Do I really need wood

Wood FAQ
	Do I really need wood?
	Where can I get wood?
	Where can I get even more wood?
	Is it possible to grow trees underground?
	How long do tower-caps take to grow?
	Do dead trees spawn new trees?
	How much protection does wood armor provide?
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You may want to have a look at the Wood Industry.

Reasons you need wood

To build beds
- Without beds your dwarves will get unhappy thoughts from sleeping on the ground
To build axles
- Without axles your ability to transfer power is severely limited.
To build water wheels and windmills
- These are the only generators of power. Without them, you'll be forced to do everything manually.
If you want obsidian short swords, they require one obsidian stone and one wood each (for a handle and scabbard, apparently).
- If you have access to obsdian, these can be a great source of quick weaponry early in the game, before any steel works are up to speed. Even on a tree-lite map, each weapon takes less wood to produce than a steel weapon (unless you are using magma to fuel your smelters and forges).

It is simpler to make items from wood.
- For instance, it only takes one log to produce a bin, barrel, or bucket; but if you forge them instead then they'll take three metal bars.
Wood can be burnt to produce ash and charcoal, which are important ingredients in other tasks such as smelting ore, forging metal items, and glass making.
All power generators are built with wood. If you are planning on having any sort of automated assembly, or just don't want to have to do everything by hand, then you're going to need wood.

Everything other than beds, axles, windmills, and water wheels can be made from other materials.
If you have magma or a coal seam then you don't need to burn wood for charcoal.
You can supplement your wood supply via trading.
If you're lucky enough to play in an area with an underground pool or underground river then you can grow your own wood supply underground.