The Adze is the fourth rung on the Workbench upgrade ladder in Valheim, and it is the first one that asks for metal. Build it, drop it beside your Workbench, and the station jumps to level 4, opening up recipes and repairs you cannot reach at level 3.
Quick answer: Craft the Adze from the hammer build menu using 10 Finewood and 3 Bronze while standing near a Forge, then place it within two meters of a Workbench that already has a Chopping Block and Tanning Rack attached. The “New station level: Workbench level 4” banner confirms it worked.
Adze requirements in Valheim
The Adze is a Workbench improvement rather than a standalone station, so it has no crafting menu of its own. It occupies a 2×1 footprint, has 100 durability, and does not take rain damage, which means you can leave it outdoors if your interior is cramped.
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Materials | Finewood x10, Bronze x3 |
| Unlock source | Forge (recipe appears once you have Finewood and Bronze) |
| Placement range | Within two meters of a Workbench |
| Build condition | A Forge must be in range when you place it |
| After placement | Forge no longer needed for it to function |
| Removal | Requires a Forge in range to take it down with the hammer |
That last row catches people out. The Adze keeps working if you later move or destroy your Forge, but you will not be able to dismantle it with the hammer until a Forge is back within range.
Get Bronze for the Adze
Bronze is the gate here, and it drags a small industrial chain along with it. You need a Smelter to turn ore into bars, a Charcoal kiln to feed the Smelter fuel, and a Forge to combine the metals.
There is a shortcut if you have already pushed into the Mountains. Standing braziers inside Frost Caves drop Bronze when destroyed, which skips the smelting loop entirely.
Get Finewood from Birch and Oak trees
Finewood comes from the pale white Birch trees scattered through the Meadows, and from Oak trees in the Meadows and Plains. Regular flint or stone axes bounce off both. You need a Bronze Axe, which is one of the first things worth crafting at the Forge once your Bronze is flowing.
Ten Finewood is a light haul, so a couple of Birch trees will cover the Adze with material left over. Fell them away from your buildings, since a falling Birch can flatten walls and, worse, the Workbench upgrades you are about to place.
Place the Adze next to your Workbench
Confirm the Workbench hit level 4
The moment the Adze snaps into place, a banner flashes across the screen reading “New station level: Workbench level 4.” Interacting with the Workbench then shows level 4 in the crafting window header, along with the recipes and upgrade tiers that unlock at that level.
If no banner appears and the header still says level 3, the Adze either landed outside the two-meter radius or an earlier upgrade is missing.
Why the Adze is not raising your Workbench level
Each improvement adds exactly one level, so the Adze on its own cannot produce a level 4 bench. The full chain has to be intact and in range at the same time.
| Level | Improvement | Materials |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Chopping Block | Wood x10, Flint x10 |
| 3 | Tanning Rack | Wood x10, Flint x15, Leather scraps x20, Deer hide x5 |
| 4 | Adze | Finewood x10, Bronze x3 |
| 5 | Tool Shelf | Finewood x10, Iron x4, Obsidian x4 |
The most common failures are simple. A Tanning Rack or Chopping Block that was destroyed during a raid stops counting immediately, and players often do not notice until the level silently drops. Upgrades placed too tightly together can also block one another, so spreading them around the bench in a loose ring usually fixes it. The Forge itself is not a Workbench improvement and never contributes a level, no matter how close it sits.
Note: highlighting the Workbench and counting the glowing connector lines is faster than guessing. Three lines means level 4, and any improvement without a line is out of range or obstructed.
Once the Adze is connected, the same Finewood you gathered feeds straight into the Tool Shelf, the final Workbench improvement. That one waits on Iron and Obsidian from the Mountains, so the Adze is the last upgrade you can finish before the Bronze Age wraps up.
