How to make charcoal in Minecraft
Smelting is an important crafting process in Minecraft. It’s used to create dyes, cook food, make glass, and extract important ores like iron. At the heart of the smelting process is the furnace (or the blast furnace) and there is fuel. Fuel is what powers the smelting process i.e., get the fire going and coal is the most commonly used, and easy-to-find fuel in Minecraft. That said, there are other fuel blocks that you can use.
Charcoal in Minecraft
As a fuel, Charcoal is as efficient as coal, and 5 times more efficient than wood planks. It does not occur naturally and therefore has to be crafted. Crafting ingredients for Charcoal are easy to find, and it’s easy to craft but when you compare it to coal, it adds up to be a far more expensive fuel to use for a smelting process.
Charcoal has uses other than as fuel; it’s used to craft a campfire, a soul torch, and a fire charge. You are highly unlikely to use it to smelt anything unless you simply cannot find coal which is impossible.
How to make Charcoal in Minecraft
To make charcoal, you need;
- Wood
- Wooden planks or coal (or any other fuel e.g. seaweed)
- A furnace
To make charcoal, you need to smelt wood. Any type of wood will do the job. Find the nearest tree, and get as much wood as you want to make charcoal. One wood block will give you one charcoal.
- Open the furnace.
- Place the wood in the smelting cell.
- Place your preferred fuel in the fuel slot.
- Collect charcoal once the process is complete.
Other method for obtaining charcoal
If you happen to find a campfire e.g. in a village, and you have a tool(axe) with the silk touch enchantment, you can use it to break the campfire and it will drop two charcoal. It goes without saying that this is a tedious method for obtaining charcoal, especially if you plan on using to craft your own campfires around your base.
Conclusion
Charcoal was added in Minecraft in 2010 however, at the time, it didn’t do much. In fact, it looked like coal and you wouldn’t know if you had coal or charcoal in your inventory back then. It has since changed quite a bit, both in visual appearance and what it can do. Charcoal now looks distinctively different from coal and is an ingredient in 3-4 different items. Charcoal is available in all versions of Minecraft (Java, Bedrock, etc).
