Minecraft crafting guide

We love Mojang’s Minecraft here at Softonic. We’ve been playing it for years and just can’t get enough. If you’re new to the game though, you could be feeling a bit lost right now. Minecraft is massive with almost endless possibilities, which makes it harder to answer that single question every single player has to answer. Where to begin?

Well, this week we’re going to walk you through some of the most vital lessons all-new Minecraft players need to learn. Today we’re looking at how to craft basic items from the materials you mine from the map around you. If you want to learn how to craft items like a saddle, a table, a book, a shield, or more stick with us. We’ll show you how to do all that now. Remember though, that you can’t craft anything without the right items. True craftsmen should always have a pickaxe, some cobblestone, wooden planks, anvils, stone brick, potions, TNT, a fishing rod, iron blocks, and iron bars.

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Crafting recipes: Minecraft crafting guide

Crafting in Minecraft is a basic and necessary skill. It is how you will get your hands on most of the items and tools you’ll need to live your best Minecraft life. You craft items by following the recipe that your particular item needs. Let’s look then at how to craft some of the most important Minecraft items.

How to make a Table

The crafting table is a key item in Minecraft as it expands your crafting grid from 2×2 squares to a 3×3 grid and so makes it possible for you to craft more complex items. The crafting table recipe is very simple. All you need to do is place four planks next to each other in your crafting grid. These can be any type of wood planks that you can get in Minecraft including Oak, Spruce, Birch, Jungle, Acacia, and Dark Oak.

How to make Saddles

Saddles are useful Minecraft items because they help you tame and control various animals that you can get then ride. For example, you can ride a tamed donkey and horse without a saddle, but you won’t be able to control the animal. You can even use a saddle to ride a pig. Be careful though, because once that saddle is the pig, the only way you’ll be able to get it back is by killing the pig. You can simply unequip a saddle from other animals.

Unfortunately, a saddle isn’t something you can make with a crafting table or a furnace. You need to either find one or buy one from a Master-level leatherworker villager. You can find saddles in many different types of chests including those found in stronghold altars, dungeons, weaponsmiths, savanna village houses, nether fortresses, jungle temples, desert temples, End city, and village tanneries.

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How to make a Shield

Shields are really cool items in Minecraft. You need to build them on your crafting table as you’ll need seven ingredients for the shield recipe. All you need to do is place 6 planks in the shape of a Y onto the crafting table with an iron ingot in the middle square on the top row. This will create your shield.

What’s really great about shields though, is that you can customize them with. To do so, you simply pop your shield into your crafting grid next to your design and the pattern will be added to your shield. You can even add spells/enchantments to your shield too.

How to make a Book

Books are intriguing items in Minecraft. Once you have a book you can turn it into an enchanted book using an enchantment table and you can also use a collection of three books to build a bookshelf.

The Minecraft book recipe needs only four squares in your crafting grid. You need to place a piece of leather at the bottom of the grid and then place three pieces of paper wrapping around and above it from on the left. One piece of paper to the left, another to the left in the row above, and another piece of paper directly above the leather.

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How to make a Bed

Beds are vital items in Minecraft and should be one of the first items you craft. The bed allows you to sleep and set a respawn area where you’ll appear should you ever die. If you’re looking to build a house in Minecraft, it won’t be complete until you’ve added a bed.

To build a bed in Minecraft you will need three planks and three pieces of wool. You need to put the wool in the top three squares of your crafting grid and the planks in the three squares below them. The planks don’t need to match but the color of the wool must match for the Minecraft bed recipe to work. Interestingly, if you build a white bed you can change the color by using a matching dye. You can also revert your bed back to a white bed by using bleach.

How to make a Map

Maps are brilliant items in Minecraft. When you craft a map, it is blank. Then you set it as a Map item and then as you explore your surroundings the map fills with all the information the player collects. This means that the map will only include information for areas you’ve actually been to.

To craft a map, you’re going to need eight pieces of paper and a compass. You need to place the compass in the middle square of your crafting grid and then place the paper in all the squares around it. Remember though, that creating the map isn’t enough, you must set it as a Map item for it to begin collecting information.

How to make Concrete

Concrete blocks are sturdy, and you can color them as you please with the appropriate dye. However, you first need to craft concrete power before you can create this block. For that, you’ll need to place four gravel blocks in the lower grid spaces and on the middle right, the dye in the top left, and four sand blocks in the remaining spaces.

Of course, this just creates the concrete powder block. To complete your construction, you’ll need to place this in a body of water such as a lake or a river. Using a water cauldron, rain, or water bottles won’t work.

How to make Rails

All good mines have rails and carts to facilitate faster transportation. Minecraft is no different and creating rails for your track is very important. The Minecraft rails recipe creates 16 different pieces of track that you can then place for quicker transportation. To build rails on Minecraft you need six iron ingots and a stick. You need to place the stick in the center square of your crafting grid and place the iron ingots in each of the three squares to the left and the right of the stick. When placed correctly, it should look like the letter H.

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