1- Desert Stone: its only use is to craft the lazy deserter but you can have tons of this item that will never do so many lazy deserters, mi suggestion is make the desert stone an offerting to the pig king for some gold nuggets.
2- Steel Wool: a creative way to use this item can be craft some an armor and a vest at the same time, i don´t think this is op cuz the steel wool is a very random item to get and this can be a way to play more hunts.
Tnx for read this post!