This is Chapter Three of the Wasteland Survival Guide.
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=553553264
If you have any improvements, add me on steam or just write a comment and I’ll make adjustments where necessary. I've rewritten a lot of this in December, 2022.

Resources are needed for a variety of different crafting recipes, from modifications on a melee weapon to making automatic machine gun turrets. I'm just going to list out how to get each resource in this guide.

How to get resources from buildings and unpickupable items
Before going to the lists, the first thing a beginner should know is how to scrap buildings, furniture or level actors like trees into the base building blocks like wood, steel and concrete. To do this, you must be in range of a workbench. If you are in range of a workbench, you can hold V to access the workbench mechanics. Workbenches can be found everywhere that a settlement can be founded, for example, Sanctuary. After this is done, look at the item you want to scrap (for example, a tree or a rubber tire) and press R. This should bring up another menu telling you what you will get if you scrap the specific item. If you click yes, the item will disappear from the world, and the scrapped materials can be found at the workbench.

How to get resources from items, weapons and armor
Simply drop said item you want to scrap within the boundaries of a workbench, hold V, look at the item, then press R. The same screen should pop up and the materials that have been scrapped will, yet again, be located at the workbench. However, you don't need to scrap junk to use all the resources, as the workbench automatically takes them apart when you need to use them.

Accessing the scrapped resources
To access and transport the resources made via scrapping, go to the workbench and press R (or whatever your ‘transfer’ key is). Keep in mind that the resources only show up in the settlement that you scrapped the items in, unless you have supply links up with other settlements.

Shortcuts, Tips and Tricks

• When at your workbench, you can press T by default to automatically store all junk in the workshop storage.
  
• When building, you can hover over a blueprint that you don't have resources over, and press Q to tag. What this does is that whenever you find an item in the world that has a specific resource that you have tagged, it will show up with a 'magnifying glass' next to it. This is extremely helpful in shop menus and tags can last infinitely.
  
• Crafting anything within the workbench circle (marked by the green line) will automatically rely on the workbench's inventory for materials before searching in the player's inventory. This means that keeping any materials in a separate chest aside from the workbench, is not a good idea.
  
• If you scrap a container with items still inside, the items will teleport to the storage of the workbench.
  
• A scavenging container allows a settler to be assigned to it. Once assigned, random resources will be appearing in your workshop storage.
  
• Getting the 'Scrapping I' and 'Scrapping II' perk will allow you to scrap weapons more effectively, getting materials like screws, nuclear material, and other various rare items.
  
• Shipments are almost always a huge ripoff. Try to avoid it if possible unless you're loaded with caps.

In alphabetical order. Use CTRL-F to find what you want.

• Found scattered randomly throughout the Commonwealth.
  
• Insect parts like bloatflies, bloodbugs.
  
• Homemade Batteries [1].
  
• Abraxo Cleaner and Fertiliser [1].

• Needed for almost every modification for weapons and armour. Recommended to hoard as much as you can.
  
• Wonderglue [2], Vegetable Starch [5] and Duct Tape [1] are the main sources. Rare versions of each exist that give more per. Not very economical to buy in a shop, recommended to cook this instead.
  
• You can cook adhesive in the cooking station. Go to Cooking Station > Utility > Vegetable Starch. You only need 1 purified water, 3 corn, 3 mutfruit and 3 tatos for 5 adhesive.

• Common and scattered throughout the Commonwealth.
  
• Aluminium cans [2], Cake Pan [3], Coolant Cap [2], Hubcap [2], Laboratory Equipment, Tray [1] and TV Dinner Tray [3].
  
• Loot Corvega Processing for lots of coolant caps.

• Used for chems, stimpaks and RadAway crafting.
  
• Abraxo cleaners [2] (and its rarer version) and turpentine [2]. Found in shops and Super Duper Marts.
  
• Antiseptics can be crafted into RadAway for caps.

• Found in misc junk in the Commonwealth.
  
• Chalk [1], Extinguisher [2], Rat poison [1], Oven Mitts [1], Teapot [1].
  
• Found in shops and residential areas.
  
• Cigarettes have asbestos, but they are valuable. Recommended to sell them instead.

• Available in shipments at merchants, KL-E-0 (Goodneighbour) and Teagan (Prydwen).
  
• Found in rare items like Military Grade Duct Tape [2], Military Ammo Bag [2].
  
• From scrapping weapons with attached mods that require ballistic fiber after taking the Scrapper II perk.

• From various dead animal parts and remains. Mole rats are an easy source from Mole Rat Teeth [1].
  
• Recommended to raid a super mutant base, and take the bone junk.

• Scrapping things like dinner plates, Coffee Cup [1] and Vase [2]. For dinner plates, only the Red Plate [2] has ceramic.
  
• Go to a diner and take their plates, or deconstruct a toliet at a settlement.

• Shoot machine gun turrets, and scrap their advanced circuits and targeting cards.
  
• Common loot includes Telephone [2], Hot Plate [2].
  
• Raid tech areas like General Atomic, or raider areas with turrets.

• Taking basic loot including Comfy Pillow [3], Cotton Yarn [1], Dishrag [1], Mop [2], paintbrush [1], Teddy Bear [3] and the Trifold American Flag [4].
  
• Killing basic raiders and scrapping their leather or basic clothing.
  
• Scrapping furniture like sofas, cloth chairs and rugs.
  
• Try not to have pre-war money in your inventory when building structures or modifications that require cloth, as if you go over your cloth, it will start using money in a 1:1 ratio. This is very costly for caps. This is also the case for cigarettes and cigars.

• This is pretty hard to get in large amounts, buy bags of plaster & cement, scrap cinder blocks and scrap the ruined houses in Sanctuary.
  
• Go to Vault 115 for concrete loot and scrapping.
  
• 11 bags of cement are in front of the Vault 14 door inside Park Street Station.

• Used heavily in settlement construction, found in electronics and tools.
  
• Scrapping lamp posts (i.e. in Sanctuary) and scrapping the broken lightbulbs [1] inside.
  
• Laboratory equipment (Beaker Stand [1], Bone Cutter [1], Bunsen Burner [1], Fuse [1], High-powered Magnet [3], Hot Plate [1], Power Relay Coil [2], Vacuum Tube [1]
  
• Random residential loot (Blue Table Lamp [1], Broken Lamp [1], Light Bulb [1], Telephone [1])
  
• Can be found in weapons and armour if Scrapper I is obtained. Pipe Rifles are good for this purpose.
  
• Loot the Wattz Consumer Electronics for lots of electronics with copper.

• Antique globe [2] and other globes. Baseballs.
  
• Used for lightweight armor mods.

• Crystal Liquor Decanter [4], Microscope [2], Camera [2], Magnifying Glass [2].
  
• Upgrade to the Scrapper II perk to get crystal from guns.

• Only place I've seen this resource is from the Bag of Fertilizer [4].
  
• Tons of bags are lying around in Greygarden. Greentop Nursery has this too.

• Various random loot, also from scrapping modded weapons/armour with Scrapper 2 perk.
  
• Loot includes Abraxo Cleaner [1], Aluminum Canister [2], Rat Poison [1], Telephone [2].
  
• Loot Charlestown, a building in there has 24 units of fiberglass in items.

• I recommend getting this from scrapping modded weapons with the Scrapper 2 perk. Otherwise, for items:
  
• Biometric Scanner [1], Microscope [1].
  
• You also get one from disarming laser tripwires.

• Scrapping mechanical things like Typewriter [3], Camera [2], watches, Microscope [2], Desk Fan [2].
  
• The cheapest way of getting gears is to get the adjustable wrench from merchants. The most common loot for gears is the desk fan.
  
• Try looting office areas for the above items.

• Found in various common loot.
  
• Empty glass bottles from drinking Nuka Cola / other sodas, broken glass bottles and drinks.
  
• Loot a diner, or a cafe.

• Sadly, there is no cheap way to acquire this. Gold pocket watches and other jewellery drop from ghouls, and that is the current easiest way to acquire gold.
  
• In Sanctuary, there is a cellar behind a house with three gold bars.
  
• Used to make high level scopes and modifications.

• Pencil [1], Makeshift Battery [3], various weights and dumbbells.
  
• General Atomics Galleria (North end of the map near the northernmost lake) has a boxing ring and store filled with dumb bells and barbells, all of which scrap into lead.

• Scrapping basic raider clothing and armor, they tend to have many mods to convert to leather.
  
• Scrapping animal hides.

• Found in Alarm Clocks [1] and Biometric Scanners [2].
  
• Vaporising enemies with plasma weapons gets them to drop nuclear material. Glowing creatures also drop nuclear material.
  
• Be on the lookout for the 'Blast Radius' board game as it gives one nuclear material per. One of these board games can be found in Shawn’s room, after the intro sequence.
  
• Scrapping modded weapons with the Scrapper II perk.

• Used oil items, flip lighters of any kind, gas canisters. This is fairly common around Boston.
  
• Gas canisters seem as if they have a lot of oil, but only have two. Cooking Oil [3] and Oil Can [4] are the real MVP loot for oil. Lantern [2] is good to look out for as well.
  
• Crafting Cutter Fluid from the Chemistry Bench yields 3 Oil from 2 Acid, 8 Bone, 2 Purified Water and 3 Steel.

• Various misc items and toys. Anti Freeze Bottle [2], Antique Globe [2], Cafeteria Tray [2], Coffee Pot [1], Pen [1].
  
• Anything with plastic in the name: Plastic Forks, Plastic Knife, Plastic Spoon.
  
• Loot residential areas or kill ghouls.

• Scrap tires and tire walls from settlement areas.
  
• Plunger [2], baby bottles, extinguishers, balls, saw or the toy alien for loot.
  
• These are just common loot items around any area.

• Various mechanical items and toys, like the toy car and toy trucks.
  
• Antique Globe [1], Desk Fan [2], Hot Plate [1], Typewriter [2]
  
• Scrapper I perk gives you screws from weapons.

• Silver forks, silver spoons, silver knives.
  
• Don’t use the silver pocket watch as it is valuable, and light, unless you aren’t short on caps.
  
• One silver on Enhanced Targeting Cards from shooting and looting turrets.

• Mechanical items in general. Alarm Clock [1], watches, Camera [2], Flip Lighter [1], Handcuffs [1], Toaster [2], Typewriter [3].
  
• Scrapping weapons with the Scrapper I perk.

• Ruined houses, chairs, furniture in general.
  
• Items such as toasters, containers like toolboxes.
  
• Lamp posts, rubble and ruined cars have boatloads of steel.
  
• Most, if not all, guns have steel. You'll build up a healthy amount from basic scrapping alone.
  
• Metal melee weapons have steel.

• Scrapping trees, and other common furniture in houses. Picket fences provide a good quantity of this resource, but trees alone (as well as branches) should provide more than enough to make this the most common resource in the game.
  
• Hammers, tools with wood in them, wooden blocks, cutting boards, planks (weapon), but overall, trees are much better. If you run out of trees in Sanctuary, scrap another settlement's trees and make a trade route.

If this guide has helped you, give it a favourite to keep it for reference and a rating!