The uses for charcoal in Minecraft

Charcoal in Minecraft is a fuel source item that can be obtained by smelting logs or wood.

To acquire a number of useful and important items, players are often required to smelt or cook. Doing either of those activities requires players to burn a fuel source to be successful.

Coal is the basic resource that players most often use, but other fuel source items can be obtained. One of those items is charcoal, which players can obtain just by acquiring a bunch of wood.

Obtaining charcoal can be a great option for players who are struggling to find any coal. Charcoal is also a necessary component to craft various useful blocks or items, such as campfires and torches.

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The uses for charcoal in Minecraft

Obtaining charcoal can often be the best fuel source option for players to get during the early stages of playing Minecraft. Getting coal requires players to hunt down and find the resource underground, in caves, or inside mountains throughout the world.

Players often spawn into the game with fairly quick access to trees. Trees are also right on the surface of the Overworld and stick out like a sore thumb.

Even if players spawn into a biome with limited access to trees, they can make their way to a new biome.

To get charcoal, players will need to get their hands on some wood. Minecraft players can punch down the initial trees to get enough wood to make a crafting table, pickaxe, and axe.

A full guide on how to craft the essential tools in Minecraft can be found here.

All of those items will either be necessary or speed up the process of getting charcoal. After retrieving a healthy amount of wood, players will also need to get their hands on eight pieces of cobblestone.

This is where the pickaxe comes in, as players will efficiently mine stone blocks that they find around them. Players are welcome to also dig underneath them or look for a mountainside to find those important stone blocks.

Once players have acquired enough cobblestone, they can combine the eight pieces at a crafting table to make a furnace.

Smelting wood logs at a furnace in Minecraft for charcoal. (Image via Minecraft)

The furnace players can start smelting wood by using the wood they harvested earlier as the fuel source. The wood won't last long in terms of burn duration, but it will be enough to get precious cobblestone pieces.

Charcoal can be used to craft a variety of useful items, one of those being torches. Torches can serve as a light source that players can use at night to prevent hostile mobs from spawning in their base. Players can also use them to explore caves, mineshafts, and ravines more easily.

Crafting both a campfire and fire charges also requires players to use charcoal as a crafting component.

Overall, charcoal is a great alternative to getting coal in Minecraft during the game's early stages. Charcoal will allow Minecraft players to get some initial torches to explore the rest of the world more easily.