Woodworking Guide by Ctownwoody

Woodworking Guide 1.1 0-60+ By Ctownwoody of Asura Disclaimer: This worked for me and is based on my research and efforts on Asura. Prices have increasingly normalized in the last 18 months, but I still suggest going to ffxiah.com to research your particular server.

Woodworking Tips
1. Logging sucks. Don’t do it. The logging points are either well-camped, like in Ghelsba Outpost, or are spread far apart and are a bitch to run between, like pretty much everywhere else. Either buy your logs at AH or at guild in Sandy.

2. Lumberjack, Lumberjack, Lumberjack. Unlike other Guild Point skills you can buy, this one is always worth the effort. Nothing saves time when synthing hundreds of arrows or bolts like the ability to make the lumber more quickly and cheaply, especially when you start HQing.

3. Some regional vendors sell logs, like Norvallen, that are a little more expensive than the base price for the guildshop but have a larger supply and won’t make you wait between purchases.

4. Always, always, always research the Jeuno and Sandy AHs before starting on lumber projects. The market for various lumbers varies greatly by where other people are in their Woodworking skills, even more so than other crafts.

5. You’ll be buying almost everything from the Guildshop in Northern Sandy or an AH. The only other places to travel are rare, or involve Regional Vendors and/or Quivers.

6. For arrowheads or fletchings, try Jeuno or Windy for fletchings and bone-related arrowheads, and Jeuno or Bastok for smithing and alchemy-related arrowheads and boltheads. You’ll sometimes find them cheaper there, sometimes.

7. Pay attention to which Nation is in First for Conquest Rankings. That one will have the NPC for bundling arrows in quivers. With any luck the same Nation will control Norvallen, for a limitless supply of Arrowwood and Ash Logs.

8. It's all about the sub-crafts. Smithing for some weapons and furniture, as well as bolt heads. Alchemy gets you Bast Parchment for Ninja-tools and bolt heads. Bonecraft for arrowheads from 0-91 in skill. Goldsmithing and Clothcraft get you advanced Furniture, a great source of profit. Fishing lets you break rods easily (for repair).

9. Recharge your profits. Power-crafting, especially in Woodworking, can have stretches were you lose gil and stretches were you can make good gil. Learn when to pause and make up lost gil before continuing on.

0-10

 * Arrowwood Lumber (2)-Wind Crystal, Arrowwood Log—Make these up to cap and save them; you’ll use them later.


 * Maple Lumber (5)-Wind Crystal, Maple Log—Make up to 5, it’s cheap. Sell some at AH for profit if you can, but you may want to save them for later.


 * Ash Lumber (8)-Wind Crystal, Ash Log—Make these to 8, it’s cheap as well. Sell at AH for profit if you can, but you’ll be using these later anyway.

TEST ITEM-Workbench (8)-Earth Crystal, Lauan Lumber x4: The lumber is cheap and plentiful at the Guildshop because it's only used for making some furniture.

11-20

 * Holly Lumber (12)-Wind Crystal, Holly Log--Between this and Willow Lumber, whichever makes the more money and/or sells faster is the one you want to chose, but you’ll be taking these up 9-10. This is a necessary bridge til you can make bolts.


 * Willow Lumber (13)-Wind Crystal, Willow Log—Between this and Holly Lumber, whichever makes the more money and/or sells faster is the one you want to chose, but you’ll be taking these up 9-10.  This is a necessary bridge til you can make bolts.


 * Bolts (16)-Earth Crystal, Bolthead, Ash Lumber—Pick a type. There are a lot of them. If you have sufficient Alchemy and can level up by making one of them, then that’s probably you’re best shot. Otherwise, find the one that sells the best (fastest/most profitable) and make them up to 16, or beyond. You can Quiver these, to increase the amount you can sell at one time.
 * It was pointed out to me that plain old Bronze Bolt Heads are a way to go for cheap, since a lot of WW100+3 mules (crafting mule /= RMT) make the Alchemy-related bolts for profit, using 50+% HQs to lower costs.


 * Walnut Lumber (19)-Wind Crystal, Walnut Log—This can sell, depending. If they are, make some; if not, skip ahead. The rise and fall of Bahuts made this very difficult to predict.  Proceed at your own discretion (informed by your own research, naturally).

TEST ITEM: Maple Table (18)-Earth Crystal, Maple Lumber x4—These are the best furniture for Gardening around. They are smaller and more powerful than Workbenches and infinitely more cheap than Oak Tables. Make sure your friends know that you can make them; you might receive requests, which means you can make these for skill. However, the market is too flooded to sell them on the AH.

21-30

 * Maple Sugar (21)-Lightning Crystal, Maple Log—Usually profitable at AHs, you want to take this to 21. It is pretty profitable when Sandy is in last place (or else Raimbroy’s Grocery sells them) and even more so when no one controls Fauregandi, limiting the supply of maple logs.


 * Yew Lumber (22)-Wind Crystal, Yew Log—If these sell at a profit, make a stack or 2, if not, skip ahead.


 * Yew Wand (23)-Wind Crystal, Yew Lumber, Yagudo Feather--A good use for some of the Lumber. The 20-40 area has gotten a lot more competitive and profits are tighter than when I went through it, so it might be worth the level, even if you just NPC these.  Sell the HQs for a profit, if you get that lucky.


 * Chestnut Lumber (28)-Wind Crystal, Chestnut Log—If profitable, make them; if not, skip them. You’ll notice that these are pretty demand sensitive in price, and the lumber is sometimes as cheap (2k each, though) as the logs.


 * Shihei (29)-Wind Crystal, Black Ink, Bast Parchment x2--These are the ninja tools for Utsusemi, so they are in huge demand, but also are made in huge quantities. People make Woodworking 100+6 mules to HQ this synth and sell them. You won't be able to make much or any profit on making these, but you'll want the extra level or two when you start Oak Lumber.

TEST ITEM: Harp-Earth Crystal, Coeurl Whisker, Chestnut Lumber x2: Unless you made your own lumber, you can buy this on the AH cheaper, as HQ Instruments are common profit items for Woodworkers. Not terribly cheap to make, but not hard to get the ingredients if needed.

31-40

 * Book Holder (31)-Earth Crystal, Holly Lumber, Lauan Lumber--A bridge and not that expensive but doesn't return even 50% of costs. As I said earlier, 20-40 has gotten harder and harder of late.  At this point, I'm advising these as part of the bridge into Arrow-territory, where you can cap at 39, 42, 49 and 59 on profitable and well-selling arrows.


 * Mizu-Deppo (34)-Earth Crystal, Chestnut Lumber, Bronze Sheet, Distilled Water--A ninja tool for the elemental wheel. If you get the lumber cheap enough (and buy the sheets ultra-cheap at the Guild, which they always are), these are profitable and sell well.  If Sandy is in first, you can use Wijnruits to make the NIN-equivalents of Quivers.


 * Oak Lumber (35)-Wind Crystal, Oak Log—Oak is where lumber starts getting expensive per synth really quickly. You just want to bridge these until you can start Beetle Arrow (39), but only do if the lumber is profitable.


 * Kawahori-Ogi (39)-Earth Crystal, Bast Parchment, Bamboo Stick, Animal Glue--Another NIN tool and also profitable if you get the ingredients for the right price. I'd suggest these either as a lead-in to Beetle Arrows or as something to finish getting you to 39 if Beetle Arrows fall short.


 * Beetle Arrow (39)-Earth Crystal, Beetle Arrowheads, Arrowwood Lumber, Chocobo Fletchings—Make these bad boys up to 39, sell for profit at AH. These are quiverable arrows as well, which is why they sell well, especially to RNG and SAM. Get used to the feeling of making arrows in batches of 99 synths at a time; they are several more stages just like this one.
 * Per Talk Page, please be aware that you'll have to make your own Fletchings. It's Clothcraft 2 and dirt-cheap.  The Arrowheads are bit more problematic.  They are Bonecraft 33 and can be hard to find on some servers.

TEST ITEM: Traversiere-Wind Crystal, Oak Lumber, Parchment: As with all NQ musical instruments, you might find it cheaper on the AH as a result of failed HQ attempts, or making your own might be cheaper. Whichever works.

41-50

 * Fang Arrow (42)-Earth Crystal, Fang Arrowheads, Yagudo Fletchings, Arrowwood Lumber—These are superior in stats to Beetle Arrows in every way except they don’t quiver, which makes this an optional bridge because it will take a long time to sell 33 individual stacks. However, you can take your time selling them if you have the storage space, find a friend who needs them in batches, or bring the ingredients along for RNG and SAM.


 * Flower Stand (44)-Earth Crystal, Yew Lumber, Lauan Lumber--A bridge that's cheaper per synth, if unprofitable, than Fang Arrows, especially for those getting sick of the ton of Arrowwood Lumber you'll be making. Both lumbers are cheap at the Guild, but check the AH to see if you can't get a better deal on the Yew Lumber.


 * Rosewood Lumber (45)-Wind Crystal, Rosewood Log—This is also a bridge. Only do these if they are profitable and only to that extent. Each log should run you 2k, mostly at the AH, or did when I was at this stage. Commonly used for most Furniture synths at higher levels.


 * Bast Parchment (45)-Lightning Crystal, Elm Log, Distilled Water, Moko Grass--These used to be too expensive to make for skill. However, Logs are down enough in price now that I can recommend this as a possible bridge to Horn Arrows.  Sell or re-use as is profitable (note: not necessarily Shihei).  Alchemy 29 as a sub-skill.
 * NOTE: Each synth makes 1 stack of Bast Parchment. If you are going to skill up with this, make sure you have enough space to store it.


 * Horn Arrow (49)-Earth Crystal, Arrowwood Lumber, Horn Arrowheads, Bird Fletchings-Pretty much the only use for Bird Fletchings, so if you can find someone making them, they’ll be ecstatic to get rid of them for cheap. Make these until you hit 49. They quiver, they sell well, and they are relatively cheap, because they are the best arrows from level 29 until level 40. You can try these right out of Beetle Arrows at level 39, but only with Advanced Support, or you risk too many breaks to be profitable.

TEST ITEM: Rose Wand: Wind Crystal, Rosewood Lumber, Black Chocobo Feather-Standard wand-type test item, but the single black feather can be a pain to get. The citizens of the first-place Nation in Conquest Rankings will have these available at the Chocobo Stables, in case the AH doesn't have any singles.

51-60

 * Mahogany Lumber (51)-Wind Crystal, Mahogany Log—This is just a bridge. Only do these if they are profitable and only to that extent.  Do you see a pattern emerging now of Arrows, Lumber/Bridge, Arrows?  It holds true from mid-20s until 72.  It'd hold true longer if there were more viable arrow and lumber options above Demon Arrows and Ancient Lumber.


 * Scorpion Arrow (59)-Earth Crystal, Scorpion Arrowheads, Arrowwood Lumber, Insect Fletchings—These are your best friend. Make these until 59. That may take up to 4 stacks of Arrowwheads, which is 396 synths. This is why Key Item: Lumberjack is so vital after you hit 50. Quiver and sell as you go along.


 * Chest (61)-Earth Crystal, Rattan Lumber x3, Lauan Lumber x2-This is a great synth for power-leveling at 61; it is dirt cheap relative to level. If you are not taking Woodworking beyond 60, this is the last synth you will want to do, to allow you to stop on a dime, so to speak.

TEST ITEM: Kaman: Wind Crystal, Elm Lumber, Bamboo Stick, Silk Thread, Wool Cloth-Cheaper to make than buy on the AH, the Bamboo causes problems at times. ONLY turn one in if you are going beyond 60 to 100 (past 60, it's 100 or bust).

POST 60 GUIDE
Only start down this path if you intend to take your Woodworking past 60. I can see taking it to 69 for the Demon Arrows but beyond that, it's 100 or bust.

61-70

 * Darksteel Bolt (62)-Earth Crystal, Darksteel Bolt Heads, Yew Lumber—These are expensive, relatively, to get the boltheads and you can’t sell those back singly, so only do this if you are headed beyond 60 in Woodworking, like I am. This is a bridge only.


 * Demon Arrow (69)-Earth Crystal, Demon Arrowheads, Black Chocobo Fletchings, Arrowwood Lumber—The fletchings are a dump synth for high level Clothcrafters; you should be able to get them easily. The materials to make the arrowheads have crashed enough that anyone with Bonecraft ~58+ can make them for a profit or buy them relatively cheaply. Cap these arrows out, which might take 4-5 stacks of arrowheads (that's 396-495 synths!)

TEST ITEM: Ebony Wand-Wind Crystal, Ebony Lumber, Giant Bird Feather-Make or buy, whichever is cheaper, but moving beyond readily-available test items, FYI.

71-80

 * Ancient Lumber (72)-Wind Crystal, Petrified Log--These vary from profitable to not, so I didn't add them initially. Increased interest in Chocobo Raising, and hence, Chocobo Digging, has steadied the supply and made these worth including.  Between this and the next item, get as much skill as you can stand because Commodes stink.


 * Hume Fishing Rod (74)-Light Crystal, Broken Hume Rod--Break-fishing can be tedious and hard to find the right fish that you can both hook and drain of stamina. Only then can they break the rod and not just the line.   If you have a job 34+ (or can cast Sneak and Invisible), the waterfall (aim at the waterfall itself, not just the stream) in North Gustaberg is great places to take a few stacks of Meatballs and break rods (either crafting there or just bring 2-3 dozen rods if possible).  Fishing will break the line or rod every time you get a (!!!).  Bring extra rods and lots of bait, plus Light Crystals.  I had a Fishing of 48 when I did this stage and the fish were easy to reel in.


 * Commode (77)-Earth Crystal, Rosewood Lumber x5--These sell to NPCs for just under 5k each and if you get lucky with the lumber supply, that's about break-even. Oh, and if you even think about touching Elemental Staves, I will slap you--only the HQs make a profit on these incredibly expensive synths.  This is also the TEST ITEM.


 * Noble's Bed (78)-Earth Crystal, Gold Ingot, Gold Thread, Velvet Cloth, Mahogany Lumber, Silk Cloth, Rosewood Lumber x3--This also takes Clothcraft of 56 and Goldsmithing of 50, both of which I had before starting this synth. Only about 2 sell per day (not bad, actually) and the total cost is just over 40k each, but they sell for at least 60k each.  Make a dozen or two and sell them or give them to your LS/friends.  This could be considered a gil-restocking item except that you should use it for skill in the face of what comes next.


 * Lu Shang's Fishing Rod (80)-Light Crystal, Broken Lu Shang's Rod--I debated this point because this is the hardest thing in the game to break. But, if you managed to get to Fishing 90+ and wanted to be able to repair your rod when hooking Liks, here's your chance to shine.  You can't lose the rod unless you are on the ferry or airship when it is docking.

81-90

 * Mithran Fishing Rod (83)-Light Crystal, Broken Mithran Rod--These are much much harder to break than Hume Fishing Rod. I have literally tried every large fish that is reported to break these outside of the Legendary Fish (Skill 100+).  I recommend Sliced Cod + Qufim Island to break these; either fish on the NW or the SW side of the island for Gigant Squid and Three-eyed Fish respectively.  I had an easier time landing the Squid than the Three-eyes and would occassionally catch Three-eyes as opposed to breaking the rod but some Squid got loose due to "lack of skill" messages.  This was with Fishing in the low 50s.
 * Minor Note: You'll need a job at least at 44 to avoid aggro from the Goblin Bounty Hunters running along the coast.


 * Mythic Wand (84)-Wind Crystal, Ancient Lumber, Phoenix Feather--Another wand. This time, though, the NQ sells at a decent profit, if slowly, or NPCs for almost 3000.  At best, a bridge or a synth/desynth combo.  Getting your skill up to Kabura Arrow time is not easy nor cheap, sadly.


 * Teak Lumber (85)-Wind Crystal, Teak Log--The logs, on Asura, sell for around 3-4k each and the lumber NPCs for a bit over 2k. A decent bridge.


 * Mithran Fishing Rod (87)-Wind Crystal, Rainbow Thread, Rattan Lumber--Make these, break these, sell the broken rods. That's the only use.  Lather, rinse, repeat until you aren't afraid to start Kabura Arrow.  The broken rods sell at around 1/day, so you may want to balance sales of broken rods with selling some unbroken ones directly.


 * Mythic Harp (90)-Earth Crystal, Coeurl Whisker, Ancient Lumber x2--These cost just over 7k to make at current prices and sell for just over 7k to NPCs.  As such, this will join the many possible bridges in the 80s.

TEST ITEM: Mythic Pole-Wind Crystal, Ancient Lumber x2-This is an idea for a possible bridge as well but involves making, de-synthing, and repeating until no lumber left. Make or buy, if possible, but these don't hit the AH often.

91-100

 * Kabura Arrow (91)-Earth Crystal, Bamboo Stick, Ram Horn, Giant Bird Fletchings, Karimata Arrowheads--Bonecraft 53 as a subskill. They sell for a profit, you can always get the Bamboo Stick from Tenshodo Merchants or Regional Vendors, there's always at least one stack of 99 arrowheads and fletchings on the AH and the arrows quiver for easy storage.  Your only limiting factor is Ram Horn.  Farm them with a few stacks of dark crystals, tea leaves and distilled water for the leather or just suck it up and buy a ton at the AH.  This is your last major for-profit item until you reach 100, so take it to cap.


 * 9-Drawer Almirah (91)-Earth Crystal, Ebony Lumber, Mahogany Lumber x4, Gold Thread, Ancient Lumber, Silk Cloth--Just when everyone had written these off, SE released a patch that redid Furniture in a major way. These are once again profitable.
 * Note on latest patch (Sept 08): Using a Dye to change the color of these is possible but the recepie is tentatively reported as Clothcraft 71, so find a friend to help you.


 * The Big One (93)-Ice Crystal, Gold Sheet, Titanic Sawfish, Beetle Blood, Beeswax, Animal Glue, Saruta Cotton, Ebony Lumber, Mahogany Lumber--One of the rarest of items: 8 different ingredients into 1 synth. You pretty much will have to take custom-orders for these; tell your friends, offer to sign them, etc.  They make Moghancement: Fishing Skill which you can either get with the 150k Guild Point item or through this.  The Titanic Sawfish are extremely rare and hard to catch and the Beetle Blood is more often sold to NPCs after dropping from HNMs or level 85+ Wyrms.  Oh, and finally, Alchemy 52 and Goldsmithing 41.  But if you are making these, you are either break-synthing them or have insane crafting skills.


 * Bookshelf (94)-Earth Crystal, Mahogany Lumber x3, Tufa x3--Tufa is exactly 20,400 at the Goldsmithing Guild in Bastok. No more, no less, nowhere else.  These now have 20 Storage slots, so they are in demand and profitable for once.  Technically, Goldsmithing 5 as a sub-skill, but if you have Woodworking at 90+, there's no reason not to have Goldsmithing of 5.


 * Bloodwood Lumber (95)-Wind Crystal, Bloodwood Log--These sell at 1k more than the logs do, so I'd make a stack or two of these to help yourself along. Don't count on major sales though.  Most people at this level are synthing the logs for themselves.  The addition of Cartonniers in the August 2007 patch means there is a decent furniture item that uses these as part of it, so watch for sales of that...


 * Lacquer Tree Sap (96)-Water Crystal, Lacquer Tree Log--Sales have been dropping in these items, but they are still profitable, especially if you find an Alchemist working on Urushi, which uses this by the ton. Judge for yourself when you get to this stage.


 * 96-100: You will lose gil on most of the synths in this range.  And few don't have sub-crafts in the 55-60 range.  However, that's the end-game for you.  Figure up to 40-50 synths per level of skill to be truly on the safe side and don't risk more than you have to.  As Full Moon is reputed to be best for skill-ups (I operate on that belief personally anyway), you might want to restrict when you craft for skill until those times.  Also, remember that at 96+3 skill, you can HQ almost any lumber pretty consistently, so making gil should be really easy, if tedious.


 * Cythara Anglica (98)-Earth Crystal, Ebony Lumber x2, Ancient Lumber x2, Coeurl Whisker--Much much debate went into these. AH price for ingredients, without HQing the lumber, is 10k and they NPC for almost 6k.  At a 4k loss per synth, that adds up.  However, with some HQing, I bet I can get that down to 1-2k on average.  That I can live with especially considering how expensive Lancewood Logs are.


 * Lancewood Lumber (99)-Wind Crystal, Lancewood Log--Unless your Dynamis-LS is extremely generous, if you have one that does runs just for your benefit, this will hurt. Logs can cost up to 10k, and NPC for just over 2k.  However, 99+ suffers from either really really expensive and slow-selling synths, or synths that are purely losses.


 * Level 100 Synths: Good luck with the last level.  The tried-and-true, wallet-abusing method is Iron-splitters turned into Steel-splitters for 2 synths at level 100 using similar ingredients.  Granted, that's a Adaman Ingot, so it is not cheap.  Other possibilities include Jacaranda Lumber/Thalassocrats, which are slightly profitable but cost over 200k each to make and the Jacaranda Logs are not the most common item on the AH.
 * Note: Feel free to add other 100+ possibilities that aren't insane are minimally-insane.

Restocking Gil Section
The essence of making gil with Woodworking until you hit 100+3 and start HQing Elemental Staves (don't try until 100+3+Advanced Support on New Moon + Darkday), is in endless repetition of HQing items. Sad, but true in many ways, but the big, long-term gil maker is bolts, almost all of which are level 16 synths. At level 67, or 66+1, or 63+1+Advanced Support, you can HQ over half the time, including making a full stack with one synth. There are other profitable synths and I've broken the profitable synths into four (4) categories.

Ranger Stuff
Bolts, except for Darksteel, are level 16 and you'll HQ a lot of them. The Arrows vary in level. I've listed them in order of sales-speed according to Asura on ffxiah.com. Quivers refer to 12 Quivers only.
 * Bolts: Acid Bolt, Bloody Bolt, Blind Bolt, Sleep Bolt, Venom Bolt, Darksteel Bolt, Holy Bolt
 * Bolt Quivers: Acid Bolt, Bloody Bolt, Holy Bolt, Darksteel Bolt, Blind Bolt, Sleep Bolt
 * Arrows: Demon Arrow, Scorpion Arrow, Horn Arrow, Fang Arrow, Bone Arrow
 * Arrow Quivers: Scorpion Arrow, Demon Arrow, Beetle Arrow, Horn Arrow

Lumber
Lumberjack is very nice when making Bolts and Arrows but you can use it to get more out of your HQs. The following Lumbers are profitable and sell well.
 * Arrowwood Lumber: Some people buy these on AH in large quanities because they are, for some reason, too lazy to make their own.
 * Ash Lumber: Same for bolts as Arrowwood is for arrows.
 * Mahogany Lumber: Touchy, so watch log:lumber price ratios...
 * Ancient Lumber: See Mahogany

Wands
Mages of all strips like Wands because they offer bonuses to INT and MND. HQs sell better, naturally.
 * Willow Wand: HQ only, but you'll make more than a few of these for Guild Points.
 * Yew Wand: Both versions sell well, probably because of capped events.
 * Chestnut Wand: Again, both do well, but beware lumber prices at the AH vs. Guild Shop...
 * Rose Wand: These sell so profitably, that I was tempted to not mention them, but the last wand before elemental staves

Miscellaneous
The dreaded other category of items from all over (but mostly NIN tools, hence I am considering a NIN-tools section)...
 * Power Bow: Perversely, this item isn't profitable in the HQ version, since the NQ version is used in the Mog Safe Expansion Quest, "Give a Moogle a Break." Too expensive and slow-selling for skill, this can be used earlier than most of these others.
 * Warp Cudgel: You'll need Dark Anima, Ice Anima, and Wind Anima, plus a Key Item bought with Guild Points, but these are profitable in the long run.
 * Bast Parchment: Required for almost all NIN tools and profitable to make.  Between making these yourself and HQing Black Ink or Animal Glue for the next two items, profit-city.
 * I added this to the skill-up section as it sells fast enough and can be re-used for skill and profits without requiring HQs, but HQ synths on NIN-tools are so incredibly profitable, all components deserve extra mentions.
 * Shihei: The quintessential NIN tool.  If you aren't trying to HQ Elemental Staves, spend your time making these for mass sale, especially if your Alchemy lets you HQ the Black Ink.
 * Kawahori-Ogi: Bamboo might be scarce if no Regional Vendor is selling it and Animal Glue is an Alchemy component, but these sell well.
 * Furnishings: Most of the furnishings in the guide above are profitable the first time through, but as you gain the ability to HQ more and more lumber, your ability to make furniture at a profit increases as well.  Remember, tell people you can make them signed furniture if you have Guild Points, and you can start to build a following/circle of friends.

If you have any other ideas, please feel free to add them in the Discussion Page or add them here to the appropriate category (just be sure to signed your additions). Good luck! --Ctownwoody 14:31, 14 September 2007 (CDT)