Overview
A Wooden Axe triples how fast you turn trees into planks, and on the first morning that is the only speed that matters. Chopping oak by hand takes about three seconds a log; with a wooden axe it is closer to one and a half, so the first axe pays for itself within half a stack of wood. It also deals 7 damage a swing, which is startling — more per hit than a diamond sword — but the axe swing recovers so slowly that a sword still wins any drawn-out fight. Its 59 uses go quickly, and the honest advice is to make one, use it on the first tree line, and upgrade to stone before you go underground. Axes have three jobs beyond chopping that carry through every tier: they strip bark from logs to make the stripped variants used in builds, they break chests, crafting tables, bookshelves, pumpkins and melons faster than anything else, and they scrape wax and oxidation off copper. Even the wooden one does all three. Craft it before the sword if your first priority is a roof over your head by nightfall, because wood is what the roof is made of.
Getting logs quickly on day one, stripping bark for build blocks, and breaking wooden furniture — chests, bookshelves, crafting tables — at several times the bare-hand rate.
Wooden Axe is one of the 6 variants of this shape in the game. What changes between them is the material, and with it the hardness, the drops, the durability and the recipe — so every figure on this page is this variant's own. Stone Axe is the same shape in a different material.
Wooden Axe is a tool item in Minecraft Java Edition 1.21.4. Durability is 59. An anvil plus Oak Planks, Spruce Planks, Birch Planks, Jungle Planks and 8 more restores it; two worn copies can also be merged.
It can be enchanted, which is usually worth doing before heavy use. It is unstackable. The recipe calls for Oak Planks and Stick.
It is not used in any crafting recipe.
About the wooden tool set
How to get it
Craft 1 from 3 planks of any wood and 2 Sticks. The 59 uses cover roughly two full trees, which is more than enough wood for a first-night shelter, a crafting table and a bed.
Tips
- Right-click a log with any axe to strip its bark; the stripped variant is a separate, very useful building block.
- An axe hits harder per swing than a sword of the same tier but recovers more slowly, so it is a burst weapon.
- Clear leaves with Shears instead — an axe on leaves wastes durability for nothing in return.
- Two logs make four planks and four planks plus two sticks makes this axe, so it costs one tree at most.
Damage and attack speed
Wooden Axe deals 7 damage per hit and swings 0.8 times a second, which works out at 5.6 damage per second when every swing is fully charged.
A swing that lands before the cooldown bar refills deals a fraction of that, so waiting for the bar is worth more than clicking faster.
That is 3 hits to kill a zombie or a creeper, the same for a skeleton, and 3 hits for a spider.
Properties
Wooden Axe lasts 59 uses before it breaks, and Oak Planks repairs it on an anvil. Two worn copies can also be merged, on an anvil or a grindstone. Unbreaking III roughly quadruples the lifespan, and Mending replaces the repair cost with experience. Its enchantability of 15 decides how good the enchanting table's offers are: the higher the number, the more often a level-30 table offers the top-tier enchantment rather than a weak one. In a furnace it burns for 10 seconds, which smelts 1 item. Wooden Axe does not stack — each one occupies an inventory slot of its own.
- Damage per second
- 5.6
- Enchantability
- 15
- Repaired with
- Oak Planks
- Fuel value
- 10 s
- Category
- Tools
How it compares to the rest of the set
Every tier of axe in the game, side by side, so the trade-off is visible in one place: Wooden Axe sits 1 of 6.
Gold is the outlier: it enchants better than anything else (enchantability 22) and breaks almost immediately, which is why gold gear is enchanted and then upgraded rather than used.
| Item | Durability | Attack damage | Attack speed | Enchantability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wooden Axe | 59 | 7 | 0.8 | 15 |
| Stone Axe | 131 | 9 | 0.8 | 5 |
| Iron Axe | 250 | 9 | 0.9 | 14 |
| Golden Axe | 32 | 7 | 1 | 22 |
| Diamond Axe | 1,561 | 9 | 1 | 10 |
| Netherite Axe | 2,031 | 10 | 1 | 15 |
Crafting recipe
Crafting Table
Wooden Axe
Enchantments it can take
8 enchantments can be applied to Wooden Axe: Bane of Arthropods, Efficiency, Fortune, Mending, Sharpness, Silk Touch, Smite, and Unbreaking.
Mending is a treasure enchantment and never appears at an enchanting table — they come from loot chests, fishing or villager trades only.
Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
How do you make Wooden Axe in Minecraft?
Wooden Axe is crafted from Oak Planks and Stick.
What is the stack size of Wooden Axe?
Wooden Axe does not stack at all. Every one you carry takes an inventory slot of its own, which is the practical limit on how many you take on a trip.
How much damage does Wooden Axe do?
7 damage per fully charged hit, at 0.8 attacks per second — 5.6 damage per second. Sharpness V adds 3 damage on top of that, and Strength II adds 6 more.
How much durability does Wooden Axe have?
Wooden Axe has 59 durability, and can be repaired on an anvil with Oak Planks.
Can Wooden Axe be enchanted?
Yes — 8 enchantments apply to it, at an enchanting table with fifteen bookshelves, or from an enchanted book on an anvil. Mending is usually the one worth hunting for, because it removes the repair cost entirely.
The rest of the set
Wooden Axe is one of 6 variants of the same shape. The others are made from different materials, so their numbers differ:
