There are several types of wood you need to harvest if you want to survive in Valheim. The basic wood you gather from the beech trees when you initially start is a good way to get started. Still, eventually, you’re going to need sturdier defenses, a bigger home, and higher quality items to tackle the stronger challenges awaiting. The next step up from the basic wood resource is core wood.
Where to find core wood
You primarily want to visit the Black Forest if you want to find core wood. The Valheim tutorial bird, Hugen, one of Odin’s ravens, recommends that you do not visit this location until you have proven yourself against the Forsaken, Eikthyr. They’re the first boss in the game, and while it is a recommendation, you can survive here with no issues, so long as you’re well prepared.
When you’re in the Black Forest, you want to look for pine trees. They’re going to look slightly different from the beech trees you’ve been harvesting for the standard wood to build your house, workbench, and several starting items. You can chop down a pine tree with a stone ax, but it’s recommended you craft a flint ax. You can find flint on the shores of rivers and lakes. They’re silver and work similarly to rocks where you have to interact with them and then pick them up. Once you have enough, take it to a workbench, make sure it’s under shelter, and then craft a flint ax. It makes chopping down pine trees significantly easier.
Much like the regular trees, once these crash to the ground, they’ll become logs, and you can cut those up to harvest your core wood. You might from some regular wood in that pile of core wood that drops, so it’s a win-win scenario for you. Upon initially grabbing a core wood, you’ll learn several new recipes that you can use to craft various items. Make sure to return to your workbench, upgrade it by crafting a chopping woodpile and a tanning rack, and continue adventuring in Valheim to find more resources. You’ll want to continue exploring the Black Forest to find Surtling Cores, which you need to locate to craft a smelter and start developing bronze ingots.
