The shovel slipped in my hand as dusk tightened around the cemetery. I realized my workbench wanted tin, my mason wanted marble, and my ink pot was bone dry—right before the messenger arrived. That’s the exact moment you learn which resources are a nuisance and which are a crisis.
I’ve spent dozens of hours in Graveyard Keeper 2 chasing every node, hive, and recipe so you don’t have to. I’ll walk you through where each material lives, what you can farm versus what you must produce, and the little tricks I use on Steam and console saves to keep production humming.
How to find all crafting resources in Graveyard Keeper 2
The first time your coffin plans stall because you’re short of clay, it hits like a dropped coin in a silent church—annoying and impossible to ignore.
Below is a short list of the easy, repeatable resources you’ll keep running into. Treat these as your base-level supply chain: frequent, plentiful, and almost always within reach.
| Materials | How to Obtain |
|---|---|
| Clay | One of the easiest materials to get. You can dig Clay inside your base and at several spots outside. The deposits look like a small hole ringed with grass and require a shovel to harvest. |
| Copper | Head west of your base near the bridge and the fishing lesson pond. Copper nodes sit near the water there—great early-game metal. |
| Stone | Stone is everywhere you encounter blockages; bring a pickaxe and clear them for quick Stone. There’s a mine south of your home in the Inquisitor Base that yields effectively infinite Stone once you have access. |
| Water | The well beside your base gives unlimited Water for filling bottles, making inks, and keeping the distillation cube fed. |
Where the rare stuff lives (and how to make the rest)
When the easy stack runs dry, you’ll find yourself hunting nodes, running production chains, or waiting on timers—small bottlenecks that feel huge in the moment.
Think of some materials as orchards you can harvest on a schedule, and others as recipes you must engineer in the correct order. Below I break down the rarer resources and the exact steps you’ll take to keep your workshops running.
Where do I find iron in Graveyard Keeper 2?
Iron shows up as large brown nodes that catch the light; you’ll see them in your base and inside the Forest. You need the appropriate Mining mastery to harvest the richer veins, but many nodes are accessible early if you invest a few points.
If you’re short on Iron, clear more nodes in the Forest and around your base, and invest in Mining perks. Iron can also appear in certain loot chests, so don’t rush past darker corners of the map.
How do I make ink in Graveyard Keeper 2?
Ink isn’t a findable node—you manufacture it through a short chain that abuses cremation and distillation.
Process:
- Place a Crematorium in the morgue and burn undesirable corpses to produce Ash.
- At the Distillation Cube, make Melted Fat by burning: one Fat (from a body at the Autopsy Table), two Clay Plates, and 20 Fire.
- At the Writing Desk combine: one Ash + one Water + one Melted Fat = Ink.
Pro tip: treat ash as a multi-use resource. It’s also handy for rituals and certain trades with merchants on Steam Workshop guides and community threads.
How do I get honey in Graveyard Keeper 2?
Bee hives live on specific trees across your base; they run on a timer and refill after a period.
Collect honey whenever the hive is ready. Think of it like a crop that regenerates; check hives between runs and plan crafting recipes around their timers. A single hive can save you trips to merchants on Xbox or PlayStation if you keep the rotation tight—like a bee returning to its hive.
Fire, Sand, Marble, and the rest
Some materials are created by your machines rather than sitting waiting on the map; that changes how you plan your day.
Fire — After you clear a chopping spot, create Firewood from Small Logs or Sticks (sticks drop from shrubs and dried plants). Place a Firewood Shed near heat-dependent stations and feed it Firewood to supply steady Fire.
Sand — Sand deposits sit southwest of your base under the fishing spot near a stream. Once Sluice Box production is available, you can also convert Tin into Sand for glassmaking and certain recipes.
Marble — Marble doesn’t spawn in your base. You must gain access to the Forest where you can use a dedicated mine to harvest unlimited Marble. It also appears in certain chests—so check locked rooms and optional areas before buying from merchants.
Small habits save time: clear shrubs on your base runs for sticks, check hives between errands, and keep a spare stack of Clay Plates for distillation recipes. Treat your base like a production puzzle—place related stations close together and your workflow will be as steady as a well-tuned clock.
Which single resource would you hoard if you could only keep one—and why would it break the game?