, so give it a bit of breathing room rather than jamming it against a wall.

Valheim build menu with the Tanning Rack shown in red placement preview beside a workbench — Positioning the Tanning Rack beside the bench, still in its red preview state. Image: Iron Gate Studio

Left-click to build it. Keep the rack under the same roof as your Workbench. The rack itself is not damaged by rain, but the Workbench is, and an exposed bench degrades until it stops working.

How to confirm the Workbench hit level 3

The moment the rack lands in range, a “New station level” prompt appears on screen. Walk up to the Workbench and interact with it — the crafting window header should now read “Workbench level 3.”

The practical proof is in the upgrade tab. Open the Workbench and check a leather piece such as the Leather Helmet. At level 3 the upgrade option becomes available where it was previously locked out, which is the whole reason to build the rack.

Why the upgrade does not register

If you built the rack and the bench still reads level 2, one of these is almost always the cause.

Problem	Fix
Rack sits too far from the bench	It only counts within two meters. Destroy it with a middle-click of the hammer and rebuild it closer.
No Chopping Block placed	Level 3 requires level 2 first. Add the Chopping Block in range as well.
Bench is out of range while you build	Move next to the Workbench before opening the build menu.
Bench is decaying in the open	Roof over the Workbench, then repair it with the hammer.

Tanning Rack durability and resistances

Property	Value
Durability	100
Size	~2×1
Damaged by rain	No
Weak to	Chop (x1.5)
Resistant to	Pierce, Frost (x0.5)
Immune to	Poison, Spirit

Note: the chop weakness matters during raids. A Greyling or Troll swinging at your base will tear through the rack faster than most wooden pieces, so keep it inside walls rather than out on an open porch.

One last thing worth knowing for later runs — Tanning Racks also appear naturally in Fuling Villages. They will not help your home base, but if you are clearing a village and spot one, it confirms the layout you are looking at is a Fuling settlement rather than a random camp.