possible new craft system?

[N EL]

Please note, this is more a thought that COULD lead to a finished idea.

 

Picture a bunch of slots on a crafting bench, each one has a little drop-down menu with options on what you are doing with the item in that slot. Put a slab of beef in and choose slice to make slices of meat, grind to turn it into ground pork, and crush to tenderize it.A possible alternative to the drop-down menu is a "tool" slot, where each tool would have a crafting function. Instead of selecting slice, you place a knife in that slot, hammer for crush, a spook/stick for mix. In an effort to save the players time/headache, I would also suggest some method of "blocking" unusable options. If no recipe calls for slicing a rock, don't let that be an option.

 

Example: player wants to make a pick, it takes a log, a pick head and a nail. The order would not matter, instead the log would need to be set to carve, the pick head set to attach, and he nail set to hammer. Using the tool system, it would just be a hammer set to the nail.

[-Glue-]

Why not just have it be more immersive contextual crafting?
Instead of putting meat in the crafting grid, you place it on the ground, or a table. Then, with a knife in your hand, you can cut it, or you could tenderize it with a hammer, etc. You could add further recipes depending on if the meat is in a container, or how many pieces there are.
An example could be. Place meat. Cut with knife. Cut the slices again to make diced meat. Then right click with a stick to make a shishkabob. Or cut the diced meat again to make minced meat.

For the pick. Typically IRL, tools like that are just hammered on to the handle tightly, and don't require nails.
Off the top of my head, you could place the tool head on an anvil, then right click it with a stick, then right click that with a hammer to fit it together. A wooden mallet could be an early game hammer for crafting reasons. You could go even further, and make it so a non primitive tool would need an actual handle to be crafted. Which would be a whole other system. Personally, I would love some wood working features to be added. Imagine being able to make fancy leather wrapped handles!
For primitive tools, you could just place the tool head anywhere, then right-click it with a stick, then hold right-click with flax fiber or dry grass to 'tie' it together.

IMO, the less we have to mess with the crafting menu, the better. I love the immersive crafting that's already in the game, and I have plenty of ideas for further additions to it. Such as shift right-clicking a log with an axe would make firewood. An axe with a hammer in your offhand would debark it. A saw would make planks etc. No need to fumble about in the menu.