Crafting Table

"One recipe that pretty much everyone memorises from the first time they play Minecraft is how to make a crafting table. It's four planks arranged in a square, of course. You'll also find crafting tables occasionally in the wild - in village libraries, witch huts and igloos. Who knows what those witches are crafting?"

- Duncan Geere

The crafting table is one of the most essential blocks in Minecraft.

Obtaining
Crafting tables can be mined with any tool, or without a tool, but the axe is the quickest.

Natural generation
Crafting tables generate naturally in village libraries, witch huts and igloos.

Crafting
Pressing on a crafting table placed in the world will open the 3×3 crafting grid which allows you to craft more items than with the crafting grid in your inventory.

Fuel
Crafting tables can be used as a fuel in furnaces, smelting 1.5 items per block.

Trivia

 * The new icon for Minecraft (not the launcher) is a crafting table.
 * The original inventory screen before January 29, 2010 was the crafting table interface, meaning there was no way of putting on armor yet, and the player could not be seen.