• RuneScape
  • Economy

OSRS Woodcutting Guide (1-99)

Trimhunter
RuneScape guides, no wasted clicks
Jul 22 2026

Updated Jul 23 2026

Patch Old School Runescape

Contents

Overview

Woodcutting is the closest thing this game has to a skill with no wrong answers. It’s AFK at almost every level, it feeds three other skills you’ll train eventually anyway, and unlike most of OSRS, “slow and profitable” and “fast and expensive” are both correct choices here, not a trap disguised as one.

GOOD TO KNOW

Everdred got 99 Woodcutting first, back on August 28, 2001. The skill’s had one real shakeup since — the 2023 Forestry rework, which took a solo, silent grind and turned it into something you actually want other players standing next to you for. Rare in this game.

Use the best axe you can get. Not “eventually upgrade when convenient” — the gap is real. Rune cuts about three times faster than Bronze. The good axes cut over four times faster. There’s no version of this game where a worse axe is the efficient choice.

Axe Level Required Note
Bronze / Iron 1 Skip Bronze. Iron’s the same level and strictly better — no reason to touch Bronze
Steel 6
Black 11
Mithril 21
Adamant 31
Rune 41 Buyable at the Woodcutting Guild shop once you’re 60
Dragon 61 Dagannoth Kings drop; special attack gives a temporary +3 Woodcutting boost
Infernal 61 1/3 chance to auto-burn logs for passive Firemaking XP — great if you’re an Iron, actively bad if you need the logs
Crystal 71 Song of the Elves required; fastest axe that isn’t Infernal

 

NOTE

The Infernal Axe isn’t a strict upgrade, no matter what the hype tells you. Burning a third of your logs for free Firemaking XP is great when you don’t need those logs. If you’re chopping specifically to stock Fletching or Construction materials, it’s quietly working against you the whole time.

Leveling Route

Level Tree Best Location Approx. XP/Hour
1-15 Normal Trees Anywhere, F2P included Low. Doesn’t matter, you’re through it fast
15-30 Oak Draynor Village Moderate
30-35 Willow Draynor Village (bank’s right there) Moderate — best F2P spot for this range, no contest
35-60 Teak Ape Atoll, or Prifddinas (World 444 for Forestry events) ~60,000-70,000, more with tick manipulation
60+ Yew Edgeville for F2P; Woodcutting Guild if you’re a member ~30,000 XP and ~60,000 GP per hour
65+ Sulliuscep Mushrooms Fossil Island (25 Farming required) ~90,000-100,000+
77+ Bloodwood Vampyrium (added June 2026) 60,000-90,000+, plus Bloodwood sap for Seeker arrows
90+ Redwood Woodcutting Guild, Zeah Slower on paper, but the Guild’s invisible level boost is real

 

NOTE

Teak from 35 onward is the fastest realistic training method once tick manipulation enters the picture. It’s also miserable — click-intensive, zero AFK time, the kind of thing that makes you question your hobbies at 2am. If you actually want to look away from the screen occasionally, Yews or Sulliuscep beat it, even with the lower number on the sheet. The leaderboard doesn’t know about your sanity. You do.

Woodcutting is one of the rare skills where training and profit don’t fight each other most of the way to 99. Take advantage of it while it lasts:

  • 1
  • Yew logs

  • the standout early-to-mid method. Roughly 60,000 GP/hour on top of your XP, which adds up to something like 23 million GP across the full 61-99 stretch. Free money, basically.

  • 2
  • Magic logs

  • best raw GP-per-log at around 1,500 GP and 250 XP each, but slow. F2P’s supply of Magic trees is thin, so expect competition if you’re not a member.

  • 3
  • Bird nests

  • random drop, any tree, any level. Empty ones sell for roughly 6,000 GP. Seeded ones can be worth vastly more — a Magic seed nest alone can run around 100,000 GP, and Spirit seeds are rarer and worth more still. Pick up every single nest. Every time.

Forestry

Forestry, the 2023 rework, is the one time this skill actively rewards you for other people existing nearby. Chop near other players and you get an invisible Woodcutting boost — roughly +1 per player, up to +10. Popular trees get less crowded instead of more. Genuinely rare design in this game.

GOOD TO KNOW

Random Forestry events spawn while you’re cutting — bonus XP, unique drops like Anima-infused Bark. World 444 is where the community actually goes for these. Hop there for Teak in Prifddinas during a busy event and you can push 130,000 XP/hour. That’s not a typo, that’s just what showing up on the right world does.

The Felling Axe adds a 10% XP boost, costs a Forester’s Ration per log, and has a 20% chance of giving you nothing. Still a net gain — just know what you signed up for. The Forestry outfit, earned the same way, adds another 2.5% at full set. Passive, no downside, wear it.

Tips & Tricks

Quest your way past the boring levels. Every Woodcutting-related quest combined takes you from 1 to 28 without touching a tree. Can’t be bothered with all of them? Monk’s Friend alone gets you 1 to 14 on its own.

Grab the Lumberjack outfit if you’re already doing Temple Trekking. 2-4 hours, up to 2.5% XP at full set. Free value if you’re in that content anyway. Skip it if you’re not — not worth starting Trekking just for this.

Own a Ring of Endurance from Hallowed Sepulchre? Use it. The doubled stamina potion effect actually matters on long banking routes like Ape Atoll Teaks.

Pick your method based on your actual life, not the leaderboard. Tick manipulation and multi-tree Bloodwood cycling can hit 220,000 XP/hour. They also demand your full, undivided, unblinking attention the entire time. If you want to level while half-watching something else, take the AFK method and the lower number. You’ll still hit 99. You’ll just remember getting there.

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