Unlock the Secret to Obtaining Flint in Minecraft – A Comprehensive Guide

If a player needs flint quickly, they can head to an exposed beach, river, or swamp, as these areas often have gravel patches above ground that they can mine. An efficient way to get large quantities of flint using this method is near or under large bodies of water, since the whole area will turn into gravel if exposed to flowing water.

Another method is to create flint-processing farms by placing a source of water (e.g. an ice block or a cauldron) on top of a bed of gravel, allowing it to continuously break and be mined by a player under the water.

2021 Update: Flattening an area, particularly on beaches, rivers, and near swamp biomes is the best way to mine gravel. Having water directly above the gravel will increase the chances of running water coming into contact, spawning flint.

Trading with Villagers

You can trade with villagers in order to get flint in Minecraft. Villagers can be found in the village of all six existing biomes of plains, sunflower plains, desert, savanna, taiga, or snowy tundra, and only rarely in other biomes.

Flint does not appear in the shop trade list of villagers, which is randomly generated, but there is still a chance that flint can be one of the random trades when presented with a villager’s typical blacksmith offers of armor, weapons, etc. So if there is a villager offering something you like, but no options for it, you might consider purchasing something until an option to buy flint advances in the trade window at some point.

If the option to trade for flint does not appear and you still want to use villagers as a way to obtain flint, you can cure a zombie villager and wait for them to pick up the profession they originally had. Conversion takes 1 minute, and then trading is possible from about 6 to 22 minutes after that. Just to be certain you get the deal you want, consider fencing the converted villager in the profession booth with the help of a few iron bars locked in place to prevent their escape until the desired trade appears. It is a time-consuming process, but it is one of the only methods to trade with a villager.

Fishing

Fishing is a way to get flint in Minecraft, as it is a way to acquire many types of items including buckets, books, fish, leather, saddles, sticks, bows, enchanted items, damaged items, and some rotten flesh, among other things. Up until the 1.17 Caves And Cliffs update, fishing was able to produce a small amount of flint. Today it seems to be a valid way to acquire all known items except flint and a few other items that do not need to be detailed within this article.

What Can You Do with Flint in Minecraft?

In Minecraft, flint can be used to create the following items in a Crafting Table:

1. Arrows – Wooden Stick, Flint, Feather
2. Flint and Steel – Iron Ingot, Flint
3. Flint – One flint block is created by putting 9 of the item together in the crafting table, just like you do with other resources.

These are the only three items that players can create with flint in the original Minecraft. Recently its use has been expanded to include making candles, bolt cutters, a lightning rod, and amethyst geodes along with many other new things from the Caves & Cliffs Update and later.

Crafting Flint and Steel

To get flint in Minecraft easily without the need for better tools, you can craft an item called flint and steel at a crafting table. Flint and steel is used to light nether portals and for starting fires. A quick and consistent recipe for using flint to make a flint and steel item is as follows:

1. Access a crafting table. If you don’t have one, this can be done by right-clicking on a crafting table. See more about crafting in our Minecraft crafting basics guide.
2. Combine 1 flint and 1 iron ingot to create flint and steel.
3. Drag the flint and steel into your inventory.
4. Flint and steel durability is a bit less than most pickaxes. It can be used to light a total of 64 nether portals, fires, or light TNT blocks before breaking.
5. Since there is no output, the flint and steel will appear on the crafting side. This can be dragged to your inventory and you are finished.

Being only half the usual crafting recipe, the crafting of flint and steel is very easy. Only 1 iron ingot is needed to activate the 1 flint.

Crafting Arrows

Arrows are a Minecraft item predominantly used with a bow in creative mode to shoot players, mobs, or items. Besides shooting at items, there is no purpose to obtaining Flint and instead players can either build a wooden shovel and remove it for other uses, or use it to make arrows.

A quiver of arrows has always been critical for firing at distant mobs and items and with the 1.14 Village & Pillage, 1.8 Village and In Stone and Better Together updates, arrows are both needed and easier for players to craft.

Players can create arrows with Wood, Stone, Iron, Diamond, and Netherite to shoot with a bow. The image below shows the crafting recipe for creating a bunch of arrows made from flint. This includes three straight lines with three items each of wood (columns 1 and 9), feathres (rows 2,4,6), and flint (rows 3,5,7).

All other items are vanilla Minecraft, while the special items include a wooden shovel, flint used to create fire, brown mushroom used to brew suspicious stew, and bread used to breed foxes. Players need a single piece of iron and reduce their stack of arrows to just four to replenish the stack to 64.

Crafting Fire Charges

Fire charges are similar to flint and steel in terms of the in-game functionality. Instead of lighting wood blocks on fire to make campfires or portal frames, they are used in dispensers to set off TNT. One nether brick block is required to make these charges, as shown below, so that means some 3 flint blocks will have to be smelted.

1. Place a flint from inventory at the center of crafting window (3 by 3) underneath.
2. Place the nether brick in any slot underneath the flint
3. Move the fire charge down to inventory to create this item

While you don’t truly craft fire charges in the same way you do blocks of iron or planks of oak, it does take a block of flint to complete the recipe. When activated, fire charges will fire in the direction of the face of the block they are in, although if there is a flammable block or mob in the way, the charge will just bounce.

Crafting Explosive Items

When using TNT in Minecraft, flint and steel is required to light the TNT. Flint and steel is crafted using one iron ingot (as per the image below) and one piece of flint. There are multiple ways to craft TNT, but only two are normally used to include recovery of resources(difficult to mass-produce). The two recipes are either four gunpowder and five sand blocks of any type (one of which is destroyed in the crafting process) or five gunpowder and four Gravel blocks of any type (flint appearing as a by-product).

In the second recipe one iron ingot has to be thrown away along with the destroyed sand block. This recipe only returns three pieces of gravel which have a guaranteed 10% flint drop rate. Gravel in minecraft (of the Overworld) is generated from levels 1 to 63. It generates in a way similar to exposed stone and can be found in pockets from the surface down to Y-level 63.

1. Because Flint and Steel can light TNT to destroy sand and gravel blocks, in the name of careful resource base rebuilding after obtaining something from gravel, gunpowder and sand items from sea floor ruins if a chest is found.

Tips for Finding Flint in Minecraft

The best tips for finding flint in Minecraft are:

1. Traversing Rivers or Coastlines: Flint spawns in these areas the most so start here.
2. Miner Pyramids: For slow and more focused efforts to convert small quantities of gravel into flint in the Nether and on the main island, build a pyramid system.
3. Above Groundwork: Mining standard elevations outdoors on the spot can result in excellent flint findings with ease.
4. Mining the Backways in the Nether: Try strategies to jump between different nether pockets for increased chances of flint. This is more difficult and dangerous, but it is based on studies.

These approaches can give you an edge in performing the method that works best for your gameplay.

Look for Gravel Patches

Flint in Minecraft is a common metal that generates throughout the world inside naturally occurring structures. The opportunity to encounter gravel is therefore a universe-dependent constant. Flint ore generates at a height between five and fifteen blocks above sea level from either an outward face of gravel blocks of at least two each in size or within them.

Photograph of flint as it appears naturally in real life. It is a gray non-metallic form of the compound silicon dioxide (SiO2) with orange iron oxide impurities, forming cavities which disrupt the regular crystal structure. Should you be unable to find it distributed throughout your world, it may be turned into gravel via a composter or by having water break it. Any Efficiency pickaxe is suggested, though merely by breaking the flint ore with any tool or by hand, you have an equal chance of producing one piece.

Under ideal conditions, you have a 10% chance of finding a piece of flint for each gravel block. Remove the surrounding material prior to extracting flint or any drop may be lost. Flint’s primary uses are to create flint and steel to light nether portals, and to create arrows for use with bows.

Use a Fortune Enchantment

Fortune is an enchantment in Minecraft letting you get more loot and experience per ore block. It is one of the most valuable ore-doubling and ore-tripling enchantments in the game, depending on how high level of an enchantment you have. Unenchanted, Flint gives 1 Flint, so with Fortune you could get 2-4 Flint in one block breaking action. You can increase the chances of getting more flint by defeating the ender dragon to gain access to the Fortress.

It is in the Fortress that you will be able to find loot chests that contain Enchanted Books that you can use on weapons, tools, and armor to give them new abilies. It is entirely up to the RNG of Minecraft as to how many enchantments it will take for you to find a Fortune III enchantment. If you are an experienced user, use your enchantment table or an anvil to apply this to the Flint and Steel.

Trade with Fletcher Villagers

Trading with traditionally robed Fletcher Villagers is one way to get flint. To get them to offer flint as a trade item in their stock, a player must perform certain actions to raise their standing with the Fletcher Village members. This can be done by going on a variety of quests around the world to pick up odd arcane items that somehow raise or lower the memory of the villagers.

Trading is expensive overall, resource-wise, but if you find one with a good trade offer, Fletcher villagers can be a helpful short-term intermediary to help you reach your ultimate goal of acquiring additional flint for crossbows, firearms, traps, etc. The Standing level you have with them depends on the amounts and types of trading you have previously done with them. Further information on how to make different professions of villagers become fletchers can be found at the Minecraft Wiki.

Use a Fishing Rod with Luck of the Sea Enchantment

Iron can be nicer than diving for gravel in order to find Flint. If you already have extra irons at your disposal or if gravel is in very limited supply in your current survival world, a fishing rod can be a substitute for collection.

To fish, you must have both an open body of water and a rod. Fish obtain Flint through dredging the bottom of the lake. They do not have a guaranteed chance of producing Flint, but an increase in the Luck of the Sea enchantment will increase the odds elsewise. Fishing is the only way to get flint in creative mode, which allows you to attain Luck of the Sea or Lure from enchantments obtained through the Creative Inventory or Anvil

Catches have approximately 5% Luck of the Sea (I) level, 7% Luck (II) level, or 10% Luck (III) of level attached to them. In each of these cases, a pufferfish or 11% of food is generated. As a result, Luck not only affects the drop rates of Flint, but it increases the odds of items’ likelihood of being fish. If a course to speak to spending your time getting Flint by baiting fish, build a Cactus Farm to easily get Luck of the Sea from Green Dye. A Lucre Potency enchanted Fishing Rod to fish in forests or the plains will help you to generate fish immediately. As many fish as you want can easily be spawned this way, which you can then seek.

What Are the Best Tools for Mining Gravel?

The best tools for mining gravel in Minecraft are one of the following, depending on the other factors under consideration:

1. Wooden Shovels: Used only if the player has nothing else.
2. Iron Shovels: A good all-purpose tool for collecting large quantities of gravel for flint/iron production or general landscaping use.
3. Netherite Shovels: More powers for large-scale gravel mining and if scrambling in regions with high player activity.

Enchantments for shovels make gravel collection faster: From gaining two extra resources per block (Fortune), to lowering the time needed to mine it (Efficiency), to ensuring materials like diamonds are not burned up in the wrong circumstances (Silk Touch).

Shovel

Flint is most commonly acquired in Minecraft via a Shovel with its help page referring to it as having a 20% chance of dropping flint as the shovel’s material. Information from the Minecraft Wiki shows that most shovel types do not allow for flint dropping, and this information is not located on the shovels help menu, making it difficult to remember which shovel type is capable of forcing a flint drop. Shovel types that allow flint dropping include rare and effortful diamond and netherite types, alongside basalt for the Basalt Delta and blackstone for the Bastion Remnant. A standard iron or wooden shovel is the best bet.

Silk Touch Enchantment

The Silk Touch enchantment now allows players to pick up ores without using complex upgrading or smelting. When destroying the Gravel block, regardless of the tool used, it allows players to gather exactly the Flint they need directly. The Silk Touch enchantment can be obtained by looting books, trading with villagers, fishing, or by combining two items within an Anvil box.

Efficiency Enchantment

Efficiency is an enchantment in Minecraft that reduces the time it takes players to mine a block, speeds up the user’s attack speed while utilizing tools under its effect, and increases the speed at which an individual can dig with or without a tool.

Flint tools are not affected by the Efficiency enchantment. The speed at which flint is mined is increased by using either a shovel on gravel or an axe on leaves.

Here are the ranks of Efficiency enchantment and the percentage of benefit they provide against a European oak tree with a wooden, stone, iron, diamond, netherite axe (source; Gamepedia). For Flint mining we assume a wooden shovel to be consistent with percentages for the flint mining action as provided by the game, as these are both basic early game actions.

• Minecraft Efficiency Enchantment I: 50% reduced time required (51% benefit to time spent mining oak trees at different levels).
• Minecraft Efficiency Enchantment II: 2/3 or 66% reduced time required (72% benefit to time spent mining oak trees).
• Minecraft Efficiency Enchantment III: 75% reduced time required (80% benefit to time spent mining oak trees).
• Minecraft Efficiency Enchantment IV: 80% reduced time required (88% benefit to time spent mining oak trees).
• Minecraft Efficiency Enchantment V: 85% reduced time required (92% benefit to time spent mining oak trees).

Effective against time required to mine oak when flint mining with an iron shovel +52.6% more flint per minute, +67% with diamond shovel, +88.5% with netherite shovel.

How to Use Flint and Steel in Minecraft?

Flint and Steel in Minecraft is a tool used to light TNTs, campfires, and is used for quick transport with the nether portal. To use flint and steel in Minecraft, drag the flint and steel from the hotbar into the inventory, then right-click on the target which will be set ablaze. The target can be items that can be burned or destroyed, including the player’s inventory. Here, items that can be burned or destroyed should be avoided to make sure they are not prematurely destroyed.

Creating Fire

Flint can be discovered by lighting a Fire. One way to do this is by using a Flint and Steel set, which can be created by using 1 piece of Iron and 1 piece of Flint. Iron nugget can be substituted for Iron ores, or Iron blocks can be smelted to get Iron ingots. Flint is a good option for starting a fire if the player does not have fire woods or lighters.

Igniting TNT and Creepers

Flint can be acquired in Minecraft by igniting both TNT and Creepers. An easy way of automated Creeper farming can be realized by feeding Ocelots with fish. This will scare away Creepers, but when killed by a player under the right circumstances (such as dropping them onto a solid surface from 50 meters and landing the last hit), the Creepers will produce Flint.

Due to Creepers only being able to drop Flint with 3% probability (or 5.5% if looting), this is not an efficient method for getting large amounts of Flint. Creepers explode (self-ignite) upon detecting a player at an unsafe distance (about 6-10 blocks away). The creature will activate its “hiss” sound when timing the detonation. Prepare for the explosion and eliminate it in one fell swoop (down to no more than 2.5 hearts of health on easy or 5 on hard).

Lighting Nether Portals

Flint and steel can be used as a gas ignition source for flint tipped propane lighters according to the article Flint (Tool) from Wikipedia. In real-world applications, Flint and steel, or an equivalent object to spark against it, can be used to light nether portals that are available in application software Minecraft. These spark-generating tools are used to ignite the center of the wooden frame, as well as the baseline of the portal, to bring the portal to life. It then produces a public transport system to the hell-like Nether dimension of the game.

What Are the Best Tools for Mining Gravel?

The best tool for mining gravel is a shovel. The most basic type of shovel is made from sticks and either two planks, cobblestone, iron ingots, gold ingots, or diamonds. The best is diamond at C% percent faster than the prior materials. Next best is iron at 80% of the speed of diamond. An iron shovel or better is required to mine gravel.

Gravel is a drop-block, meaning it falls if there is no support underneath. An easy way to quickly mine a large number of gravel is to build a pillared gravel tower up to 12 blocks high. Then remove the bottom block and the rest of the tower will collapse. Repeat as you move to another new area for expedited mining.

Flint is a drop item from gravel block mining and trading with fletchers in Java. Clint can be crafted into flint-and-steel which is used to ignite TNT. This item is useful when trying to clear away needless material for dealing with large quarries or lava fields quickly.

Gravel is used to make various tools, weapons, and building materials and can be put into a fletching table to change the professions of adjacent villagers. It can also smelt up to four blocks of ore.

Shovel

Flint is sometimes obtained when building an item in Minecraft. Flint is a common drop (0.04% to 3.125%) from breaking gravel blocks, with 12% gravel drop ratio from aquatic zombie and strays, and up to 10% for the block when broken with fences, other tools, or by jumping or otherwise making it fall on torch stands.

Virtually everyone starts breaking blocks and obtaining items in Minecraft with a wooden, stone, or iron shovel. The use of the shovel to break grass block, netherrack block, or regular ground, or any other block material that can inherently drop flint, provides a 10% chance with the highest drop rate coming from gravel blocks. This provides Minecraft players with a number of early-game avenues to find flint. Digging holes or landscaping to make a barracks for sheep and other animals and collecting a valuable resource is killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Silk Touch Enchantment

Silk touch is an enchantment in Minecraft that allows a pickaxe or shovel to mine a full block as an item. Under usual circumstances, mining flint blocks will break them, making them drop as flint items. However, if you have an Iron, Diamond, or Netherite pickaxe with the Silk Touch enchantment, you can collect Flint blocks as is without converting them to items.

Silk Touch is a rare level 1 enchant that can be added to most picks and shovels in anvil crafting tables. It requires three additional lapis lazuli and 1 enchantment level to add to a pick or shovel. This will allow the user to mine blocks as full items in order to get Flint. The only way flint blocks can be mined are from Gravel Ores, which are common in deserts and tundra, taiga, forest, snowy biomes, and caves. So, it is relatively easy to gain flint blocks. Once acquired they can be broken with a simple fist to obtain Flint items.

Tip: Using Flint in recipes that require arrows or flint and steel has no added benefits. On the other hand, having a flint block as decor gives a unique way to build with a low density flexible stone similar to sandstone.

Efficiency Enchantment

Minecraft Efficiency is an enchantment that makes tools faster in breaking blocks. Tools made from iron, diamondnetherite with this enchantment mine gravel blocks faster, speeding the Flint farming process up a bit. Efficiency has 5 levels, with Efficiency V being the topmost, and causes tools to perform faster by the following percentages of their ordinary working velocity (n being the level of Efficiency:

• Iron Pickaxe: 2% + 10% x (n-1) additional speed
• Diamond Pickaxe: + 1.3% x (n-1) additional speed
• Netherite Pickaxe: + 1.3% x (n-1) additional speed

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Get Flint in Minecraft?

Flint is an essential item in Minecraft that players need for crafting arrows, flint and steel, and more. If you’re having trouble finding flint in the game, check out these frequently asked questions for some helpful tips and tricks.

1. Where can I find flint in Minecraft?

Flint can be found in gravel blocks, which can be found in various biomes such as oceans, rivers, and beaches. It can also be obtained by breaking a gravel block with a shovel.

2. Is there a faster way to get flint?

Yes, there is a faster way to get flint in Minecraft. You can use a Fortune enchantment on a shovel to increase your chances of getting flint when breaking gravel blocks.

3. Can I trade for flint with villagers?

No, villagers do not offer flint as a trade item. You will need to find or obtain it yourself through breaking gravel blocks.

4. Are there any other uses for flint in Minecraft?

Aside from crafting arrows and flint and steel, flint can also be used to craft fireworks and as an ingredient in making a fire charge.

5. Can I use a tool other than a shovel to break gravel for flint?

No, only a shovel can be used to break gravel blocks and obtain flint. Using any other tool will not yield any flint.

6. Is there a limit to how much flint I can obtain in Minecraft?

No, there is no limit to how much flint you can obtain in the game. You can continue breaking gravel blocks to get as much flint as you need.