In Minecraft, mining is a core activity, but not everything you mine is immediately usable. This is where smelting comes in. Even though it is time-consuming, this process lets you use all the minerals you mine in Minecraft. But there is a way to bypass and convert your mined materials faster: the blast furnace. It smelts common minerals at double the speed of a regular furnace. Plus, it unlocks important trading options with villagers. With that, let's find out how to make a blast furnace in Minecraft and put it to use.
Make a Blast Furnace in Minecraft
From locking to crafting it, here, you can find everything you need to know about a blast furnace in Minecraft. Just make sure to explore each section thoroughly and drop your queries on our Discord server if you face any issues.
What is a Blast Furnace in Minecraft
The blast furnace is a functional block in Minecraft that can smelt a bunch of metallic items. While it cannot cook food, its smelting speed is twice as much as that of a regular furnace. Though, this higher speed also leads to faster fuel consumption.
Other than being a reliable smelter, the blast furnace also acts as a job site block for armorer villagers. These mobs offer some of the best trades in Minecraft. But, more on that later. For now, let's focus on how to get your hands on this vital block.
What Can You Smelt in a Blast Furnace
You can use a blast furnace in Minecraft to smelt the following items:
- Raw Ore
- Ore Block
- Pickaxe
- Axe
- Hoe
- Sword
- Shovel
- Helmet
- Leggins
- Boots
- Chest Plate
Note: Even though you can smelt any ore inside a blast furnace, the situation isn't the same when it comes to items. You can only smelt tools/armor made out of iron, gold, or chainmail. There is no way to smelt stronger materials like diamond and Netherite inside this block.
Where to Find Blast Furnaces in Minecraft
The blast furnaces only generate inside the villages and the trail ruins structure in Minecraft. But, since villages only spawn this block within the armorer house, it can be a bit harder to find. Meanwhile, you can use our list of best Minecraft Trail Ruins seeds to easily find a blast furnace buried in the ground.
Is Blast Furnace Better Than a Regular Furnace
The furnace and the blast furnace have some striking differences. They make each of them reliable in different circumstances.
- Speed: The blast furnace can smelt materials at twice the speed of a regular furnace.
- Variety: The blast furnace doesn't let you cook food in it and the regular furnace doesn't allow you to smelt armor/tools.
- Profession: When you place a blast furnace next to an unemployed villager, they turn into armorers. The furnaces have no such effect on the villagers.
- Crafting Cost: You only need cobblestone to craft a furnace. But, crafting a blast furnace requires iron and smooth stone alongside a complete furnace.
Except for these differences, the two variants of furnaces are quite similar. To sustain the higher smelting speed, the blast furnace consumes faster than a regular furnace. But the net consumption of fuel remains the same. Moreover, both of these blocks emit the same level (13) of light in Minecraft.
Items Required to Make a Blast Furnace in Minecraft
You need to collect the following items to make a blast furnace in Minecraft:
- 3 Smooth Stone
- 5 Iron Ingots
- 1 Furnace
Before you begin the journey to craft a blast furnace, it's important to make a pickaxe in Minecraft. You just need to combine three wooden planks with two sticks to craft it. This recipe works with all types of wood including the new bamboo wood.
How to Make a Furnace
Follow these simple steps to make a furnace in Minecraft:
1. First, search for stone blocks that spawn close to rivers and within the caves of the overworld. 
2. Then, use your wooden pickaxe to mine stone blocks and collect cobblestone. You only need 8 cobblestone blocks to make a furnace. But, it's best to collect six additional blocks for a stone pickaxe and smooth stones.
3. Finally, arrange the cobblestones as a hollow square inside the crafting grid to turn them into a furnace.
How to Get Iron in Minecraft
Follow these simple steps to get iron in Minecraft:
1. First, combine three cobblestones with two sticks inside the crafting table to make a stone pickaxe.
2. Then, explore the caves in your world till you find iron ore blocks. As per Minecraft 1.20's ore distribution, they generate most commonly around Y=16 world height. Next, mine the iron ore blocks using a stone pickaxe (or stronger) to get raw iron.
3. Finally, smelt the raw iron inside a furnace to get iron ingots in Minecraft. You can use any leftover sticks of planks as an economical fuel.
Make Smooth Stone Blocks
With the core ingredients out of the way, it's time to make the base of a blast furnace. Follow these steps to learn how:
1. First, smelt three cobblestone blocks inside the furnace to turn them into stone blocks.
2. Next, smelt the stone blocks again inside a furnace to convert them into smooth stone blocks.
3. Alternatively, you can also find smooth stone blocks inside random houses of snowy and plains villages. Our list of best Minecraft 1.20 village seeds has a variety of these structures.
Crafting Recipe of Blast Furnace
Once you have all the ingredients, it's really easy to make a blast furnace in Minecraft. Just follow these easy steps to craft it in no time:
1. First, open your crafting table by right-clicking or using the secondary action key on it.
2. Then, fill up the bottom layer of the crafting grid with three smooth stone blocks.
3. Next, place the furnace in the middle cell of the crafting grid.
4. Finally, fill the rest of the crafting grid with iron ingots. With that, your blast furnace is ready for use.
How to Use a Blast Furnace
Follow these simple steps to use a blast furnace in Minecraft:
1. First, place your blast furnace by right-clicking or using the secondary action key. Then, open this block by right-clicking on it.
2. Next, place a piece of gold/iron/chainmail tool or armor in the top slot of the blast furnace. You can also try ores or ore blocks.
3. Then, put fuel in the bottom slot to power the blast furnace. As soon as you place the fuel the blast furnace will activate and smelt your item. You can find the complete list of fuels in the next section.
4. If you place any tool or armor piece, the final result will be the nugget of its material.
5. Much like a regular furnace, you can also set up a hopper with a chest to collect the results of your blast furnace.
What Can I Use as Fuel in Minecraft
You can use the following items to fuel your blast furnaces in Minecraft:
- Coal, charcoal, and block of coal
- Lava bucket
- Dried kelp
- Blaze rod
- Raft, boat, and boat with chest
- All wooden blocks including utility blocks, tools, and weapons
- Saplings, bamboo, and azalea
- Sticks and bowl
- Wool, carpet, and banners
Other Uses of the Blast Furnace
You can also use the blast furnace for a variety of purposes beyond smelting minerals. While it is active, the block acts as a light block with a bright level of 13. It is enough to prevent hostile mobs from spawning in the area. Furthermore, if you place a blast furnace next to an unemployed villager, they can take up the occupation of an armorer.
What Do Armorer Sell
An armorer offers the following sales in Minecraft:
- Iron armor pieces
- Bell
- Chainmail armor pieces
- Shield
- Enchanted diamond armor pieces
Moreover, you can also sell coal, iron ingots, diamonds, and lava buckets to armorers in exchange for emeralds. However, most players only keep them around as a renewable source of enchanted armor.
How to Lock a Blast Furnace in Minecraft
If you are playing on the Minecraft Java edition, the blast furnaces also have a special hidden ability. You can use the "/lock" command to lock these blocks and prevent others from accessing them until they hold a special key. This mechanic allows you to use this item as a safe on the best Minecraft survival servers.
To lock a particular blast furnace, you just need to find its coordinates and choose a key to unlock it. For example, if you want to lock a blast furnace placed at "23, 43, 55" coordinates with a stonecutter, the command will be:
/data merge stonecutter 23 43 55 {Lock: "Blast Furnace Key"}
Now, you can only access that particular blast furnace while holding a stonecutter. Otherwise, it will as a non-functional building block.
Make & Use a Blast Furnace in Minecraft
With the powerful blast furnace in your inventory, you are now ready to smelt as many ores as you want. But, collecting ores isn't as fun as displaying them. So, make sure to create a bunch of unique armor pieces and decorate them with armor trims in Minecraft. You can even make an armor stand to display them in style. But, a smartly placed item frame can also do a great job. With that said, do you prefer the blast furnace over the regular furnace? Or are you going to stick with the basics? Drop your take on our Discord server and discover where the rest of the community stands.