Every experienced Rust player has a story about the raid that took everything except one buried bag of loot. That bag is the Small Stash: a tiny container you bury in the ground, so a raider who empties your base still walks straight past your backup kit.
This small stash Rust guide covers the recipe, the 6 slots, how to hide and dig up a stash, the best places to bury one, how raiders find them, how much it takes to break one and why every satchel charge in the game needs a stash.
What Is the Small Stash in Rust?
The Small Stash is a deployable that the game describes as “a hidden, buried stash to keep your items safe”. In the game files it is stash.small with item ID -369760990 (see our Rust item IDs list). It looks like a little cloth bundle tied with rope, and once you hide it, it sinks completely into the ground.
It only holds 6 items, it has no lock and it cannot be picked back up once placed. What it does have is invisibility. A raider can blow through every wall of your base and never know that a full kit, a stack of meds and your spare components are buried behind a rock 200 metres away.
That makes it the cheapest insurance in the game. It is also the item every new player overlooks, because the only time most people craft one is as an ingredient for satchels.
How to Craft a Small Stash
The Small Stash is known by default, so you can craft it the moment you spawn. All it takes is 10 cloth, which is one hemp plant or a few minutes of picking up loose plants on the beach.
| Stat | Small Stash |
|---|---|
| Recipe | 10 Cloth |
| Workbench | None |
| Craft time | 15 s by hand, 7 s at Workbench 1, 3 s at Workbench 2 or 3 |
| Blueprint | Default (known from spawn) |
| Slots | 6 |
| Health | 150 HP, cannot be repaired |
| Stack size | 5 |
| Lock | None |
| Recycles into | 6 cloth (4 at a safe zone recycler) |
| Short name / ID | stash.small / -369760990 |
Running a server? Admins can spawn stashes straight into their inventory from the F1 console:
inventory.give stash.small 5Our Rust admin commands list has every other spawn and give command.
How to Hide a Small Stash (and Dig It Back Up)
- Place it. Put the stash on fairly flat ground. You need building rights there, so you cannot drop one inside someone else’s Tool Cupboard range.
- Fill it. Open it with E like any box and drag in up to 6 stacks.
- Hide it. Look at the stash, hold E and choose Hide. It sinks into the ground and disappears.
- Reveal it. Come back, stand right on top of it (within about 2 metres) and look at the exact spot for a few seconds. The stash rises out of the ground and you can open it again.
Stashes do not sit in your base, so they do not pay upkeep. They do not last forever though: community guides put the timer at about 3 days if nobody opens the stash, so check your stashes every couple of days. Everything in them is gone at the monthly force wipe anyway, so there is no point stashing late into a wipe.
Best Places to Hide a Small Stash
A good stash spot is one nobody has a reason to stand on, but that you can find again in the dark. These work best:
- Behind trees off a road. Players run along roads, not through the trees 30 metres away.
- Against a big boulder. Easy to remember, and people rarely walk around the back of a rock.
- On the shoreline next to driftwood or rocks. Beaches are busy on day one, then empty for the rest of the wipe.
- Far from your base. Raiders search around the base they just opened, not the field two grids over.
Avoid open flat sand and grass, where the small mound can give it away, and anything near monuments, recyclers or road crossings. Write the grid reference down, or drop a marker on the map, because the most common way to lose a stash is forgetting where it is.
How Raiders Find Hidden Stashes
- Someone looks at it. The reveal works for any player who stands on the spot and looks down.
- Hammer swings. Swinging a hammer at the ground makes a different thud over a buried stash, and players sweep suspected spots this way.
- A foundation on top. Placing a building block over a hidden stash breaks it, and the loot drops on the ground in a bag. Stashes inside a compound get destroyed like this when someone builds over them.
- Splash damage. A stash only has 150 HP. Explosions from a raid or MLRS rockets near your base can break one that is buried next to your walls.
- Being watched. If anyone sees you crouching in a bush, they will check that bush the moment you leave.
- ESP cheats. Stash ESP is a common feature in Rust cheats. Some admins fight back with plugins that place fake “trap” stashes and flag anyone who keeps digging them up.
How to Destroy a Small Stash
You almost never need to destroy a stash. Once it is revealed it has no lock, so you just open it and take the loot. If you do want it gone, breaking it drops everything inside in a loot bag. Here is what 150 HP takes:
| Tool | Amount | Sulfur |
|---|---|---|
| Molotov | 1 | 0 |
| Hatchet | about 11 s | 0 |
| Jackhammer | about 4 s | 0 |
| Chainsaw | about 6 s | 0 |
| Pickaxe | about 16 s | 0 |
| F1 Grenade | 2 | 120 |
| Beancan Grenade | 3 | 360 |
| Explosive 5.56 | 15 | 375 |
| Satchel Charge | 1 | 480 |
| C4 | 1 | 2,200 |
It has the same 150 HP as a small Wood Storage Box, so the numbers match our storage box raid table. For walls and doors, use the Rust raid calculator.
The Small Stash in Satchel Charges
Most small stashes never get buried. They get crafted into satchel charges, the cheap early raid explosive. The recipe is 4 beancan grenades, 1 rope and 1 Small Stash at a Workbench 1, for 480 sulfur per satchel.
That means a satchel raid needs cloth as well as sulfur: 10 satchels need 10 stashes, which is 100 cloth. Craft the stashes first, while you farm the rope and powder, so the craft queue never stops on a missing ingredient.
Small Stash vs Other Storage
| Container | Cost | Workbench | Slots | Lock | Hidden |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small Stash | 10 cloth | None | 6 | No | Yes |
| Wood Storage Box | 100 wood | None | 18 | Yes | No |
| Locker | 100 frags, 50 wood | Level 2 | 42 | Yes | No |
| Large Wood Box | 250 wood, 50 frags | None | 48 | Yes | No |
Boxes are for your loot room. The stash is for the backup plan: the kit you respawn to after a raid, or the components you keep off-site so one bad night does not reset your progress.
Small Stash Tips
- Bury a respawn kit. A gun, ammo, meds and a sleeping bag in one stash next to a bag gets you back in the fight after a raid.
- Spread it out. Three stashes in three places beat one stash with everything in it.
- Keep a code backup. Duos and solos sometimes stash a written note or spare key in a stash.
- Never hide it in your compound. Building over it, splash damage and raiders sweeping your yard all break it.
- Go in the dark, and alone. The stash is only as hidden as the moment you placed it.
- Check it every couple of days. An unopened stash can decay away.
New to the game? Our Rust beginner’s guide covers what to do in your first hours, and the bunker guide shows how to hide loot inside your base too.
Small Stash FAQ
How many slots does a small stash have in Rust?
A Small Stash has 6 slots. A Wood Storage Box has 18, a Locker 42 and a Large Wood Box 48.
How do you make a small stash in Rust?
Craft it from 10 cloth. It is a default blueprint, needs no workbench and takes 15 seconds by hand or 7 seconds at a Workbench 1.
How do you hide a small stash?
Place it on the ground, fill it, then look at it, hold E and choose Hide. It sinks into the ground and disappears.
How do you find your small stash again?
Stand right on top of where you buried it, within about 2 metres, and look at the ground for a few seconds. The stash rises back up and you can open it.
Can other players find my small stash?
Yes. Anyone who stands on the spot and looks down reveals it, hammer swings can find it, and placing a foundation over it breaks it. Hide it somewhere nobody has a reason to stand.
Can you lock a small stash?
No. A Small Stash cannot take a Code Lock or a Key Lock. Its only protection is being hidden.
Do small stashes decay in Rust?
Yes. They do not use Tool Cupboard upkeep, but community guides put the timer at about 3 days without anyone opening the stash, so check yours every couple of days. Everything is wiped at the next map wipe anyway.
How much health does a small stash have?
A Small Stash has 150 HP and cannot be repaired. One molotov or about 11 seconds with a hatchet breaks one, and the loot drops in a bag.
Why do satchel charges need a small stash?
The satchel charge is four beancan grenades tied to a small stash with rope. The recipe is 4 beancans, 1 rope and 1 Small Stash at a Workbench 1.