The Wooden Age in Minecraft - For Dummies

When you first start playing Minecraft, most of the items you need are wooden, made from wood blocks. The table explains how to find or craft these items and describes what they do.

Wooden Items Item How to Obtain It Description Boat Crafted from 5 planks Right-click some water in which to put your boat, and then right-click the boat to hop in! Press the W,A,S,D keys to drive, and inflict damage on the boat to break it and use it again later. Bowl Crafted from 3 planks (makes 4) The bowl holds mushroom stew. Chest Crafted from 8 planks The storage unit can hold 27 stacks of items. Place two chests next to each other to form a double chest, which can store 54 stacks. Crafting table Crafted from 4 planks Right-click this item to open the expanded crafting grid. Fence Crafted from 6 sticks (makes 2) Its posts are decorative blocks that automatically connect to adjacent blocks or fences. Though you can still place blocks on top of fences, you cannot jump over them. Fence gate Crafted from 2 planks, 4 sticks Click to open and close its sideways latch. It connects to, and acts like, the fence. Ladder Crafted from 7 sticks (makes 3) Ladders can be placed on walls, and you can climb ladders by simply moving toward them. Hold the Shift key to hang on a ladder. Log Found on trees Wooden logs come in six textures, used for crafting. You can place logs on walls to make them appear sideways. Sign Crafted from 6 planks, 1 stick (makes 3) When you place this item on a wall, or at any angle on the ground, a screen appears on which you can write. Stick Crafted from 2 planks (makes 4) Make it with wooden planks for more crafting recipes. Trap door Crafted from 6 planks (makes 2) Place this hatch on the side of a block. Click the hatch to open or close it. Wooden axe Crafted from 2 sticks, 3 planks A weak axe, it makes lumberjacking somewhat quicker. Wooden button Crafted from 1 plank This simple item provides power when you click it or hit it with an arrow. Wooden door Crafted from 6 planks (makes 3) This tall block can be opened and closed when you click it. It has six different variants, all crafted from their respective wood types. Zombies can destroy it. Wooden hoe Crafted from 2 sticks, 2 planks The easily broken garden tool is helpful for starting a small farm at a low cost. Wooden pickaxe Crafted from 2 sticks, 3 planks This weak pickaxe is the most basic tool for breaking stone blocks. It’s your ticket to the next age. Wooden plank Crafted from 1 log (makes 4) This basis for wooden items is a useful building material. Its texture depends on which logs were used to make it. Wooden pressure plate Crafted from 2 planks It provides power when anything lands on it. Wooden shovel Crafted from 2 sticks, 1 plank The weakest shovel in the game is a cheap one. Wooden slab Crafted from 3 planks (makes 6) Walk up and down this decorative block without jumping. Stack the slabs on top of each other, and place them as either ceilings or floors. Wooden stair Crafted from 6 planks (makes 4) The wooden stair allows for denser stairwells and can be placed upside-down on ceilings, like the slab.
Note: Stairs are always placed facing you. Wooden sword Crafted from 1 stick, 2 planks A brittle, basic sword that increases the damage you inflict; it’s a good go-to weapon for new players.

You can break most of these blocks faster with an axe.

Of course, you may come across many other natural blocks during the Wooden Age. The following table lists the common aboveground blocks and describes the items you can make with them.

Basic Naturals from the Wooden Age Item How to Obtain It Description Apple Occasionally, from oak leaves A food item that can be used to make golden apples Cacti Found in deserts A farmable plant that damages anything that touches it; can be made into green dye Clay ball By breaking clay blocks (4 per block) Used to make bricks and clay blocks Clay block Found near water A softly colored building block; drops 4 clay balls when broken Cocoa bean Occasionally, from natural cocoa pods in the jungle Used as brown dye or to make cookies; can also be farmed Dead shrub Found in deserts Used as decoration Dirt Found in most biomes, usually with grass on top Can be used as farmland; nearby grass eventually spreads onto dirt Flint Found while mining gravel Used for crafting flint and steel, or arrows Flower Found in grassy biomes Can be picked up and replanted or crafted into dyes Grass, dead bush, fern Found in grassy biomes A grass that can be grown manually using bone meal; sometimes drops seeds when broken without shears Gravel Found randomly aboveground and below it Falls if no block is under it; sometimes drops flint Ice Found on the surface of frozen lakes and rivers A slippery block that commonly appears in bodies of water that have frozen over Leaf Found on trees Unless you break it with shears, drops only saplings or apples Lily pad Found in swamp biomes Can be placed on water, allowing you to walk across it with ease Mushroom Found in dark places or swamps or near trees Can be used to make stew, but cannot be placed in bright areas Mushroom stew Crafted from 1 brown mushroom, 1 red mushroom, 1 bowl A useful food item, though only one bowl fits in an inventory slot Packed ice Found in the Ice Spike biome A slippery block that doesn’t melt and isn’t transparent Paper Crafted from 3 sugar canes (makes 3) Used to make maps and books; purchased by librarians for emeralds Pumpkin Appears occasionally in patches A fruit that can be farmed, converted to a jack-o’-lantern, used to build golems, crafted into seeds, or made into pie Pumpkin seed Crafted from 1 pumpkin (makes 4) Used to farm pumpkins Red sand Found in the mesa biome Falls if no block is under it; can be used to make red sandstone or glass Sand Found in deserts and around bodies of water Falls if no block is under it; can be used to make sandstone or glass Sapling Found from leaf blocks Planted when you right-click grass or dirt; grows into a tree Snow Appears in snowy biomes A thin layer of snow over cold biomes that can be scooped up into snowballs Snow block Crafted from 4 snowballs A decoration block that can be used to build snow golems Snowball Appears when shoveling snow Can be thrown to knock back mobs and deal damage to Blaze and the ender dragon; can be crafted into snow blocks Sugar Crafted from 1 sugar cane Used to brew potions and to make fermented spider eyes, pumpkin pie, and cake Sugar cane Appears in patches near water A reed that can be farmed and crafted into paper or sugar Vine Appears on trees in swamps and in jungles Can be climbed; grows if left untended; if hanging, disappears if its roots are destroyed