Skyrim talk:Cutting Lumber

Item template?

Should this page have an item template? It's currently missing one. The hidden MISC item "Sawn Logs" has a formID of xx00300E and can be added and removed via console in the same manner as any other hidden items. This hidden item is what is used up to make items that require Sawn Logs, and the log piles are just activators which show how many of this hidden item you possess. Deadlykris (talk) 07:21, 15 October 2012 (GMT)

We probably should mention the ID somewhere, we did for the gold coin. --Alfwyn (talk) 11:32, 15 October 2012 (GMT)

Actual bug?

The Bugs section mentions the lumbermill not yielding Sawn Logs, and I had the same thing until I asked the lumberjack (Hod, in this case) once more if I could cut lumber. Perhaps it just requires permission each time you arrive at the mill? — Unsigned comment by 108.222.221.0 (talk) at 03:33 on 6 December 2012‎

That shouldn't be the case. I asked Hert only once, but went back and forth several times and cut lumber for free without having to ask again. If this bug has happened to you and hasn't been changed to a confirmed bug yet, I'll go ahead and change it. — ABCface^◥ 03:53, 6 December 2012 (GMT)

I'm going to confirm this bug also. I was having the same problem and after extensive testing at 3 different mills, it seems I have to ask the mill owner each time I want to chop my own wood otherwise running the mill yeilds no results. I also have Dawnguard and Dragonborn installed as well, not sure if that has anything to do with it. KolokoL (talk) 06:43, 20 December 2012 (GMT)

Asking the mill owner each time could be the key to avoiding that bug. But it's a bit unclear to me what actually makes the wood cutting work, so hard to find the bug. --Alfwyn (talk) 16:09, 7 January 2013 (GMT)

(PS3 user) It might be a bug, or it might just be a lag. I thought I was having the same problem at Anga's Mill, but when I waited a little bit longer, the message finally appeared.MrC (talk) 14:43, 8 March 2013 (GMT)

Hod, Ralof, and Unbound

It is incorrect to write about "rescuing" Ralof in Unbound, as the page now does. It would be more accurate to say, "follow Ralof into Helgen Keep during Unbound, [and accompany him to Riverwood afterward]". If Ralof does have something to do with the situation, the critical condition is almost certainly whether or not you accompany Ralof to Riverwood from Helgen Keep. In order to do that, you must (I think!) enter the keep with Ralof when presented with the choice between him and Hadvar in Unbound. If anything, Ralof is rescuing YOU in Unbound. As I'm currently revamping Unbound and adding details to it, I will investigate this later. --JR (talk) 08:55, 1 January 2013 (GMT)

You're right about the wording. Anyway, I tested this when writing this page and it didn't work for me. Perhaps something's changed since Hearthfire came out, or perhaps my testing was flawed, so it needs to be checked by at least one or two other people to be sure. — ABCface^◥ 09:05, 1 January 2013 (GMT)

That was my edit. My first Hearthfire character went with Ralof in Unbound, and had never owned a woodcutter's axe, and got free lumber from Hod. That character followed Ralof all the way to Riverwood starting out though and then joined the Stormcloaks, so perhaps there's more you need to do - but it's definitely possible to get Hod to befriend you without chopping wood. --Morrolan (talk) 22:53, 6 January 2013 (GMT)

Thanks for the additional info, Morrolan! When I tested the lumber merchants to write the page, I tested all of them on my main character (who sided with Hadvar), then loaded up a new character and sided with Ralof just to test Hod. I hadn't joined the Stormcloaks or anything, just sided with Ralof and went to Gerdur during Before the Storm. I didn't do anything on that character except that, and the bare minimum to get a Hearthfire home. It's possible joining the Stormcloaks is what raised Hod's disposition enough for you to be allowed to cut your own sawn logs for free, or it could have been something else, it's hard to know for sure.

Anyway, this issue combined with the one in this section shows that the page needs to be updated to reflect that disposition can be raised in ways other than what's listed on the table, so I've gone ahead and done that. Hopefully I worded it in a way that makes sense; at least this way the information is still accurate and hopefully helps people understand there are other ways an NPC's disposition can be raised than just those quests. — ABCface^◥ 03:49, 7 January 2013 (GMT)

More information on this situation. On my current playthrough, I've completed the Companions questline, am very early in the main quest (about to complete Bleak Falls Barrow, have just completed The Golden Claw) and am on Message to Whiterun on the Stormcloaks questline. Hod still isn't giving me free lumber. I rescued Ralof in Unbound but did not follow him to Riverwood (I think that may be a factor, arriving in Riverwood with Ralof may affect Hod's disposition). --Morrolan (talk) 14:57, 25 January 2013 (GMT)

Completing Battle for Whiterun for the Stormcloaks doesn't do it either. It'll be a while before I get to the end of this playthrough; it'd be funny if it was just whether you followed Ralof to Riverwood that was the determining factor, but I'll post here if I find a Stormcloak quest that triggers free lumber from Hod. --Morrolan (talk) 15:36, 25 January 2013 (GMT)

Whatever you write here is useful, Morrolan. I'm slowly going through Unbound in insane detail. Why? I don't know yet. But I think you are right: Essentially, you get slightly different goodies depending on which you choose to follow into the keep, and then you need to accompany them into Riverwood. Please continue adding noteworthy detail. If you're not sure it belongs on here, then you can also write on my Sandbox (anywhere in it or on it's talk page). --JR (talk) 23:50, 25 January 2013 (GMT)

Liberating Falkreath has no effect on Hod, as I expected. Possibly liberating all of Skyrim may change his disposition, but it will be a while before I get to that as I'm doing the core questline before that as I want to have Seasons Unending on this playthrough. It's also conceivable that defeating Alduin might affect his disposition, but that's still a while away as I'm just heading to DI now. --Morrolan (talk) 15:28, 27 January 2013 (GMT)

Started another playthrough. Went to Riverwood with Ralof, met Hod there. Haven't joined Stormcloaks (or Imperials for that matter). Hod is not giving free lumber. Eventually maybe I'll find out what triggers Hod, or maybe it was a glitch of some kind that I'll never figure out. :) --Morrolan (talk) 22:04, 19 February 2013 (GMT)

Thonnir let me cut my own wood

It says on the wiki page that he won't let you. Can someone verify this one way or the other? — Unsigned comment by 118.208.201.236 (talk) at 11:05 on 1 January 2013‎

Thonnir's NPC page says he will sell firewood to you if you have Hearthfire installed. Might that answer your question? I know little about the topic. If no one else gives a better answer, I could try to answer your question, but I'd need to ask more questions first. Let me know (by replying below or posting on my talk page) if you'd like me to try. --JR (talk) 12:29, 1 January 2013 (GMT)

Sorry, I just realized that the above betrays my ignorance on the topic. I guess I'd first ask you to confirm that you are saying that Thonnir let you cut wood? It's exactly what you're saying I know, but just confirm it, please. I'd also ask if you are certain you are talking about "cutting firewood" as distinct from "sawing lumber". What line, section, etc., on the article indicates that you cannot do ... what you did? --JR (talk) 12:55, 1 January 2013 (GMT)

Hmm, someone recently added a bug to his NPC page stating "You may be able to sell firewood to Thonnir after completing the quest Laid to Rest." If you can sell firewood to him, then it makes sense that his disposition would be raised, which would then mean he would allow you to cut your own lumber for sawn logs. So it sounds like this bug needs investigating initially, then we could check out whether or not it affects him this way in regard to cutting lumber for free. I can tell you for sure that I had not completed Laid to Rest when I was testing NPCs and creating this page, so that would be why he's not listed as one of the ones who will allow you to saw your own lumber for free.

Also, some questions for 118.208.201.236 (in addition to JR's): had you completed Laid to Rest and sold him firewood before he let you cut your own lumber? — ABCface^◥ 15:29, 1 January 2013 (GMT)

I had completed laid to rest but had done no other quests in Morthal except brawl with Benor. I did not chop firewood for him. If I select "I would like to buy some lumber" I then have the option to "I'll take 20 logs (200 gold)." or "Can I just cut it myself?".

Yes it's definitely laid to rest. He acts as a temporary follower in a vampire lair so I assume that raises his disposition a bit. --118.208.201.236 12:56, 2 January 2013 (GMT)

I too have been able to gain permission from Thonnir to cut my own lumber for use with the Hearthfire homes. I think it has to do with raising his disposition. I talked to him after clearing out a bear from his house after The Companions sent me there. 98.165.191.39 13:28, 2 January 2013 (GMT)

Okay, thanks both for the information. I'll try a little testing sometime in the next week and figure out how best to update the article since there's a few different things at work here. — ABCface^◥ 15:42, 2 January 2013 (GMT)

(←) I think the key factor is raising their disposition from "acquaintance" to "friend". Doing any quest for them will do that. --118.208.201.236 17:18, 2 January 2013 (GMT)

118.208.201.236- you're right about disposition being the key factor, and I've now updated the article to explain that disposition can be raised in other ways than what's listed in the table for now. I'll be testing Thonnir in particular sometime in the near future, so specific information about him and the Laid to Rest quest will be updated afterward depending on what I can figure out there. — ABCface^◥ 03:49, 7 January 2013 (GMT)

BTW, just to clarify, you can ask any of the lumber merchants "Can I just cut it myself?" no matter what, but their answer is the key factor here. So 118's edit from 12:56, 2 January 2013 doesn't necessarily mean Thonnir let you, it just means you could ask him if he'd let you. Unless the positive reply was left out of that post accidentally? — ABCface^◥ 03:54, 7 January 2013 (GMT)

The note about free lumber for Hearthfire.

As far as I can tell the person supervising your free logs does not actually have to be standing beside you for the lumber you cut to be added to your sawn logs total. However he/she does have to be on the way there if not there. If your supervisor gets distracted and goes off to do something else then you have to chase him/her down and ask for free logs again; as soon as you do this then logs you cut will add to your sawn logs until the next distraction. I think this is the problem people have with Hert; Hert seems to frequently wander off to do things like mine stone instead of watching you cut logs. She can be convinced to watch you only for short times, and rarely actually makes it to the lumber mill before getting distracted again, so usually when getting free lumber there I have to go chasing her after every 2-3 cuts. --Morrolan (talk) 21:29, 29 January 2013 (GMT)

This is something i tried and i was able to get logs again.Ask for permission before cutting and after that is all.Mill owner must be near you like you said. — Unsigned comment by Ihachani (talk • contribs) at 22:17 on 7 February 2013

No, that's not what I said. The mill owner must be approaching the mill, not near you. It doesn't actually matter where they are, what matters is what they're doing. Of course with most mill owners when they're approaching the mill and you're sawing logs, they'll wind up near you, but not Hert. Sigh. --Morrolan (talk) 02:37, 8 February 2013 (GMT)

I'm finding even having Hert on the platform isn't working. That, and she keeps forgetting how the stars to the sawmill work and gets stuck on the left side. If I'm on the platform she also won't come to the mill.

Themaskedferret (talk) 18:55, 19 August 2013 (GMT)

Yeah I still haven't been able to figure out everything that goes wrong with Hert. However I did figure out one thing: if the mill owner wants to go to bed, then that conflicts with sawing logs. So with Hert that means you should usually saw logs at night, and the other non-undead mill owners during the day. --Morrolan (talk) 00:34, 20 August 2013 (GMT)

Free lumber from Aeri.

Aeri becomes available as a source of free lumber after you either chop wood for her or deliver a note to Skald the Elder (not sure if this is still available if he's no longer Jarl of the Pale). However, her behaviour when you ask her for free lumber calls into question some of the assumptions I've been making about the problems with free lumber from Hert. When you ask her if you can chop the wood yourself, she doesn't seem to ever come up to the mill. Often she will wander off and do other things, like use the wood pile near the mill. Still, she stays completely reliable and you always seem to get the 10 sawn logs every time through using the mill. --Morrolan (talk) 16:16, 20 February 2013 (GMT)

Radiant disposition quests

The article states that you can get permission to cut logs at any of the mills, even the ones whose operators have no associated quests (Bolund and Kharag gro-Shurkul) , by using "certain radiant quests for which the target can be almost any NPC in the game (e.g., Rescue Mission)." Browsing the list of quests which affect disposition, it appear that Rescue Mission is the only such quest. Unless there's another I missed or that's missing from the disposition quest list, this section should be rewritten to make that clearer.--Olaus (talk) 21:18, 13 August 2020 (UTC)