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This article is about the in-game items. For program enhancing software, see Programs and Editors.

Tools are items used by the player while held to perform actions faster and more efficiently, to gather materials not obtainable by hand, to gain information, or to perform completely new actions. With the exception of the clock, compass and bucket, tools do not stack in the inventory. Tools can be repaired; see Item Repair.

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.
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.
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.
Clock Gold Ingot +
Redstone Dust

Clock
Spyglass Amethyst Shard +
Copper Ingot

Bundle String +
Rabbit Hide

[only experimental "bundle"]
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.
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.

Best tools

Fastest tools to mine specific blocks:

Tool Material Blocks Notes
Axe Plants Cocoa
Jack o'Lantern
Pumpkin
Vines
Shears are required to collect vines. Swords mine pumpkins and cocoa fastest.
Wood Bookshelf
Chest
Crafting Table
Daylight Sensor
Fence
Fence Gate
Huge Mushrooms
Jukebox
Note Block
Sign
Trapdoor
Wood
Wooden Door
Wood Planks
Wooden Pressure Plate
Wooden Slabs
Wooden Stairs
Pickaxe Ice Ice
Metal I Anvil
Block of Redstone
Brewing Stand
Cauldron
Iron Bars
Iron Door
Hopper
Weighted Pressure Plate
Pickaxe is required to collect a block.
Door can also be collected by destroying their top part without a pickaxe.
Metal II Block of Iron
Lapis Lazuli Block
Stone, iron, or diamond pickaxe is required to collect a block.
Metal III Block of Diamond
Block of Emerald
Block of Gold
Iron or diamond pickaxe is required to collect a block.
Rail Activator Rail
Detector Rail
Powered Rail
Rail
Rock I Block of Coal
Block of Quartz
Bricks
Coal Ore
Cobblestone
Cobblestone Wall
Dispenser
Enchantment Table
End Stone
Ender Chest
Furnace
Hardened Clay
Monster Spawner
Moss Stone
Nether Brick
Nether Brick Fence
Nether Quartz Ore
Netherrack
Sandstone
Slabs (non-wooden)
Stained Clay
Stairs (non-wooden)
Stone
Stone Brick
Stone Pressure Plate
Pickaxe is required to collect a block.
Rock II Iron Ore
Lapis Lazuli Ore
Stone, iron or diamond pickaxe is required to collect a block.
Rock III Diamond Ore
Emerald Ore
Gold Ore
Redstone Ore
Iron or diamond pickaxe is required to collect a block.
Rock IV Obsidian Diamond pickaxe is required to collect a block.
Shears Leaves Leaves Shears are required to collect a block.
Leaves will drop their alternative items if any other tool is used.
Web Cobweb Shears or sword is required to collect string.
Wool Wool
Shovel Ground Clay
Dirt
Farmland
Grass Block
Gravel
Mycelium
Sand
Soul Sand
Snow Snow
Snow (cover)
Shovel is required to collect snowballs from snow and snow cover.
Sword Plants Melon
Web Cobweb Shears or sword is required to collect string.
Any (all tools are equally efficient) Circuits Button
Lever
Glass Beacon
Glass
Glass Pane
Glowstone
Redstone Lamp
Other Bed
Cake
Carpet
Hay Bale
Ladder
Mob head
Monster Egg
Sponge
Piston Piston
Sticky Piston
Plants Cactus
Any (instantly breaks; doesn't damage tools) Circuits Redstone Comparator
Redstone Repeater
Redstone Torch
Redstone Wire
Tripwire
Tripwire Hook
Destroying the tripwire while not holding shears will trigger a redstone pulse.
Other Fire
Flower Pot
TNT
Torch
Command Block will only drop when broken with a pickaxe (but since 13w18a it will never drop).
Plants Carrots
Dead Bush
Fern
Flowers
Lily Pad
Melon Stem
Mushrooms
Nether Wart
Potatoes
Pumpkin Stem
Saplings
Sugar Cane
Tall Grass
Wheat
Dead bush, fern and tall grass can be collected with shears.
None (unbreakable) Dragon Egg Dragon Egg Dragon Egg cannot be mined directly - hitting the egg causes it to teleport.
Liquid Lava
Water
The source block can be picked up with a bucket.
Other Bedrock
Command Block
End Portal
End Portal (block)
Nether Portal

Item durability

Main article: Item durability

Some tools are not block-breaking tools: This includes the hoe, bow, fishing rod, carrot-and-stick, and flint-and-steel. Such tools are no better than bare fists at breaking blocks, but they do not take damage from doing so -- they only take damage by being used in their own various manners.

For block-breaking tools, a use is counted only if a player completely breaks apart one block or hits a mob. If a block is partially broken this is not counted as a full use.

Note that certain uses cause either no damage or extra damage to the tool:

  1. Axes, pickaxes, and shovels:
    • Breaking a block that breaks instantly counts as no uses.
    • Breaking other blocks counts as one use.
    • Hitting a mob (hostile, neutral or farm animal) counts as two uses.
  2. Hoes:
    • Tilling dirt or grass counts as one use.
    • Breaking a block counts as no uses.
    • Hitting a mob counts as no uses.
  3. Shears:
    • Shearing a sheep counts as one use.
    • Breaking cobweb, leaves, tall grass, tripwire, and vines counts as one use.
    • Breaking other blocks counts as no uses.
    • Hitting a mob counts as no uses.
  4. Swords:
    • Breaking a block that breaks instantly counts as no uses.
    • Breaking other blocks counts as two uses.
    • Hitting a mob counts as one use.
  5. Fishing Rods:
    • Breaking a block counts as no uses.
    • Casting the line and reeling it in empty, counts as no uses.
    • Reeling in a fish counts as one use.
    • Catching the bobber/hook on a block, then reeling it in, counts as two uses.
    • Using the line to yank on a mob counts as three uses.
  6. Buckets have no durability.

Proper use of tools will maximize their durabilities. Assuming a player uses a tool appropriately, the following list shows the maximum durabilities for tools of each material type.

  • Gold - 33 uses
  • Wood - 60 uses
  • Stone - 132 uses
  • Iron - 251 uses
  • Diamond - 1562 uses

Notes:

  • Although gold tools have the lowest durability, they make the fastest tools.
  • A diamond shovel does the same damage as a wooden sword. This might come in handy.


Video

Tools/video


Diamond tools vs. gold tools

Gold tools mine blocks the fastest of all tools in the game and have the highest enchantability (making it possible to get Silk Touch with a level 1 enchantment, which is impossible with another tool tier), however they also have the fewest uses (33) and cannot harvest most ores. Most players with the resources use diamond tools instead, which are nearly as fast and have 1562 uses before breaking. Since enchanted tools often gain unbreaking or efficiency, which are of limited use on a golden tool, making and enchanting a gold tool is wasteful, unless the player is trying to get silk touch with the fewest experience levels spent as possible. Fortune is also of little use on a golden pickaxe, which can't mine important ores like diamonds. However, since gold is now renewable, players may prefer gold tools over diamond tools in small scaled mining operations since they may want to reserve the rare, non-renewable diamonds for large scaled projects.

History

Jeb told us around 1:30 in his DreamHack presentation that it would be possible to upgrade tools, which is now known as Enchanting.

From snapshot 12w18a, wooden tools became able to be used as fuel for furnaces in case players didn't want to repair them or finish using them.

Trivia

  • If you switch from a more valuable to a less valuable tool, without releasing the mouse button, just before a block breaks, the time required will be similar to using the former tool, while the mined block will be counted against the latter's durability. This is true for shovels, axes and pickaxes. However, in the case of pickaxes, this only works if the latter can mine this type of block, e.g. for iron and stone pickaxe while mining iron ore it would work, but for diamond and iron pickaxe while mining obsidian it wouldn't. The time and material saved from this method is, however, limited. As of 1.4, this is no longer possible.
  • Using the /give command can give you tools with custom damage values. For example, /give <player name> 278 1 1500 will give the player a diamond pickaxe with 62 uses left.

See also

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