How cutting works
Any tree in the world can be cut. Tap one, or set the Woodcutting travel mode and your wanderer walks to the nearest tree and works it, moving on as trees are felled (they regrow behind you). Each successful cut yields logs and Woodcutting XP. You need an axe — in your pack or your axe tool slot, whichever; the best one you own is always the one that swings.
The axe ladder
The Bronze Woodcutter's Axe is sold at the Wanderer's Rest store — the only bought axe. Everything above it is forged at an anvil from three bars of the matching metal, exactly like pickaxes: Iron (Smithing 15), Steel (30), Aethersteel (50), Deepsteel (70), Starforged (90), Frost (100), Void (135), Celestial (160). Each tier cuts faster and more reliably than the last. Like all tools, axes live in their own equipment slot and your best held axe equips itself at login.
What logs are for
Logs stack 100 to a pack slot and sell for steady coins — woodcutting is the most reliable "money while idle" activity in the early game, when monsters are still stingy. Logs also feed construction: building your house consumes materials, and a stockpile in your house storage is a stockpile you never have to carry.
Where to cut
Thornwald — the great forest one region east of home — is the natural woodcutting heartland: dense trees, a village (Hollowbrook) to shelter in, and monsters gentle enough that an axe-swinging wanderer can shrug off interruptions. Deeper forests east (Blackroot Wilds, the Eldenwood) are atmospheric places to cut but bring wildlife to match — cut where your combat level lets you be complacent.
Woodcutting offline
Set Woodcutting as your offline mode and the cutting continues while you're away, at a measured pace, with logs banked to your pack (auto-sold for coins only if the pack is truly full). It's the classic "quiet night" order: no risk of your wanderer marching into a region above their weight while you sleep.
Common mistakes
- Cutting with the store axe at Smithing 40. Three iron or steel bars upgrade your whole idle economy — forge the axe.
- Selling every log on principle. Keep a stack if a house build is anywhere in your plans; future-you hauls less.
- Woodcutting in dangerous country while offline. The mode is safe where you are safe. Pick your forest to match your level, then let it run.