The furnace is one of the first items players need (and get) at the beginning of the game, as the whole playthrough depends on it.
It is one of the most important items in Minecraft. You can use a furnace to cook food, smelt ores and stones, and do a variety of other things.
Let’s take a detailed look at making a furnace in Minecraft and its different uses.
How to Build a Furnace?
You will need eight cobblestones or stone-tier blocks such as cobbled deep slate or Blackstone. You can also mix them up and use them to build a furnace in Minecraft. But since cobblestone is the easiest to find initially, we will go through the process of crafting a furnace with it.
Here’s how to do it:
- Gather eight cobblestones using a pickaxe.
- Open your crafting table.
- Place the cobblestones on the table, making a 3×3 square. The space in the middle should be empty.
- Grab your furnace from the right side and place it in your hot bar.
- You can then exit the crafting table GUI and place the furnace on any placeable block.
You can use any burnable item such as logs, wooden planks, wooden tools, or coal to use the furnace. You can find coal by mining. But if you are in a desperate situation, you can use the wood you see all over the place.
- Access the furnace by right-clicking it.
- Place the coal (or any burnable item) on the lower section of the furnace.
- Place whatever you need to cook or smelt in the upper box. You can see the flames activate in the middle of the two boxes.
- Wait until the arrow pointing right is full. The cooked/smelted product will be on the right side when it is full.
- Grab the product and place it in your inventory.
When you smelt any kind of ore, the furnace gives you not only an ingot but also some XP. So if you have many items you can smelt, you can easily gain a bunch of XP as well.
What are the Types of Furnaces in Minecraft?
There are three different types of furnaces in the game, the first one being the regular one we crafted earlier.
Furnace
The basic furnace we need in the game. It is one of the key resources that help you advance the game.
Blast Furnace
In a nutshell, the blast furnace is the upgraded version of the previous one. However, you can use it for smelting ores, ore blocks, stones, iron/gold tools, and iron/gold armors. Likewise, this item cannot cook food like the regular furnace.
To craft a blast furnace, you will need a regular furnace, iron ingots, and smooth stone blocks.
- Open your crafting table and place the furnace in the middle.
- Fill the bottom row with smooth stone, one block in each space.
- Fill the rest of the empty spaces with iron ingots (The entire top row and the two spaces in the middle row).
- The item on the right is the blast furnace. Simply place it in your hot bar, and then put it in the ground to use it.
Blast furnaces take half the time as the base furnace to smelt materials. However, it also uses twice the fuel. Running the blast furnace is the same as the previous one. You put fuel at the bottom, smeltable item on top, and wait until your product is ready to pick it up.
You can also use this item to assign a villager as an armorer.
Smoker
The smoker is a blast furnace, but for food. It can only prepare cookable items such as steak, pork chop, fish, chicken, and mutton.
You will need to use a furnace and some logs to build a smoker.
- Gather four logs of any kind.
- Access your crafting table and place the furnace in the middle.
- Place one log on each side of the furnace (top, left, right, and bottom).
- You can grab the smoker from the right side and place it in your inventory.
Just like the blast furnace, it takes half the time to cook food than the regular one. It also consumes fuel at twice the rate of the furnace.
Likewise, you can use this kind of furnace to assign the butcher profession to a villager.
Minecart with Furnace
They are furnaces but in minecarts. You may find one in the mines, but it is also easily craftable. You can simply place a furnace on the crafting table and a minecart underneath it. The resulting item is the minecart with a furnace.
When you try to break it, it gives you a furnace and a minecart. So you will have to craft it again if you need the item. Furthermore, you will need to place a rail first in order to place a Minecart with Furnace on the ground.
FAQs
How do you smelt 20 items in a Furnace?
The items you smelt/cook in the furnace are stackable. It means that you can add up to 64 blocks in the furnace at the same time. When you have enough fuel, you can wait until all the items are finished to grab the stack and place it in your inventory.
How many items can one block of coal smelt?
One coal block burns for up to 800 seconds. An item takes about 10 seconds to smelt/cook. Hence a block of coal can smelt up to 80 items. It also lasts longer than nine pieces of coal (the amount of coal needed to craft a block of coal), which totals up to 72 items.
Can you use Axolotls as fuel?
The rumor of Axolotls fueling a furnace is completely wrong. There is no such (cruel, might I add) mechanic in the game that lets you use a bucket of Axolotl to fuel your furnace. Moreover, it does not even let you place the bucket in the fuel section.
Can you smelt diamond armor?
No, you cannot smelt diamond armor even if you are using a blast furnace. You can only smelt iron and gold tools and armor, as mentioned above. This mechanic also applies to horse armor that you can find in the game.
Can you use wool as fuel in Minecraft?
Yes, you can use wool as fuel. However, it only lasts about half the item (roughly 5 seconds in a regular furnace). Hence it is not very efficient to use wool in Minecraft as fuel.
Can you smelt Diamond Ore?
You can smelt diamond ores. To grab a diamond ore, you will need an item with a silk touch to break it. You get diamonds instantly if you mine the diamond with a normal iron pickaxe.
Can Smokers smelt cactus?
No, you cannot smelt cactus in a smoker. To smelt it, you will need a regular furnace. However, smelting cactus does give you better XP than some items.
