Tool building in Tinkers' Construct 3

The stations, patterns and parts behind every Tinkers tool — and how material choice changes the result.

Published October 20, 2026 3 min read Tools
Illustration of a part builder table with separate tool parts around it

Tinkers' Construct 3 is the rewrite of the mod for Minecraft 1.16 and newer. The idea is unchanged — tools are assembled from parts — but the stations, smeltery and modifiers were rebuilt. This guide covers the basic loop.

What Tinkers' Construct 3 is

Older versions (Tinkers' Construct 2 for 1.12 and earlier) are a different generation. Tinkers' Construct 3 is led by KnightMiner under the SlimeKnights team, with the original design by mDiyo. Current files, like the 1.20.1 build in our download section, are TC3.

The crafting stations

  • Crafting Station — a crafting table that keeps its items.
  • Part Builder — turns a pattern plus a material into a tool part.
  • Tinker Station — assembles parts into tools, repairs them and applies modifiers.
  • Tinker's Anvil — a stronger station needed for larger tools.

The book Materials and You shows each recipe for your version.

Patterns and tool parts

Blank patterns are made from wood. In the Part Builder you pick the part you want, then add material such as planks, cobblestone or flint. Metal parts cannot be made in the Part Builder — they are cast from molten metal in the smeltery using casts.

Assembling a tool

  1. Open the Tinker Station and choose the tool shape from the buttons.
  2. Place the required parts in the matching slots.
  3. Take the finished tool from the output. Its stats and traits are shown on the right.

How materials change tools

Each part contributes something. As a general rule, the head decides most of a tool's durability, mining tier, speed and damage, while handles and bindings adjust those stats and add traits. Every material also has its own traits, which is why two pickaxes of the same shape can play completely differently.

Early materials include wood, stone and flint. Later you will work with metals like copper and iron, then Nether materials such as cobalt, and alloys made in the smeltery.

Repairing tools

A Tinkers tool does not vanish when its durability runs out. It stops working until repaired. Place it in the Tinker Station with a repair material from its head to restore durability.

Tool types

TC3 includes a wide set: pickaxes, sledge hammers, vein hammers, mattocks, excavators, hand axes, broad axes, kamas, scythes, daggers, swords and cleavers, with ranged weapons added in later updates. Larger tools generally need the Tinker's Anvil.

Once you have a tool you like, make it better with our modifiers guide.