A furnace turns raw materials into usable items
A furnace is a block in Minecraft that cooks or smelts raw materials into finished items. You put a raw material and a fuel source inside, wait for it to process, and collect the result. The most common use is turning raw iron ore into iron ingots, which you then craft into tools and armor. A furnace also cooks food, turns logs into charcoal, and processes other ores like gold, copper, and diamonds.
You build a furnace from eight cobblestone blocks arranged in a hollow square, leaving the center empty. Once placed, it works like a container — you open it, add what you want to cook, add fuel, and the furnace does the work while you do other things. If your home network includes a shared Minecraft world, a furnace is one of the first communal tools you and others will build.
Key Takeaways
- A furnace requires eight cobblestone blocks arranged in a square with the center empty, then you place it on the ground.
- You put the material to cook in the top slot, fuel in the bottom slot, and the finished item appears in the right slot after processing.
- Common fuels are coal, charcoal, wood, and wooden planks — each burns for a different length of time.
- A furnace takes 10 seconds to cook most items, and you can leave it running while you gather more materials or explore.
- Multiple furnaces speed up cooking if you have a lot of ore to process, and they do not interfere with each other.
Gathering cobblestone for the furnace frame
Cobblestone is the easiest block to find in Minecraft. You get it by mining stone with a pickaxe — any pickaxe works, even a wooden one, though it takes longer. Stone appears almost everywhere underground, in caves, and in the walls of cliffs and ravines. You need eight blocks total, so a few minutes of mining gives you enough.
If you are still on the surface and do not have a pickaxe yet, you can make a temporary one from wood. Punch trees to collect wood logs, open your crafting menu, turn logs into wooden planks, then arrange planks and sticks into a pickaxe shape. Once you have any pickaxe, find a stone block and mine it to get cobblestone.
Crafting the furnace in your crafting menu
Open your crafting menu by pressing E (on PC), the menu button (on console), or the crafting icon (on mobile). You should see a 2×2 grid of crafting slots. Arrange your eight cobblestone blocks in a square pattern: place one in each corner and one in the middle of each side, leaving the center empty. The result appears in the output slot on the right.
If you have a crafting table, open it and use the larger 3×3 grid instead — the pattern is the same, just more space. Either way, drag the finished furnace into your inventory. You now have a furnace block that you can place anywhere.
Placing the furnace and opening it
Choose a spot in your home or base where you want the furnace to live. Hold the furnace in your hand, point at the ground or a wall, and place it by right-clicking (PC), pressing the place button (console), or tapping (mobile). The furnace appears as a solid block with a dark opening on one side.
Right-click the furnace to open it. You see three slots: the top slot for the material you want to cook, the bottom slot for fuel, and the right slot where the finished item appears. The furnace is now ready to use.
Adding materials and fuel to cook
Put the raw material in the top slot. Common choices are raw iron ore (to make iron ingots), raw gold ore (to make gold ingots), or raw food like chicken or beef (to cook it). You can cook one item at a time, or stack up to 64 of the same item and the furnace cooks them all in sequence.
Put fuel in the bottom slot. Coal is the most common fuel — one piece of coal cooks about eight items. Charcoal (which you make by cooking wood in a furnace) works just as well. Wooden planks and logs also work but burn faster, so you need more of them. Once fuel is in the bottom slot, the furnace lights up and begins cooking.
The arrow in the middle of the furnace fills up as the item cooks. When it is full, the item moves to the right slot and cooking stops if there is no more material in the top slot. If you have more material stacked in the top slot, the furnace automatically starts cooking the next item.
Collecting finished items and managing the furnace
When the arrow is full and the item is done, click the right slot to collect it. You can leave the furnace running and come back later — it does not break or lose progress. If you want to stop cooking early, remove the fuel from the bottom slot and the furnace stops when ready.
If you are cooking a lot of ore, place multiple furnaces side by side. Each one works independently, so you can cook different materials at the same time or split a large stack of ore between them. This is faster than waiting for one furnace to finish everything.
In a shared world on your home network, mark your furnaces clearly so others know which ones are yours, or build a communal cooking area where anyone can use the furnaces. Furnaces do not break when others use them, and materials do not disappear if someone opens it while you are away.
Common fuels and how long they burn
| Fuel Type | Items Cooked Per Piece | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Coal | 8 items | Most efficient common fuel; found in caves and mines |
| Charcoal | 8 items | Made by cooking wood in a furnace; works exactly like coal |
| Wooden Planks | 1.5 items | Burns quickly; use when you have excess wood |
| Wood Logs | 1.5 items | Same burn time as planks; less efficient than coal |
| Blaze Rods | 12 items | Found in the Nether; most efficient fuel in the game |
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I cook multiple different items in one furnace at the same time?
No. A furnace cooks one stack of one item type at a time. If you put raw iron ore in the top slot and raw gold ore below it, the furnace cooks only the iron ore first. Once the iron is done, you have to remove it and add the gold ore. For multiple items at once, build separate furnaces.
What happens if I run out of fuel while something is cooking?
Cooking stops when ready and the partially cooked item stays in the top slot. Add more fuel to the bottom slot and cooking resumes from where it stopped. You do not lose progress or the item.
Can I cook food in a furnace, or do I need a campfire?
A furnace cooks food just fine. Raw chicken, beef, pork, and fish all cook in a furnace and restore more hunger than raw food. A campfire is faster for cooking one or two items, but a furnace is better if you have a lot of food to cook at once.
Do furnaces work if I am not looking at them or if I log out?
On a single-player world, furnaces stop working when you are far away or logged out. On a multiplayer server or shared world, furnaces keep working even when you are offline, as long as the server is running. Check your server settings to confirm.
What is the difference between a furnace and a blast furnace?
A blast furnace cooks ores twice as fast as a regular furnace but uses twice as much fuel. It only cooks ores and metal items, not food or other materials. Build a blast furnace if you have a lot of ore to process and fuel to spare.