Extra Tools and Blocks: A Handy Crafting Add-On for Minecraft
Few things in Minecraft are as frustrating as finally taming a wild horse and realizing you have no saddle. You can spend hours raiding dungeons, fishing, or trading with villagers, or you can install a small add-on that simply lets you craft the items you need. That is exactly what Extra Tools and Blocks does. Created by ShakeeSnake, this lightweight mod adds practical recipes and a brand-new utility block that quietly solves some of the game's most annoying bottlenecks.
What Extra Tools and Blocks Adds to Your World
The philosophy behind this project is simple: if an item exists in Minecraft, you should eventually be able to make it yourself. Instead of relying on random loot tables, the add-on introduces sensible recipes for several hard-to-find treasures, plus a functional station that turns junk into something useful. It is a small project by design, but the changes it makes are the kind you notice in every playthrough.
Craftable Tools and Treasures
The headline feature is a full set of recipes for items that normally only appear in loot chests. Once the add-on is active, you can craft:
- Every type of horse armor - leather, iron, gold, and diamond variants all become craftable.
- Saddle - no more dungeon grinding just to ride your first horse.
- Totem of Undying - a second chance at life without hunting down an evoker.
- Name Tag - label your pets, your chests, and everything else without scouring mineshafts.
These recipes fit naturally into the vanilla progression. They use materials you already recognize, so nothing feels out of place, and they respect the rarity of the original items. A Totem of Undying still costs a meaningful amount of resources, but at least you are the one deciding when to make it.
The Tanning Station Block
The second half of the add-on is the Tanning Station, a new block that gives rotten flesh and rabbit hide a genuine purpose. Feed it either material and it will slowly convert them into leather, with each piece taking 400 ticks, or roughly ten seconds, to process. That makes it a perfect companion for early-game survival, where leather is scarce and zombies are not.
Think about how much rotten flesh accumulates in a normal world. Every zombie drop, every abandoned mineshaft chest, every raid you survive leaves behind stacks of the stuff. The Tanning Station turns that clutter into armor, books, item frames, and anything else leather unlocks. It is a small quality-of-life change that reshapes how you handle mob drops.
Supported Versions and Loaders
Extra Tools and Blocks is a Forge add-on, which means it slots into the most widely used modding ecosystem for Minecraft. It is built for the Java Edition, so Bedrock players will need to look elsewhere. Version support is focused on modern releases, and the creator has kept the scope tight so the add-on stays stable alongside larger modpacks. If you are running a Forge profile on a recent Java version, you should have no trouble getting it to load.
Because the project is intentionally small, updates tend to arrive quickly when a new Minecraft release lands. That is also why many players prefer managing it through a dedicated launcher. With the foxygame.net launcher, for example, Extra Tools and Blocks appears in a curated add-on catalog and installs with a single click, so you never have to manually match mod files to your game version or worry about broken dependencies after an update.
How to Install Extra Tools and Blocks
Getting started is straightforward, even if you have never modded Minecraft before. The whole process takes a few minutes.
- Install a compatible Forge profile for your Minecraft version.
- Locate your mods folder inside the .minecraft directory.
- Place the Extra Tools and Blocks file into that folder.
- Launch the Forge profile and confirm the add-on appears in your mod list.
If you are wondering where to download Extra Tools and Blocks, stick to the official project page or a trusted launcher catalog. Avoid random file-hosting mirrors, since mod files are a common target for malware. Once installed, the new recipes will show up in your recipe book automatically, and the Tanning Station can be crafted like any other block.
Tips for New Players
Rush the Tanning Station early if you are playing on a server with friends. Rotten flesh is one of the most abundant resources in the game, and converting it into leather gives you a reliable path to enchanted books and armor. Pair the station with a simple mob farm and you will never run short of leather again. For the crafting recipes, gather string and iron before you start, since saddles and name tags both demand a modest investment.
Final Thoughts
Extra Tools and Blocks for Minecraft is not trying to be the biggest mod in your load order. It is a focused, well-balanced add-on that removes a few pointless frustrations and rewards you for the resources you already collect. If you are tired of throwing away stacks of rotten flesh or praying for a saddle in a desert temple, this is an easy recommendation. Download Extra Tools and Blocks, craft your first saddle, and get back to exploring.