How to make a drying rack in Sons of the Forest

Sons of the Forest drying rack - a first-person viewpoint of someone holding a wooden spear looking towards a campsite with a drying rack and a small fire
(Image credit: Endnight Games)

A drying rack doesn't immediately spring to mind in Sons of the Forest when thinking about surviving a terrifying, cannibal-infested island. And while it's going to do little to help ward off the danger of that particular threat, it can help with the less scary, but equally fatal, starvation. Basically, drying out your food will make it last longer, so you don't end up with a rucksack full of rotten meat. 

Of course, if you are after something to help you deal with the cannibal situation, this gun locations guide will set you up with some effective options. If you'd rather battle against that monster known as hunger, however, here's how to make the drying rack in Sons of the Forest, as well as how to use it. 

Sons of the Forest drying rack: How to make one 

I learned early on that cooking your food doesn't appear to help preserve it—at least, not for any useful amount of time. In a world with no use-by-dates, it's handy to extend the shelf-life of the food you're carrying, especially when food might not be easy to come by. Even a winter jacket isn't going to help you get through the colder months if you starve to death first.

Surprisingly, the materials you need are incredibly simple, so you can make a drying rack almost as soon as you arrive on the island. You'll need 13 sticks and the ability to find the blueprint for it in your crafting log, which is probably the hardest part.

To get started, press B then change the mode with the X key. Look for the "Structures" tab and flip the pages until you find the drying rack. Click on the picture of the blueprint to place the frame where you want it to go. Now you just need to find 13 sticks to build it—you can add the sticks by pressing E.

Using the drying rack is even simpler. Press E to interact with one of the hooks and add whatever you want to it from your inventory, similar to how you add things to the fire. I'm unsure how long it takes to dry out the stuff you place on it, but I imagine it will be a pretty slow process.

Sarah James
Senior Guides Writer

Sarah started as a freelance writer in 2018, writing for PCGamesN, TechRadar, GamingBible, Red Bull Gaming and more. In 2021, she was offered a full-time position on the PC Gamer team where she takes every possible opportunity to talk about World of Warcraft and Elden Ring. When not writing guides, most of her spare time is spent in Azeroth—though she's quite partial to JRPGs too. One of her fondest hopes is to one day play through the ending of Final Fantasy X without breaking down into a sobbing heap. She probably has more wolves in Valheim than you.

Read more
Assassin's Creed Shadows rations upgrades - A close-up of Naoe with a worried expression.
How to get and upgrade rations in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Man holding gun up to approaching cannibal
Sons of the Forest's first patch in 6 months is a doozy, adding buildable rafts, a procedural wall system, and fixing more than 100 bugs
A hand holding a compass in the woods
Players are already finding creative solutions to Prologue: Go Wayback's grueling difficulty: 'You could just chug gasoline'
Monster Hunter Wilds
Monster Hunter Wilds cooking guide: How to get all ingredients and cook a perfect steak
Player character and chococat sat next to a stick in Hello Kitty Island Adventure
Where to find sticks in Hello Kitty Island Adventure
KCD 2 bird nests - Henry gazing at a tree
How to knock down bird nests in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Latest in Action
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The First Berserker: Khazan review - Blade Phantom
How to claim The First Berserker: Khazan pre-order bonus and deluxe edition DLC
gta 6 trailer
Publishers 'don't want to be anywhere near' Grand Theft Auto 6 when it launches: 'It's proving to be very stressful'
An image of a Helldiver from Helldivers 2 shooting at a red dragon from Dungeons & Dragons.
'Ok, so dragon builds are a thing now': galaxy-brained Helldivers 2 player incinerates a bile titan with a hover pack and a flamethrower
Assassin's Creed Shadows promo image
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
Assassin's Creed Shadows immersive mode - Naoe holding a tanto in her hand as two guards fall to the ground behind her.
Assassin's Creed Shadows' first hotfix addresses stability issues and a photo mode crash
Latest in Features
Sphene applauds in Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story.
I'm not yelling 'we're so back!' yet, but Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story could be the first sign the MMO is returning to what made it so critically-acclaimed
Several tight-wearing superheroes surge towards the camera in a heroic fashion in City of Heroes.
One year later, City of Heroes' officially recognized fan server has me praying it's the future of dead MMOs
Immortal Pillars expansion for Age of Mythology: Retold
Age of Mythology Retold's new Chinese pantheon expansion takes a bold stance on updating an old game: Just make good new stuff
Ragnarok Battle Offline
After punishing my graphics card with Monster Hunter Wilds, I've returned to the rock-solid frame rates of my old hunting grounds: Windows XP
Ghoul in sunglasses
I'm convinced being a ghoul in Fallout 76 is the best way to vibe in West Virginia, thanks to these powerful perk cards and my new true love: Radiation
Steel Hunters hands-on
Steel Hunters is like a more tactical Titanfall, but as an extraction shooter it's undermined by boring loot