Skills/Lumberjacking

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Lumberjacking is the skill of chopping trees into logs. Every chair, crate, bow, arrow and instrument in New Bradford starts as a log a lumberjack hacked out of the forest. Lumberjacking also makes you better with an axe in a fight, which is why so many axe fighters carry the skill.

This page explains how lumberjacking works in New Bradford, from your first swing at a tree to Grandmaster. To turn your logs into something, see Carpentry and Bowcraft/Fletching.

At a glance

Skill category	Crafting & gathering
Tools	Any axe except the war axe (see Axes)
What you can chop	Logs, 10 at a time
Where	Oaks, walnuts, cedars, cypresses, willows, yews and most other trees
Other uses	Extra damage with axes in combat
Skill cap	100 (Grandmaster)
Stat it can raise	Strength
Starting gear	Choosing Lumberjacking as a starting skill gives you a hatchet.

How to chop

Equip an axe (hold it in your hands). An axe in your backpack won't chop trees: "The axe must be equipped for any serious wood chopping."
Double-click the axe. You'll be asked "What do you want to use this item on?"
Click a tree no more than 2 tiles away. You can click the trunk or the leaves.
Your character hacks at the tree 1 to 3 times (usually twice), about 1.6 seconds per swing. Then you either get logs ("You put some logs into your backpack.") or "You hack at the tree for a while, but fail to produce any useable wood."
Double-click the axe again to keep chopping.

Every successful chop puts 10 logs in your backpack, 20 stones of wood. If your backpack can't hold them, "You can't place any wood into your backpack!" and the logs are lost, so watch your weight.

Wood	Weight	How you get it	Used for
Log	2	Chop a tree with an axe (10 per chop)	Carpentry, Bowcraft/Fletching, selling
Board	1	Double-click an axe and target logs in your backpack (1 board per log)	The same as logs, at half the weight
Kindling	5	Cut from a tree with a sword or knife, or make with Bowcraft/Fletching	Lighting a campfire with Camping

Axes never wear out from chopping, and you can chop while riding a mount.

Your chance

Your chance of getting logs is the same as your Lumberjacking: 30% at 30.0, 75% at 75.0, and every time at 100.0. There's only one kind of wood, so there's nothing else to unlock.

Where you can chop


Oak tree	Walnut tree	Cedar tree	Forest tree

Most trees in New Bradford can be chopped: oaks, walnuts, cedars, cypresses, willows, the giant yews, most apple, peach and pear trees, and plain forest trees. Palms, banana trees and stumps can't: "You can't use an axe on that."

Tree spots

The forest is divided into tree spots, each a block of 4 × 3 tiles. Here's how a spot works:

It holds 20 to 45 logs. Each successful chop takes 10, so a spot gives you 2 to 4 chops. When it's empty you'll see "There's not enough wood here to harvest."
It refills 20 to 30 minutes after the first chop. The timer starts the first time anyone chops a full spot. When it runs out, the spot comes back completely full.
Everyone chopping in the same spot shares its wood.

When a tree runs dry, move a few steps to the next tree and keep going.

Axes

Any of these axes chops wood. They're also real weapons for Swordsmanship. Blacksmiths can make all of them except the hatchet; tinkers make hatchets. See Blacksmithy and Tinkering.

Axe	Strength needed	Damage	Speed	Weight	Buy from	Made by
Hatchet	15	2–17	40	4	Weaponsmiths (25 to 27 gold)	Tinkers (30.0 Tinkering, 4 iron ingots)
Axe	35	6–33	37	4	Weaponsmiths and blacksmiths (40 gold)	Blacksmiths (34.2, 14 iron ingots)
Double axe	45	5–35	37	8	Weaponsmiths and blacksmiths (52 gold)	Blacksmiths (29.3, 12 iron ingots)
Battle axe	40	6–38	30	4	Weaponsmiths and blacksmiths (26 gold)	Blacksmiths (30.5, 14 iron ingots)
Large battle axe	40	6–38	30	6	Weaponsmiths and blacksmiths (33 gold)	Blacksmiths (28.0, 12 iron ingots)
Two-handed axe	35	5–39	30	8	Weaponsmiths and blacksmiths (32 gold)	Blacksmiths (33.0, 16 iron ingots)
Executioner's axe	35	6–33	37	8	Weaponsmiths and blacksmiths (30 gold)	Blacksmiths (34.2, 14 iron ingots)

The war axe is a mace-style weapon and can't chop wood. Pickaxes are for Mining.

Other things an axe does

Double-click your axe (it doesn't have to be equipped for these) and target:

Logs in your backpack to cut them into boards, one board per log. Boards weigh half as much as logs and work the same in Carpentry and Bowcraft/Fletching. The logs must be in your backpack: "This item must be in your backpack to be used."
A corpse to carve it, just like a knife.
Furniture in your backpack, or a movable piece within 3 tiles, to smash it: "You destroy the item." Containers spill their contents, and a trapped container goes off.
A house add-on in your own house to take it back up as a deed. See Carpentry.

Kindling without an axe

Double-click a sword or knife and target a tree within 2 tiles to cut one piece of kindling: "You put some kindling into your backpack." It takes no skill, but it uses up wood from the tree spot. Kindling is what you light a campfire with. See Camping.

Lumberjacking in combat

Lumberjacking makes you hit harder with any axe (the axes above, plus the pickaxe):

+1% damage for every 5 points of Lumberjacking (+20% at 100.0).
At 100.0 you get an extra 10% on top, so a Grandmaster lumberjack hits 30% harder with an axe.
Every hit you land with an axe is also a chance to raise your Lumberjacking a little.

The war axe doesn't count, because it isn't an axe-type weapon.

Lumberjacking also counts toward your combat skill total for weapon moves. Add up your Swordsmanship, Mace Fighting, Fencing, Archery, Parrying, Lumberjacking, Stealth and Poisoning: at 200 or more each weapon move costs 5 less mana, and at 300 or more 10 less.

Training Lumberjacking

Every chop can raise your Lumberjacking, whether it succeeds or fails.
Below 10.0 you gain on every attempt, sometimes several tenths at once. Above that, each attempt has a chance to gain 0.1.
Your chance to gain is better the lower your skill is, and it also drops as you get closer to 100 Lumberjacking and to your total skill cap.
Since every tree works the same, just keep chopping from 0 all the way to 100. Cut the logs into boards and sell them, or keep them for crafting.
Lumberjacking tops out at 100.0 (Grandmaster). There are no power scrolls for Lumberjacking.
Reaching 100.0 adds Lumberjacking to the Skills Mastered count on your achievements.
Town carpenters and farmers will also teach you the basics for a fee.

Strength: each successful chop has about a 6% chance to raise your Strength by 1, at most once every 10 minutes (as long as your Strength is set to rise).

Messages you'll see

Message	What it means
You put some logs into your backpack.	Success: 10 logs.
You hack at the tree for a while, but fail to produce any useable wood.	That chop failed. Try again.
There's not enough wood here to harvest.	This tree spot is empty. Move to another tree.
The axe must be equipped for any serious wood chopping.	Hold the axe in your hands.
That is too far away.	Get within 2 tiles of the tree.
You can't use an axe on that.	That isn't a tree you can chop.
You can't place any wood into your backpack!	Your backpack is full or too heavy. The logs are lost.
This item must be in your backpack to be used.	Put the logs in your backpack before cutting them into boards.
You destroy the item.	You smashed a piece of furniture, or took up an add-on.

Tips

Cut logs into boards as you go. Ten logs weigh 20 stones; ten boards weigh 10.
Watch your weight. Logs pile up fast, and a full pack throws away the next chop.
Use a pack animal or a nearby house to haul wood home.
Take a hatchet if you're weak. It needs only 15 Strength and weighs 4 stones.
Axe fighters should raise Lumberjacking to 100 for the +30% damage.