How to get Hardwood in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the fifth mainline entry in the long-running and flagship series, is easily one of the most played games on the Nintendo Switch. It was released on March 20, 2020, and has since become one of the staples of Nintendo's current-generation home console.

Following the series' tradition of changing the title's layout with every season, Animal Crossing: New Horizon recently got a "holiday-themed" makeover. With the arrival of the festive season, snowfall has begun in the game's town, covering the grass plains in a thick layer of snow.

With the festive season's arrival, players might want to craft a few new decorations and furniture for their homes in Animal Crossing: New Horizon. While crafting is fairly straightforward, it requires players to gather ample amounts of crafting resources. One such resource is Hardwood, which is easily the most useful crafting material in the game.

Hardwood is an essential resource in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It is used to craft almost everything in the game, from simple tools and furniture to even players' houses.

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Prerequisites to collect Hardwood in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Before players can start harvesting Hardwood, they will need tools. Specifically, they require an axe to chop down trees and timber, aka Hardwood.

The earliest version of the axe that players can get is the Flimsy axe. The DIY recipe to craft the Flimsy axe is given by the adorable Tom Nook at the very start of the game.

To craft the Flimsy axe, players will need one stone and five tree branches. Stones can be found quite easily by hitting one of the large rocks scattered around the island with a shovel. The branches required to craft the Flimsy axe will fall off trees when players shake them.

Once players collect all the necessary materials, they can craft the Flimsy axe at the crafting table and prepare to chop down a few trees to collect Hardwood.

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Steps to get Hardwood in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Hardwood can be obtained from almost any tree, be it a regular fruit-bearing tree or a palm tree. However, the oak and cedar trees have the best and highest chance of dropping it.

The only plant types that won't drop Hardwood after chopping them down are bamboo trees, for obvious reasons.

Here's how players can harvest Hardwood in Animal Crossing: New Horizons:

• Equip the Flimsy axe.
• Go near a tree and start swinging the axe (by pressing the A button).
• It should be noted that if you hit a tree more than three times with a regular axe, it will end up chopping it down. This means you won't be able to go back to the tree for more wood. However, using the Flimsy axe will allow you to preserve the trees while also yielding a steady stream of Hardwood.
• Once you collect enough Hardwood from trees, you can pick them up by pressing the "Y" button and take them to your home to craft new decorations, furniture, and other useful items.

It should also be noted that players can only collect a maximum of three Hardwoods from a single tree in a single in-game day. Thus, it is very much in their interest to plant more trees around their homes to keep a steady stream of wood flowing.

Planting more trees also allows players to harvest other resources that are necessary for many other activities in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.