How to Harvest Trees in Minecraft - For Dummies

Punching wood, the Minecraft term for harvesting trees, is the only way to begin and advance in any game, and it’s the first step regardless of level of difficulty or strategy. Start the crafting process by chopping down nearby trees. Everything you need to build a shelter requires some form of wood, and the most efficient way to get it is to harvest trees.

Look for a place with a good number of trees. (If you’re too far away from any plants, you may want to create a new world.)

To start, chop down a couple of trees, which are made of wood blocks and leaf blocks. To break a block from the tree, follow these steps:

1. Walk up to a tree.

2. Using the mouse, position the crosshair over a block in the tree.

3. Click and hold the left mouse button to start punching the block until it breaks.

4. Collect the item that appears.

   The item should come directly to you, but if you’re too far away, just walk up to the item to collect it. The resource is added to the inventory at the bottom of the screen.

Ignore the leaves on the tree for now because they decay naturally with nothing supporting them. Destroyed leaf blocks sometimes give sapling items, which you don’t need for crafting essential items.