How to make planks in Sons of the Forest

You’ll be building structures often in Sons of the Forest. From simple steps, fences, and walls, to something you can consider your permanent shelter, there’s one particular material that you’ll need a lot of: planks. Unfortunately, the game isn’t clear on how you could actually acquire them. Well, not to worry. Here’s our guide to help you make planks in Sons of the Forest.

Note: For more information, check out our Sons of the Forest guides and features hub.

Sons of the Forest guide – How to make planks

Funnily enough, it’s fairly simple to make planks in Sons of the Forest. The only tool you need is an Axe, which is available by default since it’s part of your Emergency Package. You’ll gain access to it, as well as the rest of your inventory, after leaving the crash site.

Now, open your inventory and equip the Axe. Next, see all the medium-sized and tall trees around you? Go ahead and chop them down. Do take note that smaller trees or shrubbery will only net you some sticks. You need to fell those with thicker trunks so you can pick up the lumber.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

With the lumber on the ground, position your character so that you’re looking at the object lengthwise. If you already picked up the lumber, simply drop it by pressing the “G” key. Anyway, you should see a set of red dashes across the entire length of the trunk (as seen in the image below). Press the left mouse button and your character will do an overhead chop that slices the wooden piece into two. And that’s it, that’s how you make planks in Sons of the Forest.

One last thing: if you see a shorter set of dashes, that means you’re about to chop the trunk crosswise (i.e., width). This will create firewood, not planks.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Sons of the Forest is available via Steam.