Woodcutting

Woodcutting (commonly called WC amongst players) is a skill that involves players cutting down different types of trees spread throughout RuneScape. For each tree, a Woodcutting level is required, as well as an axe, which is used to cut it. The current minimum to be ranked on the hiscores for woodcutting is 51 Woodcutting and 117,205 experience.

As a player cuts a tree, a certain type of logs will appear in his/her inventory, depending on the type of tree. The player can then light the logs with a tinderbox (or with a bow after a player has completed Barbarian Training) to raise the Firemaking skill, cut them with a knife and make them into bows using the Fletching skill in pay-to-play, or sell them to other players.

Woodcutting is also a very popular skill, as selling the logs given by the higher level trees to other players can make players a great amount of money. It is also relatively easy to raise compared to many other skills.

Trees
In order to cut a tree, a player will need to have an axe, also known as a 'hatchet' or a 'woodcutting axe'. Axes are not to be confused with battleaxes, as battleaxes cannot cut down trees and are only used for combat, nor with pickaxes, which are used for mining.

There are 8 different types of axes available in the RuneScape - Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, Mithril, Adamant, Rune and Dragon. The Dragon axe is the only members-only axe. Axes can be bought from Bob's Axes (located in Lumbridge), or smithed by players using the smithing skill (as well as drops, trades, general stores etc). However, Bob only sells bronze, iron, and steel axes. Players will have to buy the higher level axes from other players or smith the axes themselves.

To cut a tree, players will need certain woodcutting levels. For example, a player will need a woodcutting level of 75 to cut a magic tree. A certain woodcutting level is also required to use an axe. For example, a player will need a woodcutting level of 41 to use a rune axe. Also, if a player wants to wield an axe, then an attack level is required. For example, a player will need an attack level of 40 to wield a rune axe. Players are recommended that they wield their axe so that they have more space in their inventory, allowing them to carry more logs.

To cut a tree, players have to find one and then click on it. Trees are easy to find, as they are located all over RuneScape. (The exception to this is Morytania, where most of the trees cannot be chopped down.) When a player has found a tree, they can then click on it to chop it. When the player is done cutting, they can then light the logs on fire with a tinderbox to obtain some firemaking experience, fletch them if they are a member, or sell them to other players.

Free players can only cut regular trees, oak trees, willow trees, and yew trees. However, even though there are no maple trees in the free world, members can bring maple logs to free worlds and both free players as well as members can trade them and burn them. These different types of trees are listed below.

Tree types
Italicized tree types refer to those that are members-only.

* These trees are identified on the minimap by the icon.

Jungles
Members can also cut small jungles in and around the small village Tai Bwo Wannai. Cutting down jungles is also part of the mini-game Tai Bwo Wannai Cleanup.

Machetes
To cut a jungle, players cannot use an axe. Instead, they need a machete, which must be wielded. There is no attack or woodcutting level required to wield any kind of machete.

Ordinary machetes can be bought from the general stores in Tai Bwo Wannai or Shilo Village. Opal, jade, and red topaz machetes are somewhat rarer, and can only be bought from Gabooty with trading sticks. All machetes are tradable as well, and can be bought or sold on the Grand Exchange.

Jungle
There are three different kinds of jungles. There are light jungles, medium jungles, and dense jungles. When players hack a jungle, they receive thatch spars and initiate the Tai Bwo Wannai Cleanup minigame. Jungles are members-only.

Canoes
Members can also make canoes, which are used to travel on the River Lum, which goes from Lumbridge all the way to level 35 Wilderness. However, a certain woodcutting level is needed to carve the canoe tree into certain types of canoes. Canoes are useful when wanting to go from Edgeville to Lumbridge, etc.

How to make canoes
To make a canoe, members have to find a canoe tree. These trees can be found at canoe stations. These stations are located in the following places.
 * Lumbridge: On the east side of the river near the house where Goblins respawn.
 * Champions Guild: On the east side of the river west of the wheat field.
 * Barbarian Village: South of the eastern bridge on the east side of the river.
 * Edgeville: On the east side of the river near the guard post.
 * Level 35 Wilderness: At the lake south of the Moss Giants. Players cannot make a new canoe from this station.

When the player has found a canoe tree at one of these stations, he/she can cut the tree down. The player then has to click on the fallen tree and select what type of canoe he/she wants to make. When the player has made the canoe they want, he/she then can click on the canoe to push it in the river. When in the river, the player can then click on the canoe and select where he/she wants to go.

Canoes can only go to a certain number of stations away. Higher level canoes can go farther than the lower level canoes.

Other
The woodcutting stumps on Neitiznot can be used to make special items out of the arctic pine logs native to the island.

Random events


Random events are events that happen at random times. They were introduced to stop autoers, or people who use a program to do their work. Some random events include NPCs wanting players to do a task for them and rewarding them if they are successful or a monster that will attack the player. In woodcutting, there are quite a few random events.


 * Tree spirits: While cutting trees, a Tree Spirit may appear and will begin attacking a player. The combat level of the spirit depends on level of the player it is attacking, but it will always be higher then that player's combat level. The Tree Spirit's combat level varies from level 14 to 159. The player can either kill it or run away from it. If a player kills a Tree Spirit, it can drop some axes, herbs and seeds for members, bananas, runes, various miscellaneous items, or nothing.
 * Nests: If the player is a member, a bird nest may fall out of the tree they are cutting. Wearing a strung rabbit foot gives a better chance of getting a Bird nest drop while woodcutting. He or she can either pick up the nest and search it or just leave it on the ground, though it is recommended that the player search it. When the player searches it, they will be given a random item, either a sapphire, emerald, ruby, or diamond ring; a red, green, or blue bird's egg (can be hatched in an incubator with 70 summoning); a raven egg (can be hatched in an incubator with 50 summoning); or a tree seed that can be used for farming. The empty nest can be used with a pestle and mortar to get a crushed nest, an ingredient in the Saradomin brew.
 * Ents: A tree can also turn into an ent. Players can notice this if the tree they are cutting starts shaking, has an angry face somewhere on its trunk, a yellow dot on the mini-map where the tree is, and the name of the tree will be in yellow instead of a teal color. As soon the tree starts showing the symptoms of an ent, players must walk away and wait for the tree to transform back into its original state. If the player keeps cutting the tree, the ent will break the axe. To fix it, players will have to take the axe back to Bob, the owner of Bob's Axes, located in Lumbridge, to get it fixed for a price.
 * Axe fixing costs:
 * Bronze axe: Free
 * Iron axe: Free
 * Steel axe: Free
 * Black axe: 10 coins
 * Mithril axe: 18 coins
 * Adamant axe: 43 coins
 * Rune axe: 427 coins
 * Dragon axe: 1,800 coins

Discontinued random events



 * Lost Axe Head: While cutting trees, a player's axe might split, causing the axe head to fly off. The head would land somewhere nearby, usually 3 to 10 squares away. When this happens, the player had to find the axe head quickly before someone else sees it and grabs it. When the player had found the axe head, he or she could then use it with their handle to put the axe back together. This random event is now discontinued due to player complaints and the addition of the Surprise Exam! random event.


 * Dr Ford: While cutting trees, a piece of wood could fall on a player causing them to get dizzy. With their vision blurred they had to guess how many fingers Dr Ford was holding up to get a fruit. Otherwise, they would be taken away. This event was removed due to various glitches caused by this random event. This event also used to exist in mining.

Making money
The logs gathered through woodcutting can be sold for profit, with higher-level logs usually selling for more money. While far from a spectacular income (even with a maxed woodcutting level, it's unusual to make more than about 150k gp per hour no matter what you chop--even less for free players), it's a simple and common way to earn a living.

The most common place to buy or sell logs is at the Grand Exchange. A list of prices for logs can be found at the Grand Exchange Market Watch.

For some advice on making money through woodcutting, see the woodcutting section of the Money making guide.

Training

 * ''Main article: Woodcutting training

As with many skills, players often have to choose between time and profit when training woodcutting. Teak trees are fast experience, but they are difficult to bank efficiently and are usually dropped or burned between inventories instead. Willow trees are slower experience with minimal profit. Yew or eucalyptus logs sell for more money, but are slower in gaining experience, and magic trees are even more profitable, but the experience is very slow.

Players looking for faster experience should also use the highest axe available at their level. As such, it is recommended for members that will be doing long term Woodcutting to buy a dragon axe as soon as they reach level 61 woodcutting, as the rate of getting logs increases by 15-20%. This may be eschewed by a player that doesn't necessarily want a high level of woodcutting, because it has a high price compared to a rune axe.

Non-member training

 * Level 1 to 15 - Players can cut normal trees. There are many normal trees behind the trainig house in the forest between Lumbridge and Draynor, and south of Varrock.
 * Level 15 to 30 - Players can cut oak trees. A good spot is east of Draynor Village's bank. Low level players should be careful here, as level 26 Jail Guards patrol the area. Other places are southwest of Varrock and northwest of Lumbridge.
 * Level 30 to 99 - Players can cut willow trees. A good spot for banking is beside Draynor Village's bank, as there are 5 willow trees there, though it is often crowded during the day. If banking is not desired, there are many willow trees south of the jail at Port Sarim, as it is normally deserted, and the player can burn the logs easily as they chop. Willow trees are the fastest experience for F2P players, but they are not very profitable.
 * Level 41+ - It is recommended that players use a rune axe starting at this level, as it will give logs at a much greater rate than the axes below it.
 * Level 60 to 99 - Players can now cut yew trees. Though it is recommended to continue cutting willow until a higher level because you will find it hard to cut any logs.Yew trees in south Edgeville are the most common ones to cut as they are closest to the bank. Other good spots are behind Varrock castle, west of Lumbridge, and south of Falador. There are 3 yews scattered near the Lumberyard. There are four yew trees west of Rimmington, but they are far from a bank. Yew trees are slower experience than willow trees, but they are the most profitable log to chop for free players.

Members training

 * Level 1 to 15 - Members can cut normal trees. A good members' spot is south of Seers' Village.


 * Level 15 to 30 - Members can cut oak trees. A good spot is southeast of Seers' Village bank.


 * Level 30 to 99 - Members can cut willow trees. The best places to cut willow trees are Barbarian Outpost, Rimmington (with some completion of Rocking Out), Draynor Village, and Seer's Village. Willow trees are commonly thought of as the fastest woodcutting experience; however, for members, they are significantly slower than chopping teaks. At level 99, a player can chop an average of just under 800 willow logs in an hour.


 * Level 35 to 99 - Teak logs are the fastest experience when woodcutting, significantly faster than willows. However, there are no teak trees that are located remotely close to a bank. A player chopping teak logs should either drop them or burn them after chopping a full inventory. Burning the logs in particular is the most efficient method for those who wish to light the logs that they chop to train their firemaking skill. Ape Atoll is perhaps the best place for this method; there are three teak trees in close formation, a line where a full inventory of logs can be burned without interruption, and while wielding a monkey greegree the player is immune to random events that can interrupt training. Cutting and dropping teaks, when done efficiently, is faster than any other method, reaching as much as about 70k experience per hour for those with high woodcutting levels who can drop their logs quickly enough.


 * Level 35 to 99 - It's also possible to chop teaks in Tai Bwo Wannai's hardwood grove and use Rionasta's parcel service to send them to the bank, but this method requires mass amounts of trading sticks: 10 sticks for each item you send to the bank, and 100 sticks each time you re-enter the grove. Luckily, trading sticks can be bought very cheaply on the Grand Exchange, and the teak logs you keep are worth much more than what you spend, making the parcel service method a very strong choice for training woodcutting. At level 99, approximately 700-750 logs per hour can be chopped this way.


 * Level 58 to 99 - Members can cut eucalyptus trees. As a First Resort... is required in order to use the bank in Oo'glog. West of the city, there's a group of 4 eucalyptus safe from the aggressive ogresses that patrol the area. Eucalyptus logs are similar to yew logs in profit, but they provide faster experience and are rarely crowded thanks to the quest requirement. At level 99, an average of 300 logs per hour can be obtained.


 * Level 60 to 99 - Members can cut yew trees. Good places include the Tree Gnome Stronghold, west of Catherby, behind Lumbridge Castle (with a yew tree planted in the farming spot), and Rimmington for those who have completed enough of Rocking Out to use the Customs Locker there as a bank deposit box. About 210-230 yews can be chopped in an hour at level 99 woodcutting.



Temporary boosts

 * An Axeman's Folly increases Woodcutting by one. This is brewed using the Cooking skill.
 * A Mature Axeman's Folly increases Woodcutting by two. This is brewed using the Cooking skill.
 * A brown Spicy stew randomly increases Woodcutting, Herblore, Farming, Fishing, Mining and Firemaking by 6 or decreases by 6, these can be made using the Cooking skill, only by P2P players who have beaten the Evil Dave section in the Recipe for Disaster Quest.
 * Equipping the Woodcutting skillcape or operating the skillcape will temporarily boost your Woodcutting level to 100. To obtain this cape, 99 Woodcutting is required.
 * A Beaver, a summoning familiar, invisibly boosts Woodcutting by 2.

Other items

 * Lumberjack clothing increases woodcutting experience by a small amount.
 * A Strung Rabbit foot increases the chance of a bird nest falling out of tree while cutting.

Trivia

 * In early history, only regular trees could be cut. The experience given was based on the player's woodcutting level, or 28.25 + level * 1.75. After fletching was added, it was briefly reduced to 12.5 experience, and then raised to 25. While Jagex compensated for this by adding one-click woodcutting, many players (especially free users) were upset that reaching a high-level woodcutting would take many times longer.


 * If you use a herring with a tree you will get a message saying "This is not the mightiest tree in the forest." This is a reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In addition, if you use a herring on the doors of the Grand Tree, a message appears saying "It can't be done," referencing another line in the movie.


 * When the Dragon axe first came out, it cut logs at the exact same rate as a rune axe. This was updated later on, making the dragon axe the best woodcutting axe in the game.


 * Woodcutting animations has not undergone any revamp since the release of Runescape 2, retaining the 4-frame style. This skill is one of the skills not undergone revamp in Runescape HD update.