A few of my family members and I wanted to start playing Minecraft again, so I figured it would be best to not play on a server. We all still have the same computers we’ve had for years, and we always used mods with our old server. With that said, we do not own premium accounts like we did before.
This time around, I was able to convince my wife that not playing on a server is the best way for us to have fun. I decided this would be even more fun if we played 2 player Survival Island again. However, none of us could get used to the 1.7 version of Minecraft since it has been so long since we’ve played.
How to make blast furnace 1.14
It just didn’t feel right. So, I downloaded the newest version of Minecraft, 1.13 Snapshot 15w51b. We all agreed that it felt like how we remembered playing before (even though none of us could remember exactly how things were back in the day).
However, when my son and I started mining with our diamond pickaxes, we found out quickly that an iron pickaxe was much more efficient. This meant one of us would have to create four or five diamond pickaxes before we could start creating a base for ourselves.
What is a blast furnace in Minecraft and how do you make one?
I started looking around the internet to figure out how best to create iron for this purpose. This is when I found that it’s not as hard as I first thought.
It turns out you only need two things: coal and wood. Then, all you have to do is set up a three block high structure with the blocks in a specific pattern. Next, you shove both items into the two bottom blocks of the furnace and light it on fire.
How to use a blast furnace to create ingots and other items in Minecraft
Once the smelting is complete, you will have your iron ingots ready. There are a few things to note, though. Firstly, the furnace only holds eight items at a time so you’ll have to create multiple furnaces if you plan on creating a good deal of objects. Secondly, only one log will smelt. This means you’ll need two trees to turn one log into eight ingots.
Finally, it takes a lot of coal and wood to come up with eight iron ingots. I made the mistake of not doing my research and had very little coal and wood left for actual construction items.
The benefits of using a blast furnace in Minecraft to create iron
Despite the drawbacks of using a blast furnace in Minecraft, it is still far more efficient than mining for diamonds to make pickaxes. If you have no access to coal or logs, you can use wood from your inventory to turn into charcoal which smelts at double the speed.
If you plan on playing Minecraft with a few friends, this is a great way to use resources that would normally go to waste such as cobblestone and wood logs. However, I do recommend having spare diamonds, gold, or emeralds available in case you need them for enchantments.
Tips for using a blast furnace more effectively in Minecraft
It is also a good idea to create multiple furnaces with the same amount of items in each so you can smelt more than eight ingots at once. You’ll still need lots of coal and wood, but it will allow for more efficient use of time and resources. If one furnace is full, just light up another and replace the items as they are smelted.
Also, if you have a shovel or hoe, use them to break the blocks on the side of the furnace so that there is more room for your items. This will save time because you won’t have to destroy the furnace before placing new items inside it.
