OSRS 1–99 Woodcutting Guide: Routes, Forestry & Gear

Reviewed 24 October 2026 · Members’ 1–99 route with a separate F2P section

Choose Woodcutting training around the session you can actually maintain. A player collecting Construction supplies, someone chopping while watching a second screen, and someone practising tick manipulation need different routes. This guide gives you a starting plan, explains when to change it, and separates ordinary chopping from specialist methods.

Choose your route before you start

Our default recommendation: follow the ordinary route first. Try a short active session before committing to a technique that requires constant clicking. Switch to a comfortable alternative when your real session output falls below what you can sustain elsewhere.

1. Axes, outfits and supplies

Upgrade the axe you can use

Using an axe and equipping it are separate checks. Carrying an eligible axe in your inventory lets you chop without meeting its Attack requirement to wield it. Equipping it frees an inventory slot and enables its special attack where available. Crystal axes require 70 Attack and 50 Agility to wield; These equip requirements are separate from the level needed to chop. See the equipment reference and crystal axe requirements.

When is a felling axe worthwhile?

A felling axe with Forester’s rations gives 10% extra Woodcutting XP and a 20% chance not to receive a log. It does not improve the ordinary chopping success chance or shorten the standard chopping cycle. Without rations it works like the corresponding ordinary axe. Rations can be carried in your inventory or Forestry kit; each qualifying action consumes one.

This favours an XP session more than a resource-gathering session. Before buying one, compare the extra XP with ration costs and the logs you will forgo. Converting a normal axe with a felling axe handle is permanent; check the finished item before combining it. Bloodwood has different rules, covered below. Felling axe mechanics.

The full Lumberjack or Forestry outfit provides a 2.5% XP bonus for ordinary log cutting. Treat acquiring the set as a separate task with its own access requirements; you can start training without it. A log basket holds another 28 logs and helps resource trips, but spending bark on it makes more sense when you regularly bank logs. Crystal charges and rations are running costs, not one-time purchases.

2. A practical members’ route from 1–99

Levels 1–15: regular trees

Start in an area you already know, such as Lumbridge or around Varrock, with several ordinary trees within a short walk. Keep the axe equipped if possible. Click a fresh tree after each depletion, then bank or drop your inventory according to your goal. For an XP session, set up shift-drop on desktop or tap-to-drop on mobile before filling the first inventory.

Quest rewards can replace part of this stage. Monk’s Friend is an early option; other Woodcutting-reward quests have additional account and quest prerequisites. Check the quest requirements before treating a list of XP rewards as a ready-made fresh-account route. If you have already earned quest XP, start at your actual level rather than repeating this section.

Levels 15–35: oaks

Move to an oak spot with another tree nearby, for example outside Varrock’s west side. At a bank-side spot, first decide whether you are keeping oak logs for planks. Bank only if those logs have a purpose for your account; otherwise, a short drop routine avoids repeated trips.

Do not move automatically whenever a new tree unlocks. The useful comparison is XP gained across a complete session, including failed chops and travel. Before leaving oaks, upgrade through mithril at 21 and adamant at 31 if available.

Levels 35–65: ordinary teaks

Teaks require 35 Woodcutting and award 85 base XP per log. The Isle of Souls offers a location without additional quest requirements; Prifddinas is another option once you have its access. On Fossil Island, planted teaks need your own grown hardwood trees, so access to the island alone does not produce a ready-to-cut patch.

1. Choose an accessible cluster and bring your best usable axe.

2. Chop normally, moving to another tree when necessary.

3. Drop logs for an XP-focused session, or use a deliberate banking route for resources.

4. At 41, reassess a rune axe upgrade; at 61, compare dragon and felling options.

5. Record a full session before deciding whether banking or an event detour is worthwhile.

Prifddinas teaks can also yield crystal shards. Natural teaks and planted hardwood trees have different depletion behaviour, which matters for advanced techniques. Do not use an advanced Fossil Island rate to advertise ordinary click-and-wait chopping. Teak locations and mechanics.

Levels 65 onward: sulliusceps for active movement

With 65 Woodcutting and Bone Voyage completed, you can chop sulliusceps in Fossil Island’s Tar Swamp. Only one of the six locations is ready for you at a time; the active mushroom progresses through a repeating sequence. This is a moving route with environmental damage, rather than a bank-side AFK tree.

Bring an axe, rake, food, poison protection and an exit teleport. Leave room for resources you intend to keep. Learn the sequence slowly, watch your health while travelling, and turn off Auto Retaliate so attacks do not pull you back. Tar Monster damage cannot simply be removed with a protection prayer.

If using the rubber-cap return, the landing pit must contain nine mushrooms; an unprepared landing can deal severe damage. Refill it for the next circuit. A teleport return is an alternative. Keep fossils you want for museum exhibits or later processing. The detailed route reference currently carries an outdated-information notice, so its old “fastest without tick manipulation” wording should not override newer Bloodwood options.

Levels 90–99: redwoods for lower attention

At 90 Woodcutting, enter the Woodcutting Guild, head to the large redwood trees and use the rope ladders to reach the scaffolding. Choose a cuttable section, then move when that section depletes. Bank at the nearby chest if keeping logs; dropping reduces inventory travel.

A redwood section has a 4 minute 24 second depletion timer, but that is not a guaranteed uninterrupted AFK window: your inventory can fill sooner, and the section may already have been chopped. The guild gives an invisible +7 Woodcutting boost; it does not let an 83 Woodcutting account cut redwoods. Forestry events and the group chopping boost do not apply inside the guild. Redwood mechanics.

3. Alternatives when the default route does not fit

Blisterwood at 62

The Darkmeyer blisterwood tree becomes accessible during Sins of the Father and requires 62 Woodcutting. It does not fall like an ordinary tree, but it can interrupt your chopping, requiring another click. Listen for the stopping cue and manage your inventory. It suits a player who already has the quest access and wants less movement than a swamp circuit. It does not spawn Forestry events. Blisterwood tree reference.

Guild trees, yews and magic logs

The members’ Woodcutting Guild requires 60 Woodcutting to enter, with boosting allowed. A skills necklace brings you outside the entrance. There is no remaining Hosidius favour requirement. Its bank access and invisible boost make it useful for resource sessions, while the lack of Forestry events matters if bark is your goal. Guild access and transport.

Yews unlock at 60 and magic trees at 75. Treat these as resource or lower-input choices, rather than automatic upgrades to your XP route. Magic logs are particularly slow at the minimum level; an unlock is permission to chop, not a promise of a good catch rate. Compare your actual banked logs with the resources your account needs.

Sailing-linked trees

These are optional branches for accounts with the relevant unlocks. Do not spend several hours unlocking an island merely because its tree appears later in the level list. Rosewoods can also be player-grown with 92 Farming, but planted trees have different depletion behaviour. Check rosewood access before comparing the two locations.

4. Bloodwood at 77: a separate active method

Bloodwood trees in Vampyrium require 77 Woodcutting and completion of The Blood Moon Rises. Bring empty buckets; nearby aranei bucket dealers provide them free. You collect sap rather than ordinary logs.

1. Click a tree with an empty bucket to place the bucket.

2. Pull back the axe by clicking your character twice, then click the tree to chop.

3. Repeat to wound the tree. Once its health bar drains, tap it to advance sap collection; repeat the draining stages until the bucket fills.

4. Practise on one tree before adding a second or third; collect full buckets and replace them.

This is a frequent-input method with its own timing, not ordinary idle chopping. Felling axes affect its chopping process, but rations are not consumed at the active trees and the ordinary Lumberjack bonus does not apply. The engorged tree is a separate, lower-intensity alternative with different ration behaviour. Teleporting away resets progress. See the current Bloodwood mechanics before attempting a multi-tree rotation.

5. Forestry: join a local session

Carry a Forestry kit and chop eligible trees with a group. Shared chopping can give an invisible boost up to +10 outside excluded locations; it does not unlock higher-level trees. Use the in-game world list to choose a current Forestry world, then settle at a suitable spot such as Draynor willows or Seers’ Village maples.

Full event rewards depend on recent nearby chopping: the event must be within 30 tiles of one of your last two qualifying chop locations, with less than three minutes since stopping there. Starting new chop actions after the event appears can remove eligibility before you join it. World-hopping to an announced event is therefore not a reliable full-reward strategy. Ordinary trees, player-grown trees, blisterwood and guild trees are among the exclusions. Event output varies; do not add a fixed bark or XP bonus to every hour. Current Forestry eligibility.

Read each event’s instructions before clicking repeatedly. For example, an ent’s requested trim matters; choosing random pruning options can stun you. Spend bark according to your goal, and check a reward’s full material cost before saving toward it.

6. XP benchmarks: compare the same setup

These are published reference rates from the members’ training page, checked on the review date, rather than Onyx test results. They exclude acquiring unlocks and equipment. Banking, learning, breaks and missed inputs lower your elapsed-session result. The specialist rate is not a beginner target.

For your own comparison, start a timer before the first trip and stop after the last inventory. Divide XP gained by total elapsed hours. Record your level, axe, supplies, banking choice and event participation. A consistent 30-minute sample is more useful for your account than another player’s best five minutes. Do not turn a high-level benchmark into a 1–99 time estimate.

7. Advanced teak techniques

1.5-tick teaks on Fossil Island use planted trees, a three-tick action cycle and alternating positions. Two-tick methods use correctly offset NPC attacks and Auto Retaliate. These require their own setup and practice; normal chopping beside the same tree does not reproduce them.

If learning, first confirm the correct tree layout and a working cycle before measuring XP. Ape Atoll introduces aggressive poisonous spiders; it is an unsuitable place to improvise on a vulnerable account. Use a current demonstration linked from the training reference and master one technique at a time. Ordinary teaks remain a valid choice when that input level is uncomfortable.

8. F2P route and low-level safety

Start with regular trees to 15, then oaks. Willows unlock at 30 and are convenient for banking at Draynor, although dropping oaks can remain competitive beyond that unlock. A rune axe at 41 is the key normal equipment upgrade. Stay with a practical willow or oak session rather than assuming yews at 60 will improve XP.

Draynor has aggressive dark wizards near the willows and a jail guard near the eastern oaks. Low-combat accounts should choose a safer alternative such as Port Sarim willows rather than standing beside an aggressive NPC. F2P Forestry currently includes Struggling Sapling, Rising Roots and Friendly Ent. Maple trees in the Corsair Cove Resource Area require Dragon Slayer I access. F2P training reference.

9. Banking, Ironman resources and stopping points

Before discarding logs, check the next project you intend to complete. Oak and teak logs can support Construction, while other log types can supply bird houses, Fletching or Firemaking when their separate requirements are met. Keep a target quantity and stop banking once it is reached. Collecting an unlimited surplus can turn an XP plan into a long resource detour.

For a main account, estimate net returns from the logs actually banked, then subtract rations, charges, travel supplies and selling costs. For an Ironman, compare the gathering and processing time with your other available resource routes. Sap, fossils, bark and logs are different outputs; their theoretical values are not automatically spendable coins.

Common questions

Should I train Woodcutting with Forestry or in the guild?

Choose Forestry for group play and event rewards. Choose the guild for its fixed boost, tree selection and bank access. The guild does not host Forestry events, so one setup cannot supply both benefits there.

Is a felling axe always better?

It favours ordinary XP training when you can supply rations. A resource target, ration expense or a special tree’s mechanics can change the decision. Check charges and supplies before comparing two sessions.

Do I have to use tick manipulation to reach 99?

No. Use the ordinary route or lower-attention alternatives. Consistent sessions are more useful than abandoning a technique you find tiring.

Should I move to magic trees as soon as I reach 75?

Only if their logs or lower-input style fit your goal. A new tree’s requirement does not establish it as a faster training method.

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