The Complete Guide to Crafting and Using Grindstones in Minecraft

Far more than just another villager workstation, this versatile block serves as your go-to solution for repairing damaged equipment and removing unwanted enchantments to repurpose your items.

Let's explore the process of crafting a grindstone in Minecraft and discover the most effective ways to utilize this handy tool.

Crafting Requirements for a Grindstone

You'll need these materials:

• 2 sticks
• 2 wooden planks (any wood type works)
• 1 stone slab

The beauty of this recipe lies in its simplicity - these are all materials you can gather within minutes of starting a new world. Feel free to mix different wood types for the planks; oak and birch together work just as well as matching planks.

This combination produces one grindstone, and given how useful it becomes early in your survival journey, it's definitely worth the minimal investment.

To craft it, place the stone slab in the top center slot of your crafting table, position one stick and one plank on each side of the middle row, and leave the bottom row empty.

Locating Grindstones in Your World

Rather than crafting one yourself, you might stumble upon grindstones naturally generated in village structures.

Look for the weaponsmith's workshop - a small cobblestone building with a grindstone prominently displayed. This same grindstone serves as the job block that transforms unemployed villagers into weaponsmiths.

When you find one, any pickaxe will successfully harvest it, even a basic wooden one.

Operating Your Grindstone

After placing your grindstone, interact with it using right-click to open its interface. Like a crafting table or furnace, it features its own unique GUI with specific slots for different functions.

The interface displays three slots total - two input slots on the left side and one output slot on the right.

The left-hand slots accept enchanted items for disenchantment purposes.

Keep in mind that disenchanting completely removes the enchantment permanently - you won't recover an enchantment book or any way to reapply that specific enchantment.

The process yields a small amount of experience points and returns the item to its unenchanted state.

Note that cursed items remain cursed - grindstones cannot remove curse enchantments under any circumstances.

For repairing equipment, insert two identical items (same material and type) into the input slots. The grindstone combines their durability values and adds a 5% bonus to the total. Both original items are consumed to create the repaired version.

Exercise caution when repairing enchanted gear - the grindstone strips all enchantments during the repair process, regardless of their value.

Reserve grindstone repairs for your everyday, unenchanted tools to avoid losing valuable enchantments.

Creating a Weaponsmith Villager

A placed grindstone automatically assigns the weaponsmith profession to any nearby unemployed villager within range.

Weaponsmith villagers offer various trades involving iron and diamond tools, including axes and swords. As they advance through their profession levels, they unlock enchanted weapon trades with increasingly powerful effects.

At higher trading tiers, weaponsmiths also sell bells - crucial items for village defense that trigger villagers to seek shelter when rung.

If your village lacks unemployed villagers, consider breeding existing villagers or curing zombie villagers to expand your workforce.

Planning Your Next Steps

While grindstones prove invaluable during early and mid-game progression, their usefulness diminishes as you advance toward end-game content.

Once you've accumulated powerful enchanted gear, preserving those enchantments becomes paramount, making the grindstone's enchantment-stripping repair function counterproductive.

This is the perfect time to upgrade to an anvil for your repair needs.

Anvils preserve existing enchantments during repairs and even allow you to merge enchantments from two similar items. Additionally, anvils enable you to apply enchanted books to your equipment, making them indispensable for maintaining and improving your best gear.