In Minecraft, tools are simply defined as items or blocks the player interacts with. Similar to the real world, they allow the player to more efficiently gather materials, as well as make several other aspects of the game – such as fishing, farming or crafting – possible.
All tools are crafted by the player using raw materials such as wood, iron and cobblestone, which are all collected from the environment around them. However, they are not to be confused with items such as swords and pieces of armor, which fall into two entirely different categories: weapons and armor. In short, tools are simply items that make activities such as mining, tree chopping, farming, digging and navigation easier.
That being said, tools are vital for progressing further in the game. Without them, it would not be possible to mine harder blocks such as diamond ore or obsidian, or to create a sustainable and efficient source of food. So many interesting aspects of the game are lost if one does not utilize their potential. Needless to say, one needs to understand the uses of such items in order to make the Minecraft experience immensely more interactive.
Most tools in the game have a certain durability; this means that it can only be used so many times before it breaks and disappears from the player’s inventory. This is generally only applicable to tools that allow the player to perform certain actions, such as mine, farm, chop, shear, fish or set blocks on Fire.
Minecraft Tools List
Below is a list of Minecraft tools that exist within in the game, including a description and picture of their crafting recipes.
Tool
What does it allow the player to do?
Usage
Recipe
Durability
Anvil
Makes it possible to rename and repair items
Right clicking the block, then inserting two of the same tool into the given boxes
Note: Requires experience levels to repair and rename, differs on the item
3 iron blocks
4 iron ingots
12% of damaging after every use
Lasts 24 uses on average
Axe
Makes it possible to cut down trees faster
Player left clicks a block to break it, typically a log
Cutting speed is the slowest with wood axes, diamond being the fastest
2 sticks + …
Wood: 3 planks
Stone: 3 cobblestone
Iron: 3 iron ingots
Gold: 3 gold ingots
Diamond: 3 diamonds
Wood: 60 uses
Stone: 132 uses
Iron: 251 uses
Gold: 33 uses
Diamond: 1562 uses
Bowl
Allows the player to cook different types of stew, which replenish hunger
Holding right click button while handling in inventory
3 wood planks
N/A
Bucket
Makes it possible to gather and transport water, as well as lava
Right clicking water or lava to pick it up, then right clicking again to release it
3 iron ingots
N/A
Clock
Allows the player to see the time of day while underground/away from sunlight
Remains in inventory or can be placed in an item frame. Spins slowly to indicate the time of day
4 gold ingots
1 redstone dust
N/A
Compass
Points towards the player’s spawn point, allowing them to navigate home/avoid getting lost
Sits in inventory
4 iron ingots
1 redstone dust
N/A
Fishing Rod
Allows the player to fish for food
Player right clicks towards a body of water, and waits momentarily for the bobber go under. Once this happens, the player immediately right clicks again.
3 sticks
2 string
65 uses
Flint and Steel
Ignites blocks into flames
Player right clicks a block to set it on fire
Note: Fire spreads among blocks of wood, leaves, wool and tall grass
1 iron ingot
1 flint
65 uses
Hoe
Allows the player to cultivate land and use it for farming. Must be within two blocks of water
Player right clicks on a block of grass/dirt to cultivate it
2 sticks + …
Wood: 2 wooden planks
Stone: 2 cobblestone
Iron: 2 iron ingots
Gold: 2 gold ingots
Diamond: 2 diamonds
Wood: 60 uses
Stone: 132 uses
Iron: 251 uses
Gold: 33 uses
Diamond: 1562 uses
Lead
Allows player to put a leash on dogs or other mobs, and can be pulled by the player
Player clicks an entity with the lead, and can drag them with it
Additionally, they can right click on a fence post to attach the lead to it
4 string
1 slimeball
N/A
Map
Shows an aerial view of the world around the player as they move, improving navigation
As they player walks while holding the map in hand, it fills itself out. Larger maps can be created by surrounding the current map with 8 pieces of paper.
8 papers
1 compass
N/A
Pickaxe
Allows player to break and collect harder blocks, as well as increases mining speed.
Right clicking a block to mine it.
Wood is needed to mine stone and coal; stone needed to mine iron; iron needed to mine gold, diamond, redstone and emerald; diamond needed to mine obsidian
2 sticks + …
Wood: 3 wooden planks
Stone: 3 cobblestone
Iron: 3 iron ingots
Gold: 3 gold ingots
Diamond: 3 diamonds
Wood: 60 uses
Stone: 132 uses
Iron: 251 uses
Gold: 33 uses
Diamond: 1562 uses
Shear
Allows the player to shave sheep for wool
Right clicking a sheep that has all of its wool
2 iron ingots
238 uses
Shovel
Allows the player to dig through dirt faster
Left clicking on a dirt or grass block to break it.
Different materials have different speeds. Wood being the slowest, and diamond being the fastest
2 sticks + …
Wood: 1 wooden plank
Stone: 1 cobblestone
Iron: 1 iron ingot
Gold: 1 gold ingot
Diamond: 1 diamond
Wood: 60 uses
Stone: 132 uses
Iron: 251 uses
Gold: 33 uses
Diamond: 1562 uses
Starting Out With The Right Tools
When the player spawns in the vast, untouched world of Minecraft, they have absolutely nothing. Much like everything in Minecraft, the core item needed to get started with creating different tools is wood. So, it’s important to start out on the right track when it comes to crafting tools. In order to begin mining ores like coal or iron – which will lead to crafting more efficient and useful tools – one needs to first cut down trees and turn them into planks. For tools such as pickaxes and shovels, the player will typically need to convert wooden planks into sticks.
But, the one item necessary to taking this first step is a crafting table. This is done by placing four wooden planks next to each other in the player’s inventory screen. Once placed on the ground, this is the forefront of just about every item one creates. Minecraft has dozens of crafting recipes, and it’s often hard to remember them all. Luckily, there are numerous online resources such as the Minecraft Wiki or the Minecraft Forums that provide pages of useful information.
At the very beginning of one’s Minecraft experience, wooden tools are necessary to begin collecting better resources like stone and iron. It may be best for the new player to start out by crafting a wooden pickaxe, immediately moving up to a stone pickaxe once enough stone is mined. The player should never resort to using a wooden sword – if they have a stone pickaxe, they should at least be able to create a stone sword, but preferably iron. Therefore, a player’s main priority in terms of tools should be to craft better pickaxes; without them, the player can’t mine harder and more durable substances.
A hoe will eventually be a necessary tool to help the player build a farm. Such tools are most likely better off being crafted with stone, as wood depletes fast and iron/diamond just uses resources that could have been spent on armor or weapons. The same applies with shovels; they have their purpose, but are generally only useful if the player needs to clear out a large area of dirt in a short time. Otherwise, they may not be worth the effort to craft.
Don’t Keep Your Heart Set On Wood, But Make Sure You Have It
Wood is great because it’s abundant in Minecraft, but a smart player should rely on it as a tool for as short as possible. Remember, it’s a big world full of rich minerals and ores that help you mine faster, and the only way to access these natural resources is to craft better tools.
It’s smart to have a few stacks of wooden planks stashed in a chest, though, just to ensure that you have the resources to craft more tools in case of an emergency. But, once you collect a reasonable amount of wood, immediately head underground and begin searching for stone, coal and iron ore. If you’re going to survive sustainably, you will certainly need stronger tools than stone or wood. By the end of your first day, you should have moved on to at least stone, if not a few basic iron tools.
What’s Not Worth Crafting
Although every tool serves a specific purpose, you’ll find that some are just not worth the extra effort to create. However, everybody will have a different opinion on this, and it’s at least useful to try out different tools to find what works best for you. After all, everybody has a different Minecraft experience.
Gold anything: Whether it’s armor, swords, pickaxes or hoes, it’s no secret that gold is seemingly worthless in the Minecraft world. From the chart above, it’s clear that gold tools are by far the least durable of any other material. Considering gold needs an iron pickaxe to mine, and iron is more than 500% more durable than gold, it is practically a waste of time to search underground for it. One of the only practical uses of gold is the golden apple, but even that has its complications.
Anything stronger than a stone/iron hoe: After getting your first big farm going, it is unlikely that you will be cultivating large amounts of blocks for farming. The only benefit of a diamond or iron hoe is that they last longer, which may be smart to create if you don’t want to worry about replacing it, but may just be a waste of resources that could have gone elsewhere, such as towards a weapon or armor piece. You’ll find that hoes might be just better as a stone (or maybe iron), just so that you don’t waste precious resources.
Clocks: Their intended purpose was to let miners know the time of day while they were busy mining underground. While this has its benefits and can help you avoid problems with hostile mobs at night, it may not be worth the space and gold to create. After all, time often becomes irrelevant when you’re mining, and it’s not too difficult to avoid mobs if you do catch yourself above ground at the ground time. Plus, the thing just sits in your inventory
Shovels: This is debatable, as they definitely make clearing dirt faster. However, since this is their primary function, they may not be highly useful to the player unless they need to terraform large areas of dirt. Hence, they may just result in taking up much needed space. Plus, they don’t make very good weapons, either.
Repairing Tools
A very beneficial aspect of the game is that players can repair worn down tools. Keep in mind, that a player cannot fix a broken item, as it simply disappears once it loses all of its durability. But, for those that wish to keep their items that they’ve grown so close to, repairing is an almost perfect solution.
Repairing tools can be done two ways: the first, by placing two of the same item onto a crafting table. The second can be done the same way, except by using an anvil instead of a crafting table. However, while this costs the player unpredictable experience points to do, it does not remove enchantments like crafting tables. The game then uses an algorithm to determine how much durability is added to the final, repaired product. In some cases, a repaired tool may have even more durability than it would by default.
Benefits: Can allow the player to remove unwanted enchantments and create a new, potentially more durable-than-normal item depending on the durability of the two items used; if done with an anvil, can enhance and/or combine enchantments. Good for replacing two of the same tool with one, more durable version of it.
Drawbacks: Can potentially waste more resources; removes enchantments if done on a crafting table; may only be beneficial if the player just so happens to have another one of the same worn down tools.
