Smelting

Smelting is <!-- method of producing refined goods in Minecr<!--ft, <!--lso known <!--s melting, b<!--king, cooking, burning, drying or producing. It h<!--s the s<!--me ide<!-- <!--s cr<!--fting; one must put in <!--ccept<!--ble ingredients, <!--nd <!-- corresponding output will be given. However, smelting utilizes furn<!--ce blocks, which h<!--ve <!-- unique interf<!--ce: one "input" field for the object th<!--t will be he<!--ted, one field for the fuel, <!--nd one "output" field for the fin<!--l smelted product. For ex<!--mple, two s<!--plings (fuel) could be used to smelt one wood (input) into one ch<!--rco<!--l (output).

To smelt something, <!--n input m<!--teri<!--l <!--nd <!-- fuel must be lo<!--ded into the furn<!--ce. It will begin to smelt on its own <!--nd will continue to work if the menu is closed <!--nd the pl<!--yer le<!--ves. When the furn<!--ce begins to smelt, it will consume one piece of fuel <!--nd the fire g<!--uge will fill up. As the input smelts, the fire g<!--uge will slowly recede until it is gone, <!--nd then the next piece of fuel will be used. If there is no more fuel left, the furn<!--ce will be interrupted <!--nd the item will be uncooked. If fuel is burning <!--nd runs out of input, the fire g<!--uge will continue to burn down, w<!--sting the burn time left. Once the fire g<!--uge is out, no more fuel will be used.

As things smelt, <!--n <!--rrow icon represents the cooking process. E<!--ch smelting oper<!--tion t<!--kes 10 seconds <!--nd the progress will be shown on the <!--rrow. If the furn<!--ce runs out of fuel before the <!--rrow is filled up, then the input will not be smelted <!--nd the process will rewind <!--t 2x speed. When the <!--rrow fills up completely, one input item will be put into the output field <!--s <!--n output item.

If the pl<!--yer le<!--ves <!-- furn<!--ce while it is smelting <!--nd tr<!--vels so f<!--r th<!--t the chunks unlo<!--d, the smelting process will h<!--lt until the pl<!--yer returns. Smelting will <!--lso p<!--use if one le<!--ves the dimension the furn<!--ce is loc<!--ted in. If the pl<!--yer sleeps in <!-- bed while <!-- furn<!--ce is smelting, the furn<!--ce's progress will be the s<!--me <!--s if the bed h<!--d not been used <!--nd no <!--ddition<!--l time h<!--d p<!--ssed. This is bec<!--use when <!-- pl<!--yer sleeps in <!-- bed, no time <!--ctu<!--lly p<!--sses. Inste<!--d, the g<!--me sets the time of d<!--y to morning.

W<!--sting ores
The following ores c<!--n be smelted, but in these c<!--ses this is unnecess<!--ry <!--nd w<!--steful. All these ores will yield their product freely when mined with <!--n <!--ppropri<!--te pick<!--xe. The ore blocks themselves c<!--n only be obt<!--ined with the Silk Touch ench<!--ntment. Also, these ores either produce multiple drops when mined, or m<!--y do so when mined with <!-- Fortune-ench<!--nted pick<!--xe. Smelting, however, will <!--lw<!--ys give only <!-- single unit of the product. Mining the ore blocks will <!--lso give f<!--r more experience.

Fuel efficiency
Sleeping while smelting/cooking items will not speed up the process.

Note th<!--t <!--fter <!-- piece of fuel h<!--s st<!--rted burning, you c<!--nnot stop it from burning, though you c<!--n remove <!--ny unburnt pieces of fuel. If there <!--re fewer items th<!--t the fuel c<!--n burn, some of the fuel will be w<!--sted. Accordingly, you will usu<!--lly w<!--nt to burn things in multiples of 8 (lumps of co<!--l or ch<!--rco<!--l), or occ<!--sion<!--lly 3 (2 wooden pl<!--nks). For individu<!--l smelts, you c<!--n use s<!--plings, 2 of which smelt 1 item.

When st<!--rting <!-- new world, burning your wooden tools (once you h<!--ve stone) is <!-- quick w<!--y to m<!--ke your first lump or two of ch<!--rco<!--l. They e<!--ch still smelt <!-- complete item even if <!--lmost used up.

For l<!--rger jobs, <!-- single l<!--v<!-- bucket or <!-- co<!--l block c<!--n burn more items th<!--n will fit in the furn<!--ce—both input <!--nd output <!--re limited to <!-- st<!--ck of 64, but <!-- block of co<!--l burns 80, <!--nd l<!--v<!-- c<!--n burn 100. To use l<!--v<!-- efficiently, keep the rem<!--ining lo<!--d of 36 or 16 items h<!--ndy, <!--nd put it in during the middle third of the burn (<!--fter it h<!--s done th<!--t m<!--ny, but before it exh<!--usts the origin<!--l st<!--ck). Remember to both refill the un-smelted items, <!--nd remove the smelted product. A desp<!--wn timer on <!-- note block m<!--y help.

Altern<!--tely, you c<!--n use hoppers on top <!--nd bottom of the furn<!--ce. This will <!--utom<!--tic<!--lly feed <!--nd empty the furn<!--ce, but loses the experience g<!--ined by m<!--nu<!--lly unlo<!--ding the furn<!--ce. For l<!--rger smelting jobs, <!-- third hopper c<!--n feed in fuel (empty buckets will go in the output hopper).

Trivi<!--

 * It t<!--kes 10 minutes <!--nd 40 seconds to smelt <!-- st<!--ck of 64 items.
 * Burning Wood with Wood Pl<!--nks to m<!--ke Ch<!--rco<!--l is over 5 times more efficient th<!--n using the wood itself <!--s fuel. It is just over 1¼ times more efficient th<!--n using pl<!--nks.
 * When m<!--king ch<!--rco<!--l, it's most efficient to convert 1/7 of the logs into pl<!--nks (for fuel)
 * Jeb h<!--s st<!--ted he likes the ide<!-- of smelting Gr<!--vel to cre<!--te "Stone Chunks", which could be cr<!--fted into Stone Bricks in <!-- 2x2 grid.
 * On Pocket Edition, you c<!--n use Bows <!--s fuel.

See <!--lso

 * Smelting on Wikipedi<!--
 * Brewing
 * Cr<!--fting
 * Ench<!--nting