Welcome to Elderfield How to Get Leather — Plus String, Axes and Crafting Stations

Leather in Welcome to Elderfield comes from one specific chain: put Bloody Skin into a Witching Mortar, then take the result to the Furnace. That is the developer's direct answer in the Steam thread where a player asked how to make leather for better armour before the Mall. The same early-game questions come up for String, a fishing rod, a basic axe, gems and extra AP, so this page collects what is documented and flags what is not.

Leather, Step by Step

The Witching Mortar is cheap — 15 Stone and 5 Wood — and the wiki lists it as available automatically with the Workbench, so you can build it early. The Furnace is the second half of the chain, and it is not automatic: Molly gifts you one and unlocks its blueprint after you finish Helping Molly and get back into her Workshop. Together they turn Bloody Skin into Leather, which then feeds armour and the Preserving Barrel's 4 Leather cost.

Material	Documented method	Prerequisite
Bloody Skin	Monster drop and foraged material	—
Leather	Bloody Skin in a Witching Mortar, then the Furnace	Witching Mortar plus Furnace
String	Not documented yet	—
Gems	Not documented yet (upgrade gems exist in the Weapons list)	—
Extra AP	Weapon effects such as Pumpkin-Carver's 5% chance to generate +1 AP	That weapon

The Crafting Stations That Gate Everything

Most early materials come from a small set of stations, and the Crafting wiki publishes their costs. Two of them are worth building immediately because the rest of the chain depends on them: the Grinder, given free with the Workbench and again from The Farmer's Path, and the Furnace, which Molly unlocks.

Station	Cost	What it does
Grinder	4 Copper Bar, 10 Wood, 15 Stone	Grinds items into new ingredients
Witching Mortar	15 Stone, 5 Wood	Crafts Offerings, and starts the Leather chain
Feedmaker	15 Wood, 10 Stone, 3 Copper Ore	Processes items into animal feed
Prep Table	10 Stone, 20 Wood, 5 Bitter Herb, 5 Red Mushroom, 1 String	Prepares materials for the Drying Rack
Furnace	5 Copper Ore, 20 Stone	Smelts items, and finishes the Leather chain
Preserving Barrel	30 Wood, 4 Leather, 8 Copper Bar, 2 Iron Bar	Preserves fruit, vegetables and ingredients

Tools and Materials Players Ask About

• Fishing rod: Old Fishing Rod from Fisherman Herb at the start of Casting Your Line.
• Basic Axe: reward from Tentacle Cleanup after defeating the Mall Administrator.
• Bait: 3 Worm at the start of Casting Your Line, more from Bait Pack (Tier 1).
• Leather: the Witching Mortar into Furnace chain above.
• String, gems and AP: use treasure rewards and weapon effects; production methods are not documented yet.

The short version for a new run: build the Witching Mortar as soon as the Workbench allows it, finish Helping Molly for the Furnace, and keep Bloody Skin in stock — every armour upgrade after that depends on the leather chain, and the Preserving Barrel needs four Leather of its own.

• Witching Mortar first, because it is 15 Stone and 5 Wood.
• Furnace second, via Helping Molly, to finish the leather chain.
• Grinder early, either free from The Farmer's Path or built from Copper Bar, Wood and Stone.
• Keep Bloody Skin banked rather than sold, since it converts into Leather.
• Skip speculation about String and gems until a production method is documented.

For what the Leather goes into, see the best weapons page, and for the money those processed goods earn, see how to make money.