Talk:Obsidian

I changed some of the wording to make it more encyclopedic--The Abominator 10:33, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

The latest version of infdev creates this, as mentioned in the article. I'm having a hard time digging/mining it, though. Is it super-hard? Does it require special tools? I've not gotten far enough along to create it "artificially" and the "natural" occurrence was in a place where it was very hard to safely dig.


 * Obsidian doesnt occur naturally,It only comes when water merges with lava spring.It is very hard and can only be succesfully mined by diamond pickaxe just like the article states--Vibhor 02:30, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

Wasnt obsidian used in the first InfDev for cardnial directions, not indev? --brendanmint 15:04, 3 july 2010 (UTC)
 * yes. --99.50.134.130 03:35, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

Can creepers blow up obsidian? I've been unable to test this as of yet. --99.50.134.130 03:34, 4 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Nope. It's immune to all explosions. PurpleKiwi 22:53, 11 October 2010 (UTC)


 * The iron pick under "tool to use" is somewhat misleading... Toadbert
 * I guess. I'll add in a diamond pick image.--Kizzycocoa 03:46, 1 September 2010 (PDT)
 * in fact, I'll make them all diamond. I just thought it would make everything very silly if I did.--Kizzycocoa 03:47, 1 September 2010 (PDT)

Natural Obsidian
I Have found some natural Obsidian in Alpha v1.0.17_04, it is 9 to 10 Tiles below ground level and when I found it there were no other elements except for stone (Smooth) around it. Xeyj 05:42, 7 September 2010 (CDT)

Infinite Obsidian!
Since the Halloween Update added portals, I have found that Obsidian can now be mined infinitely. When creating a portal and going to the Nether, then going back it will sometimes create a new portal on Earth (that's what it keeps doing for me, anyway). Destroy or disable (remove one block from) the new portal and go to the Nether again, it will continue to spawn new portals, thus creating more and more Obsidian out of thin air. AARST


 * You don't need infinite Obsidian. The oceans in The Nether are made of lava.--PurpleKiwi 21:44, 2 November 2010 (UTC)
 * you cannot place water in Hell. it instantly evaporates in a puff of smoke.--Kizzycocoa 22:06, 2 November 2010 (UTC)
 * I know, but you can take the lava back.--PurpleKiwi 17:25, 2 November 2010 (CDT)

Mass Harvesting or Obsidian Flooring
I've developed a technique for collecting or harvesting vast amounts of Obsidian, which may or may not be worth mentioning in the article. This might work particularly well for harvesting lava from the Nether. Personally, I started this technique because I felt like making it safe (no Obsidian getting melted by Lava) to stockpile Obsidian, and so I can put off actually mining it, since that's kind of tedious. Basically you dig a pit, then dig/build shallow trenches, fill them with lava, make obsidian, dig out the trench walls, fill the gaps with lava, make obsidian, then repeat all the steps but the first until the pit is now a solid block of obsidian. Here's a more detailed approach if you want.


 * 1) Get some buckets, 9 to 27 for convenience and speed when loading and unloading.
 * 2) Find a source of lava; the bigger the better.
 * 3) Dig down in a rectangle area, close-by. If you're harvesting from the Nether, this area should be near your portal, outside, since it's where you'll be cooling the lava.  I usually go with a 9 x 12 area (9 because you have 9 inventory slots).  You can make it wider to give yourself more room to walk, but it's not that critical.  If you're doing an Obsidian floor, the area will be 1 block deep.  Otherwise, keep in mind that you can't deepen the pit after starting, so you should make it deeper than you need, just to be safe, otherwise you'll need to build the pit up (a bit of a pain in mines).  Dig a staircase leading out when you finish hollowing out the pit.
 * 4) Build (or dig out) 1-depth trenches on the bottom of the pit, filling out the area so that half the area is 1 unit deeper, and in whatever pattern you think will be easiest to fill. For instance, in a 9 x 12 pit, you will dig 6 trenches that are 9 units long (so you fill one trench per belt-full of lava).
 * 5) Bring some blocks that are easy to break, like Dirt. Bring as many as 64 to be safe.  Also, it's advisable to make a water source (1 x 3 or 2 x 2 trench, 1 water on each end, so the middle re-spawns water) near the pit.
 * 6) Fill your buckets with lava.
 * 7) Empty the lava into the trenches, making sure to deposit only 1 lava per square. If you do it too slowly it can be harder to tell which ones already have a "real" lava, but if you push yourself too fast, relative to your clicking skillz, you might accidentally delete (or overwrite) some lava.
 * 8) Fill a bucket with water and dump it on the lava to make obsidian. Repeat if you didn't get all of it.
 * 9) Dig out the old trench walls (or make new ones if there are no trenches)
 * 10) Repeat 6 through 9 until your pit is full of obsidian.

Of course, considering the length of this guide, it probably shouldn't go in the article. But maybe it'll become an article of its own, or we can make a "collecting obsidian" article.

Also, trenches can be handy for temp-storing Lava for construction, although the technique is a little different. NightChime 08:51, 12 November 2010 (CST)
 * This could be the basis for an article for the tutorials section, with screenshots. Will dumping water on lava still work in the Nether? --DannyF1966 08:58, 12 November 2010 (CST)


 * Water will evaporate away in a puff of steam if you attempt to place it from a bucket. --Fishrock123 09:26, 12 November 2010 (CST)

Creating Obsidian
I have discovered that is is possible to create obsidian by adding lava from a bucket to water in V1.2.2. The only time this doesn't work is when the lava is added to a 1x1 pool of water. In that instance the water is replaced by the lava source. This could be used to create obsidian structures in place with out the need for forms or diamond pickaxe. Accordingly; "when a water spring and a lava spring collide it creates cobblestone" is at least misleading. Also none of the tutorial videos on youtube make use of this method.
 * Um, how else would you get obsidian? Other than this naturally occurring of course. There also was a video showing how to create a portal without using a diamond pickaxe, and it used the pour water over lava source block method. You just had to make sure you had a source block of lava for every block of obsidian needed for the portal. at 22:04, 16 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Agreed. UtopianPhysics's "discovery" really is just a wrong way to look at the "water into lava source block" method.  When you "[add] lava from a bucket to water", you are replacing that block with a lava source block, and then adjacent water will flow into the lava source block, turning it into Obsidian.  The "only time this doesn't work is when the lava is added to a 1x1 pool of water" line is redundant, since lava/water is always replaced when you try to place a block in its position (even if it's another lava or water block).  My vote is to not add this information.  --meioziz 23:04, 16 November 2010 (UTC)
 * I brought this up only because farming of obsidian can be made easier by adding the lava to water. The farm can be made smaller and shallower and there is no risk of stepping on a lava block waiting to have water poured on it. Also you can't replace a positioned lava block with a water source destroying the lava block in the process. I tried adding lava to water as a building method but it didn't go any faster than using a form. UtopianPhysics 22:27, 16 November 2010 (CST)
 * You know Obsidian is only made when water hits a lava source block, right? Lava hitting a water source block will just make cobblestone. at 22:32, 16 November 2010 (CST)
 * The water is displaced by the lava source block from the bucket (thanks Meiozoz for explaining exactly how this worked.) The water next to the lava block turns it into obsidian. I did some tests and never did adding lava from a bucket to any type of water yield in cobblestone. Maybe older versions acted differently. That is why I included my version (1.2.2) in the first post. UtopianPhysics 15:28, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

Uses
Can you smelt obsidian? Can you make tools out of it? Drenay 09:48, 21 November 2010 (CST)
 * no and no.--Kizzycocoa 09:53, 21 November 2010 (CST)
 * Do you know a mod that will allow me to use it? Drenay 10:24, 21 November 2010 (CST)
 * I've heard there's one. try checking Client mods--Kizzycocoa 16:26, 21 November 2010 (UTC)
 * It wasn't there. Looked it up on Google and found this mod: http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=73838
 * This mod just sounds like it is trying to sell you something.....Drenay 10:37, 21 November 2010 (CST)

TNT for destroing obsidian
I have calculated that you need 200 TNT next to obsidian for destroying it, the real value can be lower. Ferry 07:23, 18 December 2010 (CST)

Juxtaposition
I think it would be a worthy addition to the article that placing lava adjacent to any water--even if it isn't a source block--creates obsidian; I've farmed quite a bit of obsidian from a stream of water pouring out of a ceiling, setting lava next to it. ArcanaXVI 23:00, 27 December 2010 (CST)
 * that is because it is the lava source (from bucket) that makes/turns-into obsidian not water source block. Soul4hdwn 05:15, 28 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Understood, and that's even stated in the wiki already, but the question is not "why," but rather "is this worthy of clarification in the article?" ArcanaXVI 04:13, 29 December 2010 (UTC)