Minecraft wiki entry for Beginner%27s_guide, associated text: As the first day begins, you need to collect logs. First, you should look around for trees, and go toward any you find, and break their trunks by "punching wood" as discussed above. You need to collect at least 5-8 logs for your first round of tools and items you need immediately. You should make more a little later, but a few tools now make collecting more wood go much more quickly. As discussed above, the first thing to make is a crafting table, followed by a few sticks. The first tool you should craft is a wooden pickaxe (3 planks in the top 3 slots, and 2 sticks down from the middle plank). Crafting other wooden tools is not recommended, as you can quickly get cobblestone and make stone tools.