Tinkers Construct

Overview

Tinkers' Construct is one of the most iconic Minecraft mods ever made, fundamentally changing how you create and interact with tools and weapons. Instead of the vanilla crafting grid approach, you build tools from individual parts, each made from a material of your choosing. Every material has different stats and a unique trait, so a Cobalt Pickaxe head paired with a Paper Tool Rod and a Knightslime Binding creates a tool with properties completely different from one made of all Iron.

The mod adds a full progression system that starts with simple wooden workstations and scales up through the Smeltery (a multi-block structure for melting ores and creating alloys) all the way to endgame materials found in the Nether. Tools never vanish when their durability runs out; they simply stop working until you repair them. You can also apply modifiers like Diamond, Redstone, and Lapis Lazuli to further customize your gear. Browse the Recipes and Items tabs above this guide to see every recipe and item the mod adds.

Workstations

Tinkers' Construct revolves around a set of specialized workstations, each handling a different part of the tool-making pipeline. Understanding what each one does is essential before diving into materials and modifiers.

Stencil Table

Converts Blank Patterns into specific part Stencils. Insert a Pattern, click the part shape you want (Pickaxe Head, Sword Blade, Tool Rod, etc.), and out comes a Stencil for that shape. Store your Stencils in a Pattern Chest placed adjacent to the Stencil Table for easy access.

Part Builder

Takes a Stencil and a raw material to produce a tool part. This only works with non-metal materials (Wood, Stone, Bone, Cactus, Flint, etc.). Metal parts require the Smeltery's casting system instead. Attach a Pattern Chest to the side for quick Stencil swapping.

Tool Station and Tool Forge

The Tool Station assembles basic tools from their component parts. Select a tool type from the left panel, place the required parts in the slots, and the finished tool appears in the output. The Tool Forge is an upgraded version crafted from Iron Blocks and Seared Bricks that unlocks advanced broad tools: Hammer, Excavator, Lumber Axe, and Scythe. Both stations also handle tool repair (insert the tool and matching material) and part swapping.

Crafting Station

A vanilla Crafting Table replacement that keeps items in its grid when you close the GUI. Place it next to a Chest and you can access the Chest's contents from within the crafting interface, making bulk crafting far more convenient. When placed adjacent to other Tinkers stations, you can tab between them seamlessly.

The Smeltery

The Smeltery is a multi-block structure that melts ores into molten metal, creates alloys, and casts metal tool parts. It is the gateway to all metal materials and the mid-game backbone of Tinkers' Construct.

Building the Smeltery

The Smeltery must be a hollow rectangular structure built entirely from Seared blocks (Seared Bricks, Seared Glass, Seared Tanks, etc.). The minimum interior size is 3x3x1, and you can scale it up for more capacity. You need a floor, walls, and no gaps in the structure. Place a Smeltery Controller on any wall block; it will highlight invalid blocks in red if the structure is not formed correctly. You also need at least one Seared Tank filled with Lava as fuel, and a Seared Drain with a Faucet attached for pouring molten metal into a Casting Table or Casting Basin below.

Casting System

The Casting Table produces small items (tool parts, ingots, nuggets) while the Casting Basin produces blocks. To make reusable Casts, place a wooden tool part on the Casting Table and pour Gold or Aluminum Brass over it. The wooden part is consumed, leaving behind a gold Cast imprinted with that shape. You can then pour any molten metal into the Cast to produce parts of that type. Clay can also be used for single-use Sand Casts if you are short on Gold.

Ore Processing

The Smeltery doubles your ore output by default (configurable via the oreToIngotRatio setting, default 2.0). Tossing one Iron Ore into the Smeltery yields enough molten Iron for 2 ingots, making it strictly better than a Furnace for processing ores. Every block of smeltery interior adds capacity for storing more molten metal simultaneously.

Entity Melting

Mobs that fall into the Smeltery take 2.0 damage from the molten metal and produce specific fluids. Iron Golems yield 18 mB of Molten Iron, Snowmen produce 100 mB of Water, and Villagers produce 6 mB of Molten Emerald. Most living entities produce Blood, which is used in the Pig Iron alloy recipe. This mechanic is both a defense system and a resource generator.

Tools and Weapons

Every Tinkers' tool is made from parts, and every part contributes its material's stats and traits to the final tool. The head determines mining speed, attack damage, durability, and harvest level. The handle provides a durability multiplier and bonus durability. The extra/binding piece adds flat bonus durability. Understanding this system is key to crafting the perfect tool for any job.

Basic Tools (Tool Station)

The Pickaxe is your standard mining tool with a 1.0x durability modifier and 1.2 attack speed. The Shovel digs dirt-type blocks with 0.9 attack and can create Grass Paths by right-clicking. The Hatchet chops wood and strips logs. The Mattock combines axe and shovel functionality into one tool, great for early game when you want to save inventory space.

The Kama is a farming tool that harvests mature crops with right-click and auto-replants them. It also functions as Shears. The Broadsword has 1.1x durability, +1.0 attack bonus, and 1.6 attack speed with an AOE knockback sweep. The Longsword trades some speed (1.4 attack speed) for +1.1 attack and a dash ability on right-click. The Rapier is the fastest melee weapon with armor-piercing capabilities.

Broad Tools (Tool Forge)

These advanced tools require the Tool Forge and use 3-4 parts each. The Hammer mines a 3x3 area and has 2.5x durability modifier, 1.2 attack, 0.8 attack speed, and bonus damage against undead (making it a solid weapon against Skeletons and Zombies). Its mining speed is reduced to 0.4x base to compensate for the 3x3 area. The Excavator is the Hammer equivalent for dirt and gravel, clearing a 3x3 area with 1.75x durability and 0.28x mining speed.

The Lumber Axe is a tree-felling monster with 2.0x durability and 1.5x knockback. It detects connected log blocks and breaks entire trees in one chop. The Scythe has 2.2x durability and harvests crops in a 3x3x3 area while also functioning as an AOE combat weapon with 0.75 attack damage and 0.9 attack speed. The Cleaver is a high-damage, slow-swinging sword with built-in Beheading, giving it a chance to sever mob heads on kill.

Ranged Weapons

Tinkers' adds customizable ranged options as well. The Shortbow and Longbow use limb materials for draw speed and range, bowstring materials for durability, and fire custom Arrows or Bolt Cores. Arrow Shafts can be made from Wood (1.0 speed), Bone (0.9 speed, +5 accuracy), Blaze Rods (0.8 speed, +3 accuracy), or Reeds (1.5 speed, +20 accuracy). Fletchings from Feathers, Leaves, or Slime Leaves affect accuracy and projectile speed.

Materials and Traits

Tinkers' Construct includes 27 materials, each with unique stats across four categories: Head (durability, mining speed, attack, harvest level), Handle (durability multiplier, bonus durability), Extra (bonus durability), and optionally Bow stats. Every material also has one or more special traits that activate when used in a tool part.

Early Game Materials

Wood (35 durability, 2.0 speed, 2.0 attack, harvest 0) has the Ecological trait, slowly repairing itself over time. It is your starting material with a 1.0x handle modifier. Stone (120 durability, 4.0 speed, 3.0 attack, harvest 1) is the cheapest upgrade, carrying the Cheapskate trait on heads and Cheap on handles. Flint (150 durability, 5.0 speed, 2.9 attack, harvest 1) grants Crude, which increases damage against unarmored targets. Bone (200 durability, 5.09 speed, 2.5 attack, harvest 1) offers Splintering on heads and is a solid early option with a 1.1x handle modifier and +50 handle durability.

Specialty Materials

Cactus (210 durability, 4.0 speed, 3.4 attack, harvest 1) is Prickly and Spiky, dealing damage to attackers when used as a weapon. Paper (12 durability, 0.51 speed, 0.05 attack, harvest 0) is terrible for heads but invaluable for handles and bindings because the Writable trait adds an extra modifier slot. Sponge (1050 durability, 3.02 speed, 0.0 attack, harvest 0) has the Squeaky trait, which prevents tools from dealing damage but grants exceptional durability. Firewood (550 durability, 6.0 speed, 5.5 attack, harvest 0) applies the Autosmelt trait, automatically smelting mined blocks into their furnace output.

Slime Materials

Slime (Green) (1000 durability, 4.24 speed, 1.8 attack) and Blue Slime (780 durability, 4.03 speed, 1.8 attack) both carry their respective Slimey trait, which has a chance to spawn a Baby Slime when you mine or attack. Knightslime (850 durability, 5.8 speed, 5.1 attack, harvest 3) is an alloy with Crumbling on heads and Unnatural on other parts, making it mine faster on blocks below its harvest level. Magma Slime (600 durability, 2.1 speed, 7.0 attack) grants Superheat on heads, which auto-smelts with the added benefit of being Flammable, setting targets on fire.

Metal Materials

Iron (204 durability, 6.0 speed, 4.0 attack, harvest 2) is your first metal with the Magnetic trait, pulling dropped items toward you. Copper (210 durability, 5.3 speed, 3.0 attack, harvest 1) has Established, gaining bonus experience from mining. Bronze (430 durability, 6.8 speed, 3.5 attack, harvest 2) carries Dense, reducing durability loss at lower durabilities. Steel (540 durability, 7.0 speed, 6.0 attack, harvest 3) has Sharp on heads and Stiff on other parts.

Nether Materials

Cobalt (780 durability, 12.0 speed, 4.1 attack, harvest 4) is the fastest mining material in the mod, found as Cobalt Ore in the Nether. Its Momentum trait increases mining speed the longer you mine continuously. Ardite (990 durability, 3.5 speed, 3.6 attack, harvest 4) also spawns in the Nether and carries Stonebound, which increases mining speed as durability decreases. It has the highest base durability of any natural ore material with a 1.4x handle modifier but -200 handle durability. Manyullyn (820 durability, 7.02 speed, 8.72 attack, harvest 4) is the ultimate alloy of Cobalt and Ardite, dealing the highest attack damage in the mod. Its Insatiable trait increases damage with consecutive hits on the same target, while Coldblooded deals bonus damage to full-health enemies.

Alloys

The Smeltery automatically combines compatible molten metals into alloys. These alloys unlock materials that cannot be found naturally and often have superior stats or unique traits.

Key Alloy Recipes

Manyullyn is the crown jewel: equal parts Molten Cobalt and Molten Ardite (1:1 ratio, 2 units each yields 2 units of Manyullyn). This is the highest-damage material in the mod at 8.72 attack. Knightslime combines 72 units of Molten Iron, 125 units of Purple Slime, and 144 units of Seared Stone, yielding 72 units of Knightslime. It has harvest level 3 and the powerful Unnatural trait. Pig Iron requires 144 units of Molten Iron, 40 units of Blood (from entity melting), and 72 units of Molten Clay, yielding 144 units of Pig Iron. It grants the Tasty trait, letting you eat your tools when hungry.

Bronze is 3 parts Copper to 1 part Tin, yielding 4 units. Electrum is equal parts Gold and Silver, with exceptionally fast 12.0 mining speed but only 50 durability. Aluminum Brass (1 Copper + 3 Aluminum = 4 units) is used for making reusable Casts, a cheaper alternative to Gold. If the Obsidian alloy config is enabled (default: true), you can also create Obsidian from 125 mB Water + 125 mB Lava = 36 mB Molten Obsidian.

Modifiers

Once you have built a tool, you can improve it with modifiers. Each tool has a limited number of modifier slots (default 3, plus bonus slots from Paper or other sources). Modifiers are applied at the Tool Station or Tool Forge by placing the tool alongside the modifier item.

Essential Modifiers

Diamond adds +500 durability, +1 harvest level (max 3), +1.0 attack damage, and +0.5 mining speed. This is one of the best universal modifiers and should be applied to almost every tool. Emerald adds +50% of your tool's base durability and +1 harvest level (max 2). It scales better on already-durable tools. Reinforced (crafted from Obsidian and other materials) can be applied up to 5 times, each level giving a 20% chance to negate durability loss. At level 5, the tool becomes completely Unbreakable.

Haste (Redstone) increases mining speed for tools and attack speed for weapons, stackable up to 5 levels. Luck (Lapis Lazuli) applies Fortune to mining tools and Looting to weapons, up to level 3 (requires 60 Lapis per level). Sharpness (Quartz) increases attack damage. Fiery (Blaze Powder) sets targets on fire, with damage and duration scaling by level. Knockback (Pistons) increases knockback on hit. Silk Touch (crafted Silky Jewel from Gold, Emerald, and String) makes tools drop the block itself rather than its item form.

Slime Islands and World Generation

Tinkers' Construct adds floating Slime Islands that generate in the Overworld and Nether. Overworld Slime Islands appear in all biomes (excluding the Nether and End by default) at a rate of approximately 1 per 730 chunks. They are made of Slime Dirt and Slime Grass and contain Congealed Slime blocks, Slime Trees, and Slime Vines. Blue Slime mobs spawn on these islands.

The slime found on these islands comes in multiple colors: Green, Blue, and Purple. Blue Slime Balls are used for Blue Slime tool parts and Knightslime alloy recipes. Purple Slime comes from Purple Slime Vines. Nether Magma Islands generate at Y=31, floating in lava, and contain Magma Slime materials along with Blood Slime fluid pools.

Nether Ores

Cobalt Ore and Ardite Ore both generate in the Nether with a configurable spawn rate (default 20 for both). You need a tool with harvest level 4 to mine them, which means you need either an Obsidian Pickaxe head or the Diamond modifier applied to a harvest level 3 tool. Bring plenty of supplies and build a safe mining platform; the Nether is dangerous, and these ores generate among lava lakes and hostile mobs.

Gadgets and Extras

Beyond tools and the Smeltery, Tinkers' Construct adds several useful utility items and decorative blocks.

Drying Rack

The Drying Rack is a simple block that slowly converts items over time. Its most useful recipe is drying Rotten Flesh into Leather (when the leatherDryingRecipe config is enabled), which makes early-game Leather much easier to obtain. Place items on the rack and wait for the timer to complete.

Throwballs

Glowballs (Snowball recipe with Glowstone) and Efln Balls (Flint + Gunpowder) are throwable projectiles. Efln Balls function like weaker TNT that can be thrown, making them useful for quick demolition work without the risk of a full TNT explosion.

Decorative Blocks

The mod adds Brownstone (multiple variants including brick, paver, road, and creeper patterns), Dried Clay bricks and blocks, Seared Stone variants (with stairs and slabs), and Clear Glass (a glass variant without the grid lines). Firewood and Lavawood are also available as decorative building materials with their respective stair and slab variants.

Piggybackpack

Crafted using Pig Iron and a Saddle, the Piggybackpack lets you carry mobs on your head. This is both entertaining and practical for transporting villagers or animals without leads. Pig Iron tools also have the Tasty trait, which lets you nibble your tool like food when hungry, consuming some durability to restore hunger.

Configuration Options

Tinkers' Construct has a comprehensive config file that lets you tune many aspects of the mod. The most impactful setting is oreToIngotRatio (default 2.0), which controls how many ingots the Smeltery produces per ore. Setting it to 1.0 makes the Smeltery match vanilla Furnace output, while higher values increase the bonus.

World generation is fully configurable: genSlimeIslands (default true) toggles Overworld Slime Island generation, genCobalt and genArdite (both default true) control Nether ore generation, and cobaltRate/arditeRate (both default 20) set the vein frequency. Other useful options include spawnWithBook (gives players the Materials and You book on first join), obsidianAlloy (allows creating Obsidian from Water + Lava in the Smeltery), and claycasts (enables single-use Clay Casts as a cheaper alternative to Gold Casts).