How to Use the Furnace in Minecraft - For Dummies

You use the furnace in Minecraft, an important part of the Stone Age, to craft many more items. Many players mine for cobblestone and make a furnace on their first or second day because of its importance. Placing a furnace on a surface and right-clicking it opens a menu with three slots: fuel, input, and output.

The fuel slot can take coal (eight uses per lump), wooden objects (three uses per 2 planks), and items such as blaze rods or lava buckets. It also takes a variety of other flammable items.

A more effective way to use wood as fuel is to place a wood log in the top and place wooden planks in the bottom of the furnace, creating charcoal. Charcoal then burns in the bottom of the furnace longer than the wood used to make the charcoal.

Using a furnace grants experience orbs, and the items described in the table become available.

Furnace Items Item How to Obtain It Description Baked potato By cooking a potato in a furnace A moderately effective food item Brick By cooking clay balls in a furnace A simple ingredient for clay pots and brick blocks Brick block Crafted from 4 bricks A dusty, red building block Brick slab Crafted from 3 bricks (makes 6) The brick equivalent of the slab Brick stairs Crafted from 6 brick blocks (makes 4) The brick equivalent of the stairs Cactus green By cooking cactus in a furnace Used as green dye Charcoal By cooking wood (logs, not planks) in a furnace Can be used for fuel, torches, and fire charges, just like coal Cooked chicken By cooking raw chicken in a furnace A food item, slightly less effective than pork or steak Cooked fish or salmon By cooking raw fish in a furnace A food item that’s easy to obtain but not effective Cooked porkchop or steak By cooking raw pork or beef in a furnace An effective food item Flower pot Crafted from 3 bricks Can be placed on blocks and filled with any plant Glass By cooking sand in a furnace Lets sunlight shine through windows Glass bottle Crafted from 3 glass (makes 3) Fill with water to start brewing potions Glass pane Crafted from 6 glass (makes 16) A thin window material that connects to adjacent blocks Hardened clay Found in desert temples and in mesa biomes; you can cook clay in a furnace to obtain Has a terracotta look; can be dyed in the same way glass or wool can be dyed Stone By cooking cobblestone in a furnace A smooth, gray block commonly located underground; restored to its smooth (from cobblestone) state by using a furnace Stone brick Found in the Stronghold; crafted from 4 stone (makes 4) A refined, popular decoration block Stone brick slab Crafted from 3 stone bricks (makes 6) The stone brick version of the slab Stone brick stairs Crafted from 6 stone bricks (makes 4) The stone brick version of the stairs Stone button Crafted from 1 stone A power source that activates for a few seconds when pressed Stone pressure plate Crafted from 2 stone A power source that activates when a heavy mob steps on it Stone slab Crafted from 3 stone (makes 6) A smoother version of the cobblestone slab Water bottle By right-clicking a water source or full cauldron while holding a water bottle The base ingredient for brewing potions