Stardew Valley: How To Farm Hardwood

Hardwood is an important resource in Stardew Valley. Here’s how and where you can farm it, as well as what you’ll be needing it for.

While playing Stardew Valley, you will come across two different types of wood. Normal wood will be available from the start of the game and can be found almost everywhere in the valley. The second wood type you will encounter is hardwood. Hardwood is less common but is an important material for crafting various recipes.

In this guide, we are going to go over how to farm hardwood, as well as what you can do with it. There are many ways to obtain hardwood, but we are going to look at the most efficient ways to obtain this resource.

Updated May 5, 2024 by Jacqueline Zalace: Hardwood can be hard to come by in Stardew Valley, so it's important to set up a hardwood farming area. We've updated this guide with a few more tips on obtaining hardwood, as well as added new hardwood crafting recipes introduced in the 1.6 update.

Where To Find Hardwood

Hardwood can be obtained from the following sources.

• Mahogany Trees
• Large Stumps
• Large Logs

Large stumps and logs can be found on your farm, with stumps having a chance to drop Mahogany seeds. These seeds can then be planted on your farm in order to grow a Mahogany tree, which will drop hardwood when chopped down.

How To Get Hardwood In The Secret Woods

A great place to farm hardwood is by visiting the Secret Woods. This is an area in the upper left-hand corner of the Cindersap Forest. At the start of the game, this area will be blocked off by a giant log and you will not be able to enter.

To enter, you will need to have a steel axe, which allows you to chop down the log and proceed into the area. Inside the Secret Woods, you will find six large stumps that will respawn each day. If you visit the Secret Woods each day, you can collect around a dozen hardwood. This isn't the most amount of material, but over time you can build up your hardwood collection.

Stumps may also appear around your farm depending on the map you choose, but in general, they will not respawn daily. The only exception to this is the forest farm layout, which has eight respawning stumps that provide 16 hardwood daily.

How To Get Hardwood On Ginger Island

Ginger Island is also a great place to find hardwood, granted you have this late-game area unlocked. On this island, Mahogany trees will naturally grow. You can chop these down to get some hardwood, as well as a chance to get some Mahogany seeds.

How To Grow Mahogany Trees

If you need a lot of hardwood, try planting a lot in a dedicated section of the valley. Trees do not have to be planted on your farm, so you can convert the quarry into a hardwood farm, leaving room on your own farmland for crops and animals.

Mahogany trees vary in growth time, which can make the growing process a bit frustrating. There are five growth stages for a mahogany tree, with stage five being fully grown. Each night, the tree will have a 15 percent chance to grow into the next stage.

If you use tree fertilizer, then this chance will go up to 60 percent. If you plan on growing mahogany trees, be sure to use tree fertilizer on them. Tree fertilizer is a craftable material that can be obtained if your foraging skill is at level seven. To make this item, you will need the following materials.

• 5 Fiber
• 5 Stone

The ingredients for this fertilizer are pretty simple, so remember to make plenty and sprinkle it on your mahogany trees.

Level Ten Foraging Skill

Once your foraging skill becomes level ten, you will have a choice to pick either the lumberjack or tapper profession. These options will only be available if you have previously picked the Forester profession at level five.

If you want more hardwood, then you should pick the lumberjack profession. With this, all trees will have a chance to drop hardwood. This is a great way to passively collect hardwood as you chop down normal trees.

What To Do With Hardwood

Extra hardwood can be put in the woodchipper. Doing this has a 96 percent chance of yielding normal wood.

Now that you have your hardwood, let's look at what to do with it. Hardwood is needed for a few quests, which can be found below.

In addition to the quests above, you will also need ten hardwood to complete the construction bundle in the Crafts Room of the Community Center.

Lastly, let's go over the crafting recipes and buildings that require hardwood.

Recipes

read more

Buildings

As you can see, hardwood is used in a lot of different ways. It's important to get a head start on collecting hardwood, so you can repair Willy's boat and travel to Ginger Island later in the game.