Minecraft resource gathering/Wood

Introduction

Wood is a very important resource in Minecraft, as it is usually the first useful item players gather when they start the game.

Acquiring

Wood is obtained by hitting the trunk of a tree, and this can, infamously, be done without any tools, however, using an axe is quicker and easier. This drops a log block, the most basic wood type.

Variants

Just as in real life, Wood in Minecraft comes in a number of varieties based on the kind of tree it is obtained from.

Tree variants

A tree is where you get wood from. There are 11 different types of trees.

Oak (yellow with brown bark)
Spruce (brown with dark brown bark)
Birch (creme with white bark and black spots)
Jungle (light orange with brown-green bark)
Dark Oak (dark brown with brown bark)
Acacia (orange with grey bark)
Azalea (uses oak logs)
Mangrove (red with brown-red bark)
Cherry (pink with black bark)

Two of which are found in the Nether and are inflammable:

Warped Fungus (magenta with red bark)
Crimson Fungus (cyan with blue bark)

Nine bamboo can also be crafted to obtain a wood-like block.

Craftable variants

You can craft a special kind of log called Wood. This log has the log texture on all six sides, making it great for landscaping and decoration.

Both log blocks and "wood" can be stripped by holding an axe and pressing the use button when looking at one.

Four planks can be crafted from both of these types. Planks are used in the majority of crafting recipes and can be crafted into stairs, slabs, doors, trapdoors, fences, signs, boats and more.

Two planks can be crafted to sticks.

Use

Wood has very varied uses, being one of the most used crafting ingredients.

Building

Wood can be used for building. It looks good and can be crafted into variant blocks such as stairs and slabs to aid with making complex shapes, and there are multiple variants which can be mixed to change up the palette. However, overworld wood is flammable, so it is not recommended for buildings near fire or lava. Additionally, roofs should be made of something else to prevent lightning from burning your house, or a lightning rod can be used to divert it somewhere else.

Fuel

Wood makes good early-game furnace fuel. However, it is not very efficient and has more important uses, so it is recommended to replace it with coal or lava when you get access to those.

Tip: craft wood into planks, then slabs to smelt eight times the items with the same amount of logs required.