How to get flint and steel in Minecraft

The flint and steel is one of Minecraft's most useful tools. It can perform tasks such as starting fires, lighting Nether portals, and detonating TNT and creepers.

The process of obtaining a flint and steel tends to be quite simple. Players can craft the tool with flint and an iron ingot or obtain it from looting structures such as Nether fortresses and ruined portals.

Before Java Edition 1.8, it was also possible to trade for flint and steel from villagers, though this is no longer an option.

Regardless, players should have little trouble putting together a flint and steel of their own.

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Obtaining components to craft a flint and steel in Minecraft

Players can obtain flint from mining gravel blocks in Minecraft (Image via Mojang)

Minecraft players will need flint and an iron ingot in order to construct a flint and steel. Both materials should be quite easy to come by. Flint can be obtained from multiple sources, and iron is one of the more plentiful ores in the game.

With a little time and effort, players will be able to create a flint and steel and set fires to their heart's content.

For flint, players should seek out gravel blocks. These particular blocks appear in a wide variety of locations, particularly underground or near bodies of water like ocean biomes.

If players have access to a beach, they can likely find gravel blocks close to the water's surface or underneath it.

Mining a gravel block will yield a 10% chance of dropping a single piece of gravel regardless of what tool is used. However, if players use the Fortune enchantment on the tool, it can increase the chances of flint dropping from the gravel block.

Minecraft players can also obtain flint from Novice-level fletcher villagers, ruined portal loot chests, and village chests. If players are struggling to get flint drops from gravel blocks, these avenues may be worth exploring.

For iron, players will likely want to head underground. Iron ore generates quite generously underground, and players can take raw iron from mined iron ore blocks and smelt it into ingots in a furnace.

In Minecraft: Java Edition, iron ore generates in three "batches" at varying height levels. The game's world generation tends to place the largest concentrations of the block at height levels Y=255 and Y=54. Players should look to these elevations to begin their search before checking other heights for the block.

Once players have smelted their iron ingots and collected their pieces of flint, all they need to do is head to the nearest crafting table. Once there, They should place the two materials together in the crafting grid to create the flint and steel. Everything after that is entirely up to the player.