When you first arrive on your Animal Crossing: New Horizons island, you will have access to some basic tools. These flimsy builds will let you get the job done, harvest wood, or smash rocks, but they'll often break, which is annoying. The good news is that you can get much better tools.
When you do work for the other residents, find your own resources, and most importantly, talk to everyone every day, eventually someone will mention that they read a good book about getting very good tools. This is a hint to let you know that an upgrade path is available for tools that keep breaking.
If you go to visit the Resident Services tent and interact with the small kiosk in the front right corner, you can spend your Nook Miles on certain items. Nooks Miles are earned simply by playing the game and reaching certain milestones. You can check them in your Nook Phone, and they'll always tell you what the next objective is. They are very easy to earn, so it won't take long for you to start accumulating them.
You can buy the Pretty Good Tools recipes for 3000 Nook Miles, and these will give you a way to craft better shovels, axes, fishing rods, and all the other tools you need. For most of them, you'll need to craft the flimsy version and then upgrade them with additional materials, like iron nuggets.
They're much better tools to work with, and you won't have to worry about remaking them all the time. Although it is expensive at 3000 Nook Miles, it is one of the best early purchases you can make in the game.
If you found this guide helpful, we have other guides you might also be interested in. From whether you can move Resident Services, how to get more residents, the maximum number of residents you can have on your island, and how to get your hands on those pesky floating balloon gifts.
