This guide is a fairly bare bones reference about resource crafting if you need to Alt-Tab out of the game to look something up right quick.

For a more in-depth explanation of crafting resources, how and when to use them for growth and profit, as well as a cleaner, easier to read format, I highly recommend checking out the detailed guide by Personal Responsibility first.

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3487824910

(Please note that the words "town" and "city" are used interchangeably. I mean the same thing.)

Each province in Windward Horizon has at least one town in it. Once it's leveled up a bit, you have the option of assigning a specific workshop to a city. All cities need at least food, ale, and clothing to grow, though there are plenty of other resources in the game to buy, process, and sell.
(Cities created by the game will choose their own workshops, and it has a knack of picking a workshop that has no use for the province it's in. Pretty lousy.)

Ideally the workshop should be based on what resources are available in that province.
For example:
Let's say a province has grapes. You can make wine from grapes, which fulfills every city's "beverage" need. Every town needs booze of some sort in order to grow.

When the town first starts, it will need a farm as a workshop in order for the grapes to be harvested/brought to market so that you can buy them. If there's no farm, there might as well be no grapes because you won't be able to buy any. They have to be farmed first.
Once you have the farm, you'll need a Brewery workshop to convert the grapes into wine to sell to other towns. Once the town reaches level 4, you'll have the chance to add another workshop. This is when you'd add a Brewery to turn those grapes into wine.
As an added bonus, the town will be able to make its own wine with its own grapes, so that's one less resource you'll have to manually fulfill for it.

It's easiest to have the farm and the brewery in the same province; otherwise, you'll have to buy the grapes in one place, sail off to a province that has a brewery, and make the wine there. Sailing around to process all the resources is pretty typical and you'll do a lot of it, because it takes time for a city to grow large enough for you to be given the option to choose another workshop to build.
You're going to do a lot of sailing around to find an appropriate workshop once you have some resources in your inventory, at least for a while.

The good news is that when you are given the opportunity to pick a workshop, it will give you a list and make it obvious which ones will actually do you any good by putting little icons in the list text.

This isn't a guide on the intricacies of using workshop, merely a reference sheet for what can be done with them.

Below are pictures of the different workshops available and the "recipes" that each workshop uses.

Using the Brewery example again:
If you have three grapes in your ship's inventory, you can convert those to 4 bottles of wine to sell to towns both for profit and to help them grow.

First, you need to be in a town. Then open your ship's inventory with the "i" key on your keyboard, because you actually do this in your ship's inventory screen. The inventory screen will have an anvil icon on it. Pressing that will show you what workshops are available.

Note the workshop icon in the top left of each picture. This is the same icon you will see on the world map when you hover your mouse over a province.
The icons at the top of the circular province marker are the workshops. The ones below are the resources available there. (Again, if there's no workshop that corresponds to the resource, it won't do you any good until a workshop is built.)

RANCH

1. Cooked Meat) 1 Raw meat = 1 Cooked meat
2. Milk) 2 Cattle = 3 Milk
3. Wool) 2 Wild Sheep = 2 Wool
4. Eggs) 2 Wild birds = 4 Eggs
5. Leather) 2 Wild animals = 2 Leather
6. Furry Pelt) 2 Exotic wildlife = 2 Furry Pelt


STONECUTTER'S SHACK
1. Basic Masonry) 1 coral = 1 Basic masonry
2. Clay Masonry) 4 clay = 4 Clay masonry
3. Basic Masonry) 4 limestone = 4 Basic masonry
4. Apprentice Masonry) 2 limestone + 2 clay = 4 Apprentice masonry
5. Artisan Masonry) 4 granite = 4 masonry
6. Masterwork Masonry) 3 limestone + 3 granite + 3 clay = 9 Masterwork masonry


BREWERY
1. Wine) 3 grapes = 4 Wine
2. Ale) 2 wheat + 1 hops = 4 Ale
3. Sake ) 2 Rice + 1 Hops = 4 Sake
4. Rum) 1 sugar + 2 hops + 1 egg = 4 Rum
5. Lager) 2 wheat +1 spices + 1 hops = 4 Lager
6. Grog) 1 sugar + 1 spices + 1 hops + 1 fruit = 5 Grog
7. Mead) 1 sugar + 1 spices +1 wheat + 1 grapes + 1 fruits + 1 hops = 7 Mead


CLOTHIER'S WORKSHOP
1. Woolen Socks) 3 wool = 4 woolen socks
2. Burlap Cloth) 3 jute = 4 burlap cloth
-> which makes
3. Burlap Hat) 3 burlap cloth = 3 burlap hat
4. Leather boots) 3 leather = 4 leather boots
5. Linen cloth) 3 flax = 4 linen cloth
-> which makes
6. Linen shirts) 4 linen cloth = 4 linen shirts
7. Cotton Cloth) 3 cotton = 3 cotton cloth
-> which makes
8. Soft Scarf) 3 cotton cloth = 4 soft scarfs
9. Fur shawl) 3 furry pelt = 4 Fur shawl
10. Silk Cloth) 3 raw silk = 3 silk cloth
11. Fine Silk Clothes) 4 silk cloth = 4 Fine silk clothes


FISHERY
1. Cooked Meat) 1 fresh fish = 1 cooked meat


SMITH'S WORKSHOP
Each processed piece equal one processed piece. There's sometimes a percentage of what the outcome will be.
1. Tin) 1 scrap metal = 50% tin, 50%e copper
2. Tin) 1 Cassiterite = 90% tin, 10% copper
3. Copper) 1 Chalcopyrite = 90% copper, 10% aluminum
4. Aluminum) Bauxite = 85% Aluminum, 15% iron
5. Iron) 1 Hematite = 1 iron + 10% chance of 1 copper as well
6. Bronze) 3 copper + 1 tin = 4 bronze
7. Steel) 2 iron + 2 coal = 4 steel


COOKHOUSE
1. Hearty Stew) 1 vegetable + 1 water = 3 Hearty stew
2. Cheese) 4 milk = 4 Cheese
3. Bread) 4 wheat = 4 bread
4. Bread) 3 rice = 4 bread
5. Rancher's Breakfast) 2 eggs + 2 cooked meat = 4 Rancher's breakfast
6. Sea Rations) 2 cooked meat + 1 salt = 3 Sea rations
7. Sea Rations) 2 fresh fish + 1 salt = 3 Sea Rations
8. Tasty Sandwiches) 1 bread + 1 cheese = 2 Tasty sandwiches
9. Tasty Sandwiches) 1 bread + 1 cooked meat = 2 Tasty sandwiches
10. Cookies) 2 wheat + 1 egg + 2 sugar + 1 milk = 8 cookies
11. Chef's Delight) 1 hearty stew + 1 cooked meat + 1 bread + 1 fruit = 4 chef's delight
12. Chef's Delight) 1 hearty stew + 1 tasty sandwiches + 2 eggs + 1 bread = 1 Chef's delight

LUMBER MILL
Each processed piece of timber = 1 one processed piece of lumber.
1. Low Quality Lumber) 1 driftwood = 1 Low quality lumber
2. Low Quality Lumber) 1 pinewood = 90% low quality lumber, 10% standard quality lumber
3. Low Quality lumber) 1 firwood timber = 75% low quality lumber, 25% standard quality lumber
4. Standard Quality Lumber) 1 redwood timber = 50% standard quality lumber, 50% low quality lumber
5. Standard Quality lumber) 1 cedarwood timber = 75% standard, 20% low, 5% high quality lumber
6. High Quality lumber) 1 oakwood timber = 50% High quality lumber, 50% standard quality lumber
7. High Quality Lumber) 1 Ashwood timber = 75% high lumber, 20% standard, 5% exceptional quality lumber
8. High Quality lumber) Mahogany = 75% High quality lumber, 25% exceptional quality lumber.