Log

Wood (previously known as Log) is a type of block first seen in Minecraft Creative mode 0.0.14a. They have a skin resembling bark on the four side faces, and a crosscut face on top and bottom. Wood is greatly abundant in naturally-generated maps, as it is used as the foundation for Trees. Wood can be mined by hand, but using an Axe is faster. Wood is flammable, but under certain circumstances will never burn up (see Fire). Trees that burn down will generally leave one to three wood blocks still flaming.

Wood blocks are available for use in Creative mode. They are often used to make plants, trees and wooden cabins. In Survival mode, wood blocks drop 3 - 5 Wooden Planks when mined. In Indev, Infdev, Alpha, and Beta, mining a wood block will drop a wood block instead. This allows the use of wood as a building material.

Wood's only crafting use is to be made into four Wooden Planks. In addition, wood can be burnt in a Furnace to make Charcoal for those times Coal is not available.

As of the Minecraft Beta 1.2 update on January 13, 2011, there are now three kinds of wood. One is the normal wood, another resembles the wood of silver birch trees, and the third type resembles the normal wood, but it is darker and appears in pine/conifer trees that grow in colder biomes. These trees still produce 4 Wooden Planks when crafted. Wood from different types of trees will not stack in the inventory, but their planks will. Birch trees have slightly duller colored leaves than regular trees, and pine trees have pine needles.

Trivia

 * The number of rings on the inside of a tree counts the age of the tree. If one counts the rings of a wood block, the sum is two years.
 * For wood to be destroyed by fire it must have several sides simultaneously burning. If only one side is burning, the fire and wood block will last forever. This is probably a bug but makes for nice fireplaces. Netherrack can also be used this way, as it burns forever without any tricks. Note that since Beta 1.3, this does not work anyomore. (Confirm?)

Wood
Baumstamm Hout