All crafting grids, vanilla and with 'Toms Simple Storage' an empty crafting grid gives free sticks.
Tested with our current mods (listed below) and removing Sculk Depths fixed the issue.

Also when crafting oak planks (with Oak Logs) it shows you will receive Valtrox Planks but you still receive Oak Planks. This isn't very common. It only has happened a few times in past week.

Server Side:
c2me-fabric-mc1.20-0.2.0+alpha.10.85.jar geckolib-fabric-1.20-4.2.jar sculk_depths-1.20.1-0.0.6_b.jar
carpet-extra-1.20-1.4.112.jar jamlib-0.6.0+1.20.jar starlight-1.1.2+fabric.dbc156f.jar
Chunky-1.3.88.jar lithium-fabric-mc1.20-0.11.2.jar toms_storage_fabric-1.20-1.5.6.jar
fabric-api-0.83.0+1.20.jar MCDiscordChat-1.20-2.1.4.jar vmp-fabric-mc1.20-0.2.0+beta.7.93-all.jar
fabric-carpet-1.20-1.4.112+v230608.jar NoChatReports-FABRIC-1.20-v2.2.0.jar
ferritecore-6.0.0-fabric.jar right-click-harvest-3.2.2+1.19.x-1.20-fabric.jar

Client Side:
BetterF3-7.0.0-Fabric-1.20-pre6
carpet-extra-1.20-1.4.112
fabric-api-0.83.0+1.20
fabric-carpet-1.20-1.4.112+v230608
ferritecore-6.0.0-fabric
geckolib-fabric-1.20-4.2
iris-mc1.20-1.6.4
lithium-fabric-mc1.20-0.11.2
NoChatReports-FABRIC-1.20-v2.2.0
reeses_sodium_options-1.5.1+mc1.20-build.74
sculk_depths-1.20-0.0.6
sodium-extra-0.4.20+mc1.20-build.103
sodium-fabric-mc1.20-0.4.10+build.27
starlight-1.1.2+fabric.dbc156f
toms_storage_fabric-1.20-1.5.6
Xaeros_Minimap_23.4.4_Fabric_1.20
XaerosWorldMap_1.30.3_Fabric_1.20

Was this in the non b version too?

this bug does not happen in mc 1.20.1 with only sculk depths, fabric api, geckolib and essential

you could download the latest action build and test if the issue is still present since i'm unable to reproduce it:
https://github.com/warior456/Sculk-Depths/actions/runs/5303487453

Was this in the non b version too?
Yes was present in both versions

Seems the issues lies with VMP Mod.
Removing it and leaving all other mods include removes the free stick issue.

https://modrinth.com/mod/vmp-fabric

@JRCLARK25 did the latest build fix it though? at least the stick dupe? i removed an unused recipe for sticks

Yep just tested new build.
Works as intended with VMP installed.
Thank you again for quick Reply and fix!

no problem