While Animal Crossing: New Horizons is all about mining, deforestation, and being a great capitalist citizen, it can be hard to accomplish that goal without the proper tools. The island ethos of living is all about DIY recipes, but that can be a little frustrating since you aren’t really given a lot of direction on how to get the basics. Here, our guide on how to get an axe in Animal Crossing New Horizons will help. 

How to Get An Axe in Animal Crossing New Horizons

If you’ve been confronted with some DIY recipes in Animal Crossing: New Horizons but you’ve found yourself wondering “how do I actually get wood?” then you’re going to thank us shortly enough. Yes, wood is one of the essential early game materials that you’ll want to have to get anywhere, though it’s not really quite clear how you’re supposed to get it in a form that isn’t, uh, sticks. So, enter the axe. Veterans of the axe will remember that this is a series staple, but with New Horizons’ focus on making everything yourself, it’s a little more complicated than being handed one or buying one. It’s not even one of the starting items!

So, here’s how to get an axe in Animal Crossing New Horizons. You first need to get a flimsy axe, and it’s actually quite simple. Our advice here is to donate animals that you find on the island (bugs and whatnot, NOT your villagers) to Tom Nook. You can do this by approaching him when you have fauna in your inventory, and there will be an extra dialogue option to tell him that you’ve found something. Once you donate a number of items to him this way, he will give you a recipe for a flimsy axe which you can make using the following ingredients:

• 5 tree branches
• 1 stone

Once you have a flimsy axe and you’ve unlocked the ability to spend Nook Miles at the Nook Stop, you will be wanting to redeem 3000 Nook MIles on something called the Pretty Good Tools DIY Recipe. This will unlock upgraded non-flimsy DIY recipes for all the basic tools i.e. axe, net, fishing rod, shovel. You’ll then have the recipe for an axe in Animal Crossing New Horizons and you can craft one yourself with the following ingredients:

• Flimsy Axe
• 3 wood
• 1 iron nugget

Now that you have our guide on how to get an axe in Animal Crossing New Horizons, no pesky trees will stand in your way and we reckon you’re going to be able to also make quick work of gathering the materials that you need to set up Nook’s Cranny on your humble island. If you’re getting mad envy because you don’t quite have the game yet, why not pick it up for yourself to stay sane with cute animals during these trying times? Our friends at Amazon can help you with a copy of that game if you want to support Prima too by using this link to purchase it. Need some help with any other mayoral duties? Check out the variety of tips and tricks that we’ve prepared for Island Representatives like you in our dedicated guides hub for the game:

• You Can Poop in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, What a Time to Be Alive
• Animal Crossing New Horizons Money Tree Guide
• Animal Crossing New Horizons: How to Make Bells Fast