How to Make Flint and Steel in Minecraft

Last Updated: November 30, 2023 References

The flint and steel item is your basic Minecraft fire starter, alongside the Fire Charge. The recipe is simple, but you do need to know the basics of gathering flint and smelting iron. Listen to Smokey Bear before you use this tool, or that forest fire could take out your base with it.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Gathering Flint and an Iron Ingot

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Gravel is a light grey block that falls when nothing is under it. You can find it in large quantities underwater, on beaches, on village pathways, and occasionally in caves. If you're not near any of these features, just dig underground until you come across it. However, be cautious when digging straight down.
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2
Break gravel until you get flint. About 1 in 10 gravel blocks drop a piece of flint instead of gravel when destroyed. ^{[1]
X
Research source} Using a shovel will let you dig through gravel much faster, and if enchanted with Fortune, it will increase the chances of getting flint. ^{[2]
X
Research source}
- A shovel requires one material of your choice (wood planks, cobblestone, iron ingot, gold ingot, or diamond) and two sticks, plus a crafting table . On the computer edition, place these in a vertical column with the material on top.
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Iron is fairly common underground and in caves, so you shouldn't have to dig deep to find it. It looks like stone with flecks of beige. You must use a stone pickaxe or better to mine it.
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4
Smelt the iron in a furnace . You can't use iron ore until you separate the iron from the stone. Here's how to do it:
- Build a furnace out of eight cobblestone using a crafting table. (In the computer edition, fill every square except the center.)
- Use the furnace to open a smelting interface.
- Place the iron ore in the top slot.
- Place coal, wood, or other flammable items in the lower fuel slot. (This will be destroyed.)
- Wait for the smelting to finish.
- Get the iron ingot from the results slot on the right.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Crafting Flint and Steel

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1
Craft Flint and Steel on the computer. If you are playing Minecraft on the computer or on a console with advanced crafting enabled, just place an iron ingot and piece of flint anywhere in the crafting grid. ^{[3]
X
Research source} Drag flint and steel from the results box to your inventory.
- If you are playing Minecraft 1.7.1 or earlier, you need to place the flint exactly one square below and one square to the right of the iron ingot. ^{[4]
  X
  Research source}
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2
Craft Flint and Steel on console or pocket edition. On devices with simple crafting systems, just select the Flint and Steel recipe from the crafting screen.
- On Minecraft Pocket edition, flint and steel is only available in version 0.4.0 and later. ^{[5]
  X
  Research source} You can only light fires in 0.7.0 and later. ^{[6]
  X
  Research source}
- All console versions have flint and steel.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Using Flint and Steel

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1
Protect yourself from fire. Before you start lighting things on fire, learn how to stop it from burning down your base: ^{[7]
X
Research source}
- Fire can spread to any empty block above a flammable surface. The furthest it can jump is one square down, one square to the side, or four squares up.
- Solid barriers will not stop the fire from spreading.
- Water will extinguish fire.
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2
Light a fire. Place the flint and steel in one of your quick slots and select it. You can now use the item the same way you would an equipped pickaxe or other tool. Using the item on a flammable object (such as wood or grass) will start a fire. Using it on a non-flammable object (such as stone) may start a short-lived fire. Here are a few ways to use a fire:
- Temporary lighting when you're low on torches
- Clearing a forest for a large building project
- Lighting enemies on fire — they're flammable too! Creepers will explode, and most other mobs will slowly take damage.
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You might find TNT guarding a desert temple, or you can make it yourself by filling the crafting area with alternating gunpowder and sand. Lighting it with flint and steel gives you about four seconds to run before it explodes. ^{[8]
X
Research source} To give yourself more time, light a flammable block near the TNT and let it spread to ignite the TNT indirectly.

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How long can a sword last?

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1,562 for diamond and 60 for wood, but it lasts longer if it has unbreaking.

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How do I repair a sword in Minecraft?

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To repair a sword, craft an anvil or find one in a village, and place the broken sword in the first slot. In the second slot, place another sword that has more strength than the first. After that, a sword will be shown in the third box, take that. Combining the 2 weapons will make a stronger weapon.

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How do I find steel in the Minecraft demo version?

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The steel in flint and steel refers to iron. You can find iron with the steps in this article.

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Some multiplayer servers ban flint and steel to prevent players lighting things on fire (griefing). ^{[9]
X
Research source} If the recipe isn't working, try again in a single player world.

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Flint and steel have a good synergy with netherrack. Right clicking on netherrack will make everlasting fire. Be careful not to walk into it though! You can also make a fireplace using flint and steel with netherrack and other non-burnable blocks, to avoid the spread of fire.

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Flint and Steel can also be found in naturally generated Nether Fortress and Ruined Portal chests.

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Tips from our Readers

The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.

If you are heading out to explore, don't hold flint and steel while you walk. You may accidentally (and randomly) light something on fire!
Another way of lighting TNT is to use redstone. Powered dust or redstone blocks work for the recipe, you just can't use unpowered dust.

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Warnings

Walking into fire will set yourself on fire. This will deal you damage as long as you stay in the burning block, then for eight seconds (four hearts of health) after you leave it. ^{[10]
X
Research source} Water will extinguish the flame.

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How to Make Flint and Steel in Minecraft

Steps

Gathering Flint and an Iron Ingot

Crafting Flint and Steel

Using Flint and Steel

Community Q&A

Video

Tips

Tips from our Readers

Warnings

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