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Tools are items used by the player while held to perform actions faster, to gather materials not obtainable by hand, or to perform completely new actions. Note: Tools are not stackable.

List of Tools

Beginner Info

Use any item's special ability by right clicking with your mouse.

Shovel

Shovels are used for removing dirt, sand, gravel, clay and snow faster.

Pickaxe

Pickaxes are used for removing stone, cobblestone, mossy cobblestone, coal, iron ore, gold ore, diamond, obsidian, bloodstone, lightstone and stairs faster.

Stone, coal and bloodstone can only be retrieved with a wooden pickaxe or better; iron ore with a stone pickaxe or better; redstone ore, gold ore and diamond with an iron pickaxe or better; and obsidian with a diamond pickaxe.

Axe

Axes are used for removing logs, planks, and chests faster.

Bucket

Buckets are used to hold water, lava, or milk for transport. They can only pick up Water springs and lava springs and not the "run off" from these blocks. Springs are easily identified by the texture as the top of a spring block will never be moving whereas non-spring blocks will almost always be flowing.

Flint and Steel

Flint and Steel is used to light trees, grass, and mobs on fire.

Hoe

Hoes can be used to till dirt blocks into field blocks. Tilling Grass can cause seeds to drop, which can then be grown on tilled ground that is near water.

Sword

Swords can be used to remove glass and leaves faster, however it still damages the sword for two uses as it's not an intended use.

Tool Material and Efficiency

The primary tools can be made out of four different materials: wood, stone, iron, and diamond. A fifth material, gold, is equal to wood. Each material has a limited amount of uses (durability) and a specific action time. The better the material used, the more uses it has and the shorter the action time. Wood and Gold tools have 33 uses, Stone, 65 uses, Iron, 129 uses, and the best, Diamond, a full 1025 uses. The following chart, courtesy of Crixnmix (http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15985), portrays the average time, in seconds, required to break a block depending on what material is used to craft a tool.


(*) These values represent tools which yield no block drops.

(**) There is double durability damage to weapons when they are used to break glass and leaves.

BARE HANDS
WOOD/GOLD
STONE
IRON
DIAMOND
SHOVELS
Dirt
1.05 sec
0.70 sec
0.49 sec
0.44 sec
0.39 sec
Gravel
1.19 sec
0.74 sec
0.54 sec
0.44 sec
0.44 sec
Sand
1.05 sec
0.70 sec
0.49 sec
0.44 sec
0.39 sec
PICKAXES
Smooth Stone
7.68 sec (*)
1.44 sec
0.89 sec
0.68 sec
0.59 sec
Cobblestone
10.19 sec (*)
1.79 sec
1.04 sec
0.79 sec
0.68 sec
Coal Ore
15.22 sec (*)
2.54 sec
1.44 sec
1.04 sec
0.89 sec
Iron Ore
15.22 sec (*)
15.22 sec (*)
1.44 sec
1.04 sec
0.89 sec
Gold Ore
15.22 sec (*)
15.22 sec (*)
15.22 sec (*)
1.04 sec
0.89 sec
Diamond Ore
15.22 sec (*)
15.22 sec (*)
15.22 sec (*)
1.04 sec
0.89 sec
Iron Block
25.58 sec (*)
25.58 sec (*)
2.19 sec
1.54 sec
1.24 sec
Gold Block
15.22 sec (*)
15.22 sec (*)
15.22 sec (*)
1.04 sec
0.89 sec
Diamond Block
25.28 sec (*)
25.28 sec (*)
25.28 sec (*)
1.54 sec
1.24 sec
Obsidian
50.29 sec (*)
50.29 sec (*)
50.29 sec (*)
50.29 sec (*)
15.35 sec
Stair Block
10.26 sec (*)
1.79 sec
1.04 sec
0.79 sec
0.68 sec
Steps
10.26 sec (*)
1.79 sec
1.04 sec
0.79 sec
0.68 sec
Furnace
17.67 sec (*)
5.52 sec
5.52 sec
5.52 sec
5.52 sec
AXES
Log
3.34 sec
1.44 sec
0.89 sec
0.68 sec
0.59 sec
Plank
3.34 sec
1.79 sec
1.04 sec
0.79 sec
0.68 sec
Workbench
4.06 sec
4.06 sec
4.06 sec
4.06 sec
4.06 sec
Chest
4.06 sec
2.15 sec
1.21 sec
0.91 sec
0.76 sec
SWORDS (**)
Glass
0.74 sec
0.58 sec
0.58 sec
0.58 sec
0.58 sec
Leaves
0.59 sec
0.50 sec
0.50 sec
0.50 sec
0.50 sec

Crafting recipes

Name Ingredients Crafting recipe Description
Compass Iron Ingot +
Redstone Dust

Compass
Recovery Compass Echo Shard +
Compass
Compass
Recovery Compass
Fishing Rod Stick +
String

Fishing Rod Damaged Fishing Rod


The durability of the two fishing rods is added together, plus an extra 5% durability.
Pickaxe Any Planks or
Iron Ingot or
Gold Ingot or
Diamond +
Stick

Stone Pickaxe Any stone-tier block +
Stick

Can use cobblestone and its other variants interchangeably.
Pickaxe Matching Damaged Pickaxes


The durability of the two pickaxes is added together, plus an extra 5% of the tool type's total durability.
Hoe Any Planks or
Iron Ingot or
Gold Ingot or
Diamond +
Stick

Stone Hoe Any stone-tier block +
Stick

Can use cobblestone and its other variants interchangeably.
Hoe Damaged Matching Hoe


The durability of the two hoes is added together, plus an extra 5% durability.
Shears Iron Ingot

Shears Damaged Shears


The durability of the two shears is added together, plus an extra 5% durability.
Lead String +
Slimeball
Brush Feather +
Copper Ingot +
Stick

Brush Damaged Brush


The durability of the two brushes is added together, plus an extra 5% durability.
Spyglass Amethyst Shard +
Copper Ingot

Bundle String +
Rabbit Hide

[only experimental "bundle"]
Flint and Steel Iron Ingot +
Flint


Flint and Steel Damaged Flint and Steel


The durability of the two tools is added together, plus an extra 5% durability.
Axe Any Planks or
Iron Ingot or
Gold Ingot or
Diamond +
Stick

Stone Axe Any stone-tier block +
Stick

Can use cobblestone and its other variants interchangeably.
Axe Damaged Matching Axe


The durability of the two axes is added together, plus an extra 5% durability.
Shovels Any Planks or
Iron Ingot or
Gold Ingot or
Diamond +
Stick

Stone Shovel Any stone-tier block +
Stick

Can use any variant of cobblestone
Shovel Damaged Matching Shovel


The durability of the two shovels is added together, plus an extra 5% durability.
Clock Gold Ingot +
Redstone Dust

Clock
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