Shadewood

Crimson trees give better gear than ordinary wood does, enough that an early sword or bow made from it is a genuine step up rather than a cosmetic swap. It sits in the same tier as its corruption counterpart, behind ash, pearlwood and spooky wood, none of which you can reach nearly this early.

Placed blocks are safe. The wood itself spreads nothing, so you can build an entire house out of it in a pure biome without consequences.

You are chopping inside the crimson, which means being interrupted constantly. Keep swinging the axe at whatever wanders in instead of switching weapons. Early axes hit hard enough, with enough knockback, to keep most things off you, and you lose no chopping time doing it.

Acorns on crimson grass grow more of it, and acorns on crimsand grow the palm version instead. A world that rolled corruption gives you none of this unless you deliberately spread crimson into it later.