How to Use a Furnace in Minecraft

Co-authored by Zac Churchill

Last Updated: March 13, 2024

Using a furnace is one of the simplest things in Minecraft, and you will have to do it a lot. Smelting ores, cooking food, turning sand into glass, turning diamonds back into diamond ore (not very efficient, but why not?). The only trick is to efficiently use the fuel you have at hand.

Steps

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1
Open your furnace. This is done by clicking the "use" button while aiming at the furnace. The preset button for this is the right mouse button.
- You'll obviously need to craft a furnace first, if you haven't done already.
You'll need to carefully determine which kind of fuel you need, as each kind of fuel smelts/cooks a different amount of items.^{[1]
X
Research source} While one bucket of lava can process 100 items, charcoal can only process 8, and saplings only half an item (so you'll need two to process one item). For a complete list of fuels and how much items they can process, check out this table

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You can burn wood to make charcoal, smelt iron ore into iron ingots, or cook food so it replenishes more hunger.
4
Wait for it to finish. The furnace will keep working until it's either run out of items to process or fuel.
- Note that sleeping in a bed will not speed up or skip the furnace.
- If you want to try the game before buying it, you can use the demo version of Minecraft.^{[2]
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  Research source}
- You can play a demo version of the game for 100 minutes for a maximum of five days.^{[3]
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  Research source}
- Or make use of Minecraft free trials available for PC and Xbox users.^{[4]
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  Research source}

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How do I separate items in Minecraft?

Community Answer

Right-click the block you want to separate and it will split. You can also select the block and go to an empty square in your inventory. Then, right-click to put one block into your inventory for a specific amount.

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What do I press on my keyboard to open the furnace?

Seasalt25

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To open a furnace, be facing it, then right-click your mouse or press the button you use to place blocks or use other items.

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How do you start a smoker?

Seasalt25

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To start a smoker you need to place fuel like coal or wood in the space at the bottom, then put a food item that can be cooked in the top space. You cannot smelt any other items besides foods that can be cooked.

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Tips

If you want to use your coal efficiently, craft a block of coal instead. This can process 80 items, instead of the 72 items nine separate coals could do.

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Once you have your furnace, get some stone tools while you're at it. This way, you can use your wooden tools to make charcoal and immediately start processing other things.

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Instead of just staring at your furnace and waiting waiting for it to finish, do something useful. Organize your chests. Go and kill some spiders.

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Warnings

Once fuel starts burning, it keeps burning. Make sure you put enough items in the item slot so you don't burn without actually processing items.

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