Woodworking is the skillcraft of choice for many rangers and ninjas, for very good reasons. The ability to produce the ammunition you will shoot off to no end at a cost less than you can purchase it from your local AH is the only thing that prevents most rangers from endless farming simply for a few hours of play time. Ninjas use ninja tools to almost the same extent, and boy, if there aren't scalpers in most AH's trying to make money on stacks of Shihei.

But what most people don't realize is the sheer practicality of making these items in the field. Lets look at an example dear to my heart, Bone Arrows - I prefer the Earth crystal recipe, more on that later.

Bone Arrows - (9)
1 - Bone Arrowhead - Stacks to 12
1 - Arrowwood Lumber - Stacks to 12
1 - Yagudo Fletching - Stacks to 12

Produces 33 Bone Arrows normally per craft, so you're looking at 4x99 stacks of arrows from 3 stacks of components. A single Exceptional craft offsets this balance, and allows for 5 Stacks from 3 components.

Now of course, this difference is small, but in the long run - as with everything else - it all adds up.

Of course, there is always the price consideration too -
Bone Arrowheads - 300/Stack of 12
Arrowwood Lumber - 500/ Stack (Avg between Hiked AH cost, Guild Cost, and Merchant Cost)
Yagudo Fletching - 200-750

Now, about those pesky crystals. There are 3 major crystals to lvl Woodworking to 29 - Fire, FIRE, and FIRE!!! (Just Kidding)

Wind - Use this to make lumber from logs, and to make most 'Carved' synths.
Earth - This is used to combine items, ie - Arrows and Bolts - These are the synths you should pay attention to most. Often, in the first lvls, the difference between a 500 gil stack of earth crystals and a 2k stack of wind crystals can change your plan entirely.
Lightning - Used to make Maple Sugar, the Bane of existence.

To level on a synth - craft it on the day After the Crystals day, or on Darksday.
To succeed at a synth - The day before, the day of, or lightsday.

The moon isn't absolutely important for these lvls, so we will ignore it.

The following is a general guide of key items. Feel free to explore outside of it, but try to follow it and you shouldn't end up absolutely broke. (You weren't doing this for the money, were you?)

0-1 - Arrow wood lumber (Wind Crystal, Arrowwood Log) - It sells readily, is used in many higher synths, and is not difficult or overly expensive. No synth support necessary

1-3 - Maple Lumber and Stone Arrows (Wind Crystal, Maple Log) (Earth Crystal, Chocobo Fletching, Arrowwood Lumber, Stone Arrowhead) - The maple lumber is good to have on hand, but don't do much more than one stack. The arrows sell readily, but are slightly costlier. Synth Support unnecessary.

Stone vs. Wooden Arrows - Depending on the cost of Wind crystals - 1500-2k, stone arrow heads, and fletchings vs feathers, Stone arrows can be cheaper to make than Wooden arrows. Do the math on the components and run with whatever's cheaper, both of them sell for about the same at the ah, and you aren't gonna be making a profit just yet. Don't forget - stone arrow heads are easy to make, and can help cheaply get the first few lvls of goldsmithing, and can impact your decision.

4-7 - Ash lumber (Wind Crystal, Ash Log) - When I started, I tried to lvl making ash poles. DON'T - Save this lumber! The guild is infamous for running out of this and arrowwood, and it can run you as high as 5k in the AH. VITAL for lvls 10-15. Synth Support is nice for the first few, but you can readily craft this lvl 7 without it.

8-9 Bone Arrows (Synth At top) - These sell well, and are a great way to lvl RNG Arch skill from lvls 7 to 15. Your bread and butter arrow in the dunes, unless you want to buy Iron Arrows (running back to town every night gets old fast.). If you have enough archery skill, and can afford them, I'd suggest going with the Iron - the DMG is downright Nice to have when you're trying to take out Clippers and Pugils. No synth required!

Test time - Make a workbench (Earth Crystal, 4 Lauren Lumber). Get the Test from the Guild master at lvl 8.

9-15 - Here's the biggie, also nice is the fact you start making a profit. You'll need around 10k Gil to start the first set, and it recycles from there, with a tidy profit besides.

Acid, Blind, Holy, Bloody, Venom, and Sleep bolts (Earth Crystal, Ash Lumber, [Bolt Head of Desired Type]) - these things are your salvation. Figure out which sells for the most profit/time to sell, and craft ahoy! Also, watch the sales history. If someone is the primary supplier, you have 2 options.

1. Undercut him! Profit is a matter of not needing to lvl your skill. If you need to clear out the Bolts to make more, you have to sell at a much thinner profit. Selling at cost is a bad idea, because you will eventually fail a synth, and that would put you at a loss.

2. Wait. This is a great period to have an awesome pt that makes you forget all about crafting. If something clears overnight, great. If something takes 4 days, there's nothing you can do about it.

If something isn't selling well - reconsider what you're making. Status Ammunition like sleep and Venom will sell slower - it isn't usually fired as often. Bloody bolts - well, this is how I leveled when I had enough cash. They sell rapidly, turn a decent profit, and the materials are available without hassle.

Synth support is HIGHLY recommended at this point - craft on earths day until you hit 12 and darksday about 50/50 after that.

Make a maple table (Earth Crystal, 4 Maple Lumber) right about now - you'll need it for the next test, and it can help to raise skill.

15-18 - Maple Sugar (Lightning Crystal, Maple Log) - I hope you made enough profit on the Ammo, cause this stuff refuses to sell regularly. Try to sell in Windy if at all possible - the cooking guild is there, and you may sell slightly better to them. I gave all mine to a Lvl 30 cooking friend, and promptly found the reason why this stuff is sooo slow to sell - it is used in very few decent recipes, and is readily available even then. Try to convince them to give you some of the gil from the bubble chocolate, but this stuff is a pain. Synth support is a good thing the entire time - this is a lvl 21 synth, and is somewhat pricey.

Test time - You need to make a Maple Table - Just like the one you made earlier, and kept. Odd coincidence isn't it....

Here's where woodworking gets kinda sticky - lvl 18 to 28. Up until now, you've been making Consumable items - Items that are 'Consumed' (or used up). Now you're going be making quite a few Durable items - Items (like Equipment) that are bought and used (theoretically) forever. It will be slightly slower going, but you will see some better profit on your larger synths.

19-20 - MAPLE SUGAR! Is your inv full? Cause its gonna be. Are you tired of this stuff yet? You don't need the synth support now, but this is still tedious.

If you are running short of funds right about now, there are a number of lvl 20 synths that can make some quick gil for you. Most of them involve items from Conquest Points, so you can probably get hold of the primary rather easily, and the profit is solid. My favorites follow. They are listed as Normal/Exceptional Synth, should you get that lucky. You want to craft on the appropriate day as well as have synth support for all of them.

Bastokan/Republic Crossbow (Earth Crystal, Ash Lumber, Legionaries's Crossbow) - This is a very sellable item, and the profit for the Exceptional synth is ridiculous. Good Bet for Quick Gil.
Windurstian/Federation Pole (Earth Crystal, Mercenary's Pole, Ash Lumber) - Same as above.
Windurstian/Federation Staff (Earth Crystal, Freesword's Staff, Holly Lumber) - Same, but not as much profit as the other two on my server. Check prices.

Don't forget that you can get a conquest item from the 3rd place country, as well as your own, and make sure to SHOP around! Jeuno has a solid AH at this point, but they may not be the best - be sure to check the home country's AH.

21-25 - Elm Lumber (Wind Crystal, Elm Log) - Good Wood to have on hand - Sells reasonably, and does not require an absurd investment (varies from server to server). Also used in the Power Bow - A key profit Synth in a few lvls.

21-26 - Iron Arrows (See Below) - Consumables once again! You'll want synth support, and crafting on the element's day for th first few batches, but after 23, let 'er rip!

Iron arrow vs. Iron arrow - This is an interesting topic, related to the Bone/Wooden arrow debate. There are 2 recipies (Wind Crystal, Iron Ingot, 2 Chocobo Feather, Ash Lumber) and (Earth Crystal, Arrowwood Lumber, Iron Arrowheads, Chocobo Fletching) - use whichever is cheaper in the long run.

25-28 POWER BOW!!! - This is NOT a leveling synth. This is a profit synth. This item is used in the Mog House enhancement quest, and as such, commands a premium. The Power bow +1 is the best Bow for a RNG from lvls.15-30, period. Synthesis support and crafting on the day of the element (Wind, in this case) are HIGHLY reccomended. Also note - you need Bone Craft at 5 to even consider this, and prepare for failure. I recommend getting the full 8 lvls before you try this. The profit is worth it!!!

25-29 - Shihei (Wind Crystal, 2 Bast Parchment, Black Ink) - This was all you Ninja's goal for woodworking anyway, wasn't it? Nice way to lvl skill, and it is worth quite a bit as it is really important to Nin. Please, craft responsibly, and do them a favor and don't scalp it.

I will update this guide in the near future - to 40 in the next revision, I hope! Good Luck, and watch out for splinters! Until then, I would suggest raising Bonecraft (Regular Sub Craft to Wood Working), Smithing (works well both Ways), Clothcraft (Furniture!) and Goldsmithing.

Ninjas should defiantly work on Alchemy, as making Bast parchment is primo, and the other Ninja Powders will soon follow!