Make a Furnace in Minecraft

Furnaces are one of the most useful objects in Minecraft. If possible, you should try to make one before night falls for the first time. With a furnace in your base, you'll be all set to start mining for iron.

Recipe

Steps

Making a Furnace

  1. Open the crafting table. Right-click on your crafting table. If you don't have a crafting table yet, skip down to the beginner instructions below.
    • In Minecraft for consoles, press X or the square button instead.
  2. Place eight cobblestone in the crafting area. Drag eight cobblestone blocks into the area. Fill every square except the center, which stays empty.
    • On a console or mobile device, just select the Furnace recipe under the Structures tab.[1] You'll still need eight cobblestone.
  3. Drag the furnace to your quick slot. A furnace should appear in the results area. Drag it to one of your quick slots at the bottom of the screen.
  4. Place it on the ground. Select the furnace and right-click on the ground to put it down. A block-sized grey furnace should appear.
    • On console editions of minecraft, place objects with the left trigger or L2 button.
  5. Right-click to use the furnace. See below for more information on using furnaces.

Starting from Nothing

  1. Break down trees for wood. Click and hold on tree trunks to break them into wood.
  2. Turn the wood into planks. Open your inventory and drag the wood into the crafting area. Planks should appear in the results box. Drag the planks to your inventory.
    • Your crafting area is a 2 x 2 grid next to the image of your character.
  3. Make a crafting table. Fill all four slots of your inventory crafting area with planks to make a crafting table. As before, drag the crafting table to your inventory to finish the recipe.
    • In Minecraft Pocket Edition, you just select the object you want from the list. As long as you have the required items, it will appear in your inventory.
  4. Place the crafting table on the ground. Put the crafting table into one of your quick slots at the bottom of the screen. Click to pick it up, then right-click on the ground to set it down. From now on, you'll do most of your crafting by right-clicking the crafting table. This gives you a 3 x 3 space to craft instead of the 2 x 2 space in your inventory.
    • In Pocket Edition, tap the object in your quick slot, then tap the ground to place it.
    • On console editions, use the D-pad or trigger buttons to cycle through your quick slots (depending on your console). Place objects with the left trigger or L2 button.[2]
  5. Turn more planks into sticks. Break down more trees for wood and more wood into planks if you need to. Place one plank above a second plank in your crafting area. Drag the sticks into your inventory.
  6. Make a pickaxe. Here's how to make your first tool:
    • Right-click your crafting table to open it.
    • Place a stick in the center square, and a second stick directly below it.
    • Place three planks along the top row.
    • Drag the pickaxe from the results area into a quick slot.
  7. Mine cobblestone. Click the quick slot with your pickaxe to pick it up. Look for stone (grey blocks) in mountainsides or by digging a short ways downward. Click and hold on the stone to break it into cobblestone.
    • Make sure you mine regular cobblestone, and not cracked or mossy cobblestone, since you won't be able to use those to craft a furnace.
  8. Place eight cobblestone in the crafting table. Leave the center space empty but fill the other eight slots in your crafting table. The cobblestones will be transformed into a furnace.
  9. Place your furnace in position. Place your furnace on the ground just as you did with the crafting table.

Smelting with the Furnace

  1. Open the furnace. Right-click on the furnace after placing it to open an interface similar to the crafting table's.
  2. Put in objects to smelt in the top square. The furnace has two squares for putting in items. Get started by placing the item you want to alter in the top slot. Here are a few examples of what you can do:
    • Iron ore will become iron ingots
    • Sand will become glass
    • Raw food will become cooked food
    • Clay will become brick
    • Wood will become charcoal
    • Cobblestone will become smooth stone
  3. Add fuel. Nothing will happen until you add fuel to heat the furnace. This goes in the second slot. Practically anything flammable can be used, but these are the most common options:
    • Coal is the most efficient widely available option
    • Wood is even more widely available, but burns quickly.
    • As a middle ground, try placing wood in the top slot to turn it into charcoal, then use the charcoal as fuel in the bottom slot.
  4. Wait for it to finish. The furnace will consume fuel as it operates, but as long as you keep it stocked, it will keep converting the whole stack of items you've put in the top slot. The final product will appear in the right hand square.
    • The furnace will have a small fire animation while it's operating. If this stops, you've either run out of fuel or you're done smelting.



Tips

  • It is recommended that you have several furnaces available at the one time, so that you can smelt a variety of items quickly. Furnaces can be be placed on top of one another and still work, so you can make a wall of furnaces if you like.
  • You can steal a furnace from a blacksmith's shop in a village, or (in Minecraft 1.9+) an igloo.[3] They're very easy to build, so it's usually not worth hunting for one of these.
  • You can combine a furnace and mine cart into one item. This can be placed on a rail like a mine cart, but the cart will run by itself as long as you keep the furnace loaded with fuel.
  • You can use your pickaxe to break down a furnace. Pick up the small floating object that appears to return it to your inventory for later placement.

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