Crafting in Minecraft works on a grid: your inventory has a 2×2 grid, a Crafting Table has a 3×3 one. You arrange ingredients in a certain shape and get an item. Below you will find the recipes you need first: from planks and the Crafting Table through tools and armor to basic redstone. All shapes come from the Java 26.3 game data, and item names follow the official English names in the game.
How crafting works in Minecraft
Your inventory has a 2×2 grid. It is enough for planks, sticks, a Crafting Table and torches. You craft a Crafting Table from 4 planks, and once you place it, it gives you the larger 3×3 grid, where you craft everything else.
There are two kinds of recipes:
- Shaped recipes have a fixed shape, such as a pickaxe or a piston. You can shift the shape around the grid and mirror it horizontally, but not vertically.
- Shapeless recipes are just a list of ingredients that you put anywhere in the grid. Examples are Flint and Steel (Iron Ingot + Flint) or the Fermented Spider Eye.
If you want to automate crafting, that is what the Crafter is for. Its recipe is in the redstone table below.
How to read the tables: we write the shape row by row from top to bottom, rows are separated by a slash and an underscore _ means an empty slot. For example, MMM / _S_ / _S_ is three materials in the top row and two Sticks (S) below the middle one.
Recipe book: how to open and use it
You do not have to memorize everything. The game has a recipe book that shows you the shape and fills in the ingredients for you.
Recipe book in Java
- You open it with the book icon to the left of the grid. It is available in the inventory, at the Crafting Table, in the Furnace, the Blast Furnace and the Smoker.
- The tabs split recipes into: all, tools, weapons and armor, building blocks, food and miscellaneous, redstone. There is a search field at the top (Search…).
- Click a recipe to see its shape in the grid. Shift+click fills in all the ingredients you have.
- The toggle between Showing All and Showing Craftable decides whether you also see recipes you lack ingredients for. Missing ingredients are shown in red.
- Right-click a recipe (Right Click for More) to see other variants of it.
Recipe book in Bedrock
In Survival mode the book opens on its own. It has the tabs Construction, Equipment, Items and Nature, plus an All tab with search. Click a recipe to fill in the ingredients, and with Shift you craft the maximum amount right away.
Why you do not see some recipes
Recipes unlock gradually. Usually it is enough to pick up an ingredient the recipe is made from. Some have their own condition: the Chest unlocks after you fill 10 slots, boats after you touch water. There is no recipe book for the Stonecutter, the Campfire and brewing potions. You will find the latter in our guide to brewing potions.
First recipes: planks, sticks, Crafting Table, Furnace
| Item | Ingredients | Shape | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Planks (and other wood types) | 1 log | anywhere | 4 |
| Stick | 2 planks | one above the other | 4 |
| Crafting Table | 4 planks | 2×2 square | 1 |
| Torch | Coal or Charcoal, with a Stick below it | vertical | 4 |
| Furnace | 8 Cobblestone (or Blackstone or Cobbled Deepslate) | ring, empty center | 1 |
| Chest | 8 planks | ring, empty center | 1 |
| Bed | 3 Wool of the same color above 3 planks | 2 rows | 1 |
| Ladder | 7 Sticks | S_S / SSS / S_S | 3 |
| Bread | 3 Wheat | side by side | 1 |
Watch out for two similar names. Cobblestone and Stone are two different blocks, and recipes tell them apart. The Furnace, Lever, Piston and Dispenser need Cobblestone, while the Stone Button, Stone Pressure Plate, Repeater and Comparator need Stone.
Tool and weapon recipes
Tools have the same shape for every material. M is the material (planks, Cobblestone, Iron Ingot or Diamond), S is a Stick.
| Item | Ingredients and shape | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Pickaxe | MMM / _S_ / _S_ | 3 material + 2 Sticks |
| Axe | MM / MS / _S | 3 material + 2 Sticks |
| Shovel | M / S / S | 1 material + 2 Sticks |
| Hoe | MM / _S / _S | 2 material + 2 Sticks |
| Sword | M / M / S | 2 material + 1 Stick |
| Bow | 3 Sticks + 3 String: _ST / S_T / _ST | T is String |
| Arrow | Flint, with a Stick below it and a Feather below that | yields 4 |
| Crossbow | SIS / THT / _S_ | I is an Iron Ingot, T is String, H is a Tripwire Hook |
| Shield | PIP / PPP / _P_ | 6 planks (P) + 1 Iron Ingot |
| Mace | Heavy Core above a Breeze Rod | vertical |
Netherite gear
Netherite is not crafted at the Crafting Table. You craft a Netherite Ingot from 4 Netherite Scrap and 4 Gold Ingots (a shapeless recipe). Then you go to the Smithing Table and put in a Smithing Template, a piece of diamond gear and the Netherite Ingot. You can duplicate the template: 7 Diamonds, 1 template and 1 Netherrack in the shape DTD / DND / DDD (D is Diamond, T is the template, N is Netherrack) give you 2 templates.
Armor recipes
Armor has the same shape for leather, gold, iron and diamond. Here with an Iron Ingot (I):
| Armor piece | Shape | Ingredients needed |
|---|---|---|
| Helmet | III / I_I | 5 |
| Chestplate | I_I / III / III | 8 |
| Leggings | III / I_I / I_I | 7 |
| Boots | I_I / I_I | 4 |
A full set therefore takes 24 pieces of material.
Workstations and useful items
| Item | Ingredients and shape |
|---|---|
| Brewing Stand | Blaze Rod in the top middle, 3 Cobblestone at the bottom |
| Enchanting Table | Book on top, Diamond–Obsidian–Diamond in the middle, 3 Obsidian at the bottom |
| Bookshelf | 6 planks, 3 Books in the middle row |
| Book | 3 Paper + Leather (shapeless) |
| Anvil | 3 Blocks of Iron on top, Iron Ingot in the middle, 3 Iron Ingots at the bottom |
| Smithing Table | 2 Iron Ingots on top, 4 planks below them |
| Blast Furnace | 5 Iron Ingots, Furnace in the middle, 3 Smooth Stone at the bottom |
| Smoker | Furnace in the middle, 4 logs around it in a cross |
| Stonecutter | Iron Ingot in the top middle, 3 Stone at the bottom |
| Barrel | 6 planks, 2 wooden slabs in the top and bottom middle |
| Cauldron | 7 Iron Ingots in a U shape |
| Bucket | 3 Iron Ingots in a V shape |
| Shears | 2 Iron Ingots diagonally |
| Flint and Steel | Iron Ingot + Flint |
| Compass | 4 Iron Ingots around Redstone Dust |
| Clock | 4 Gold Ingots around Redstone Dust |
| Empty Map | 8 Paper around a Compass |
Potion ingredients
Some Brewing Stand ingredients are crafted at the Crafting Table. What to do with them next is covered in the potions article.
| Item | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Glistering Melon Slice | 8 Gold Nuggets around a Melon Slice |
| Golden Carrot | 8 Gold Nuggets around a Carrot |
| Magma Cream | Blaze Powder + Slimeball |
| Fermented Spider Eye | Spider Eye + Brown Mushroom + Sugar |
| Blaze Powder (2 pieces) | Blaze Rod |
| Golden Apple | 8 Gold Ingots around an Apple |
Redstone recipes for beginners
The basic redstone blocks for switching, carrying a signal and building simple machines. Once again, watch out for Stone versus Cobblestone.
| Block | Ingredients and shape | Yield |
|---|---|---|
| Redstone Torch | Redstone Dust above a Stick | 1 |
| Lever | Stick above Cobblestone | 1 |
| Stone Button | 1 Stone | 1 |
| Stone Pressure Plate | 2 Stone side by side | 1 |
| Redstone Repeater | Redstone Torch–Redstone Dust–Redstone Torch, with 3 Stone below | 1 |
| Redstone Comparator | 3 Redstone Torches in an A shape around Nether Quartz, 3 Stone at the bottom | 1 |
| Piston | 3 planks / Cobblestone–Iron Ingot–Cobblestone / Cobblestone–Redstone Dust–Cobblestone | 1 |
| Sticky Piston | Slimeball above a Piston | 1 |
| Observer | 3 Cobblestone / Redstone Dust–Redstone Dust–Nether Quartz / 3 Cobblestone | 1 |
| Dispenser | 7 Cobblestone, Bow in the middle, Redstone Dust in the bottom middle | 1 |
| Dropper | 7 Cobblestone, empty center, Redstone Dust in the bottom middle | 1 |
| Hopper | 5 Iron Ingots in a V shape, Chest in the middle | 1 |
| Redstone Lamp | Glowstone in the middle, 4 Redstone Dust in a cross | 1 |
| Daylight Detector | 3 Glass / 3 Nether Quartz / 3 wooden slabs | 1 |
| TNT | 5 Gunpowder and 4 Sand in a checkerboard | 1 |
| Note Block | 8 planks around Redstone Dust | 1 |
| Target | Hay Bale in the middle, 4 Redstone Dust in a cross | 1 |
| Rail | 6 Iron Ingots, Stick in the middle | 16 |
| Powered Rail | 6 Gold Ingots, Stick, Redstone Dust at the bottom | 6 |
| Minecart | 5 Iron Ingots in a U shape | 1 |
| Iron Door | 6 Iron Ingots (2 columns of 3) | 3 |
| Crafter | 5 Iron Ingots, Crafting Table in the middle, Redstone Dust–Dropper–Redstone Dust at the bottom | 1 |
You will not find the Command Block in the tables, because it cannot be crafted. You only get it through commands. The recipes here are from Java 26.3, crafting in general is explained on the Minecraft Wiki, and Bedrock is the same except for a few exceptions. For more guides, head to our Minecraft guides, and you can change your character’s look with Minecraft skins.
Join our Discord GamersTogether to share your builds, ask about recipes and find people to play with.
FAQ
From 4 planks. Put them into the 2×2 grid right in your inventory, one in each slot. You make planks from a single log, and you get 4 of them.
In the recipe book. In Java you open it with the book icon to the left of the grid, and in Bedrock it opens on its own in Survival mode. Recipes unlock gradually, usually when you first pick up a needed ingredient.
Either you have not unlocked it yet, or in Java you have Showing Craftable switched on and you lack the ingredients. Switch to Showing All and the recipe will appear, with the missing ingredients in red.
At the Crafting Table: 3 planks in the top row, Cobblestone, Iron Ingot and Cobblestone in the middle row, and Cobblestone, Redstone Dust and Cobblestone in the bottom row. Add a Slimeball on top to turn it into a Sticky Piston.
No. Potions are brewed in a Brewing Stand, and there is no recipe book for them. At the Crafting Table you can only make some ingredients, such as the Golden Carrot or the Fermented Spider Eye.
Information verified on 19 October 2026. The recipes are valid for Java 26.3 and Bedrock 26.52. More in our Minecraft guides.