How to Wax Copper in Minecraft Bedrock and Keep Its Color Forever

Copper in Minecraft does not stay orange for long. Over time it slowly turns green, block by block, until your shiny roof or decoration looks like an old statue. Sometimes that is exactly the look you want, but if you prefer a specific shade, you need to stop the process. The tool for this is honeycomb: waxing a copper block locks it at its current stage forever.

The short answer

Use honeycomb on a copper block, and it becomes waxed. Waxed copper no longer oxidizes and keeps the exact color it had at the moment you waxed it. You can do this at any stage, from fresh orange to fully green.

The four stages of copper

• Copper: bright, fresh orange.
• Exposed: the orange fades and the first green spots appear.
• Weathered: mostly green, with only a little orange left.
• Oxidized: fully turquoise-green, like an aged bronze statue.

Oxidation happens randomly and separately for each block, so a large copper wall usually ages unevenly, with a patchy mix of colors. Copper that is surrounded by less oxidized blocks ages more slowly, while blocks next to greener copper catch up faster. Waxing works at any of the four stages.

How to wax copper

First, you need honeycomb. Find a bee nest or a beehive that is full of honey (you will see honey dripping from it), and use shears on it to collect 3 honeycomb. Place a campfire under the nest beforehand: the smoke keeps the bees calm, so they will not attack you while you harvest.

Then hold the honeycomb and use it on a copper block. A small swirl of particles shows that the block is now waxed. One honeycomb waxes one block, so a big build needs a lot of it. If you plan to work with copper often, it is worth setting up a small bee farm with several hives and campfires. You can also combine a copper block with honeycomb in the crafting grid to get a waxed version straight away, which is handy when you are preparing blocks in advance.

Waxing is not limited to full blocks. Cut copper, stairs, slabs, copper doors, trapdoors, grates and copper bulbs can all be waxed the same way.

How to remove wax

Use an axe on a waxed block, and the wax comes off. The block will then continue oxidizing from the stage it was at. An axe can also scrape off oxidation: each use on unwaxed copper moves it one stage back toward bright orange. This is the easiest way to fix a block that turned too green.

Get the look you want before waxing

You do not have to wait for every block to age on its own. If you need a specific shade across a whole build, let a batch of copper oxidize to that stage, scrape any blocks that went too far with an axe, and then wax everything at once. Cut copper, stairs and slabs can be crafted from blocks at any stage, and the result keeps that stage's color, so you can prepare matching building materials in one go. This gives you an even color instead of a random patchwork.

Bedrock vs Java

Waxing works the same way in both editions: honeycomb to wax, an axe to remove wax or scrape oxidation, and the same four stages of aging.

Common problems

• Copper is still turning green. Some blocks were probably missed. Each block needs its own honeycomb, so look closely for any that did not show the particle effect.
• Bees attack when you collect honeycomb. Put a campfire directly under the nest before using shears. Leave a gap of a few blocks so the fire does not damage the nest or the bees.
• You waxed the wrong stage. Remove the wax with an axe, scrape or wait until the block reaches the shade you want, then wax it again.