The Butcher Table is a workstation at which the player can butcher Animals to obtain meat and other resources. Carcasses of animals that are killed (with the exception of Birds, Chickens and Scorpions) must be placed on a Butcher Table (default key E) to be butchered. Carrying the carcass of a dead animal will cause the player to be over-encumbered and to walk at a very slow pace. A solution to this inconvenience is to transport the carcass in a Log Cart or the Truck. Only one carcass can be placed in a vehicle at a time. A carcass held by the player can be placed in a vehicle with the E key (default) and removed with 
.
The Butcher Table has a front side and a back side. In order for the player to be standing at the front side of the table while butchering, the Butcher Table should be placed with the axe head on the right and the wad of Cloth on the left.
Proper placement of Butcher Table. Cloth on left.
To butcher a dead animal that is on the Butcher Table, the player must equip an axe, aim the cursor at the carcass and press E (default). A butchering animation will play and the resources acquired from the carcass are automatically transferred to the player's food inventory or regular inventory, depending on the resource. If there is not enough room in the player's inventory to hold any or all of the resources, some or all will fall to the ground and can be gathered from there once room has been made available in the inventory. One Storage Container can fit under the Butcher Table, making for a convenient immediate storage option.
In the game's AI Settings screen the player can opt to disable visual blood spatter on the Butcher Table during the activity of butchering a carcass.
After butchering an animal, the hands of the player will be bloody, requiring the player to wash them with Water. If the player neglects to clean the blood away and consumes food with dirty hands, the player will be poisoned. The state of being poisoned will be indicated by a blinking skull and crossbone icon in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. Eating an Egg or a Potato will cure the poisoned state.
To wash hands, the player can approach or enter a body of water (like a pond) and follow the prompt to press E to wash hands. Alternatively, the player can open the inventory to the food section, and upon clicking on a water flask containing water with , a prompt will appear to wash hands. Washing hands from a flask requires at least 10 units of water in the flask, and the act of washing hands will use up all the water in the flask. Hands can also be washed in a Sink. Activating a Sink with bloody hands will automatically trigger a hand washing animation. A Water House must be powered on within range of the Sink. When washing hands it makes no difference whether the water is clean or dirty.
The Barn contains an integrated Butcher Table that can be used even when not butchering animals that are being kept in the Barn.
The recipe for the Butcher Table is found in the Placeables section of the Build Menu under Food.
Crafting Ingredients[]
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Iron Ingot | 10 |
Animals that can be butchered on the Butcher Table[]
| Animal | Meat | Liver | Bone | Fat | Hide | Wool | Croc Skin | Raw Bacon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bear | 8 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 1 | |||
| Boar | 4 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 10 | ||
| Crocodile | 6 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Deer | 8 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Fox | 4 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Goat | 4 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Raccoon | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | ||||
| Sheep | 4 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Wolf | 4 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 |
History[]
| v. 12.0 | Ability to wash hands in Sink added after initial 12.0 release. |
| v. 12.0 | Butcher Table added to the game. |