Smelting

The furnace interface.

Smelting is a method of producing refined goods in Minecraft, also known as melting, baking, cooking, burning, drying, or producing. It has the same idea as crafting; one must put in acceptable ingredients, and a corresponding output will be given. However, smelting utilizes furnace blocks, which have a unique interface: one "input" field for the object that will be heated, one field for the fuel, and one "output" field for the final smelted product. For example, two saplings (fuel) could be used to smelt one wood (input) into one charcoal (output). In Java Edition 1.14,^[upcoming] items can also be smelted using a campfire.

Usage and mechanics

To smelt something, an input material and a fuel must be placed into the furnace. It will begin to smelt on its own and will continue to work if the menu is closed and the player leaves. You can tell whether a furnace is working or not by seeing if the furnace is lit or not and if the fire particle effects are appearing or not. When the furnace begins to smelt, it will consume one piece of fuel and the fire gauge will fill up. After a piece of fuel has started burning, you cannot stop it from burning. Once it starts burning, the fire gauge will slowly decrease until it is gone, and then the next piece of fuel will be used. If there is no more fuel left, the furnace will be interrupted and the item will not be smelted. If the fuel is burning and runs out of input, the fire gauge will continue to burn down, wasting the burn time left. Once the fire gauge is out, no more fuel will be used.

As things smelt, an arrow icon represents the smelting progress. Each smelting operation takes 10 seconds, and when it is finished, the item resulting from the smelting will be put into the output field. If the furnace runs out of fuel before the arrow is filled up, then the input will not be smelted and the process will rewind at 2x speed.

If the player leaves a furnace while it is smelting and travels so far that the chunks unload, the smelting process will halt until the player returns. Smelting will also pause if one leaves the dimension the furnace is located in. If the player sleeps in a bed while a furnace is smelting items, the furnace's progress will be the same as if the bed had not been used and no additional time had passed. This is because when a player sleeps in a bed, no time actually passes. Instead, the game sets the time of day to morning.

If a player removes a smelted item from the output field, that player will instantly receive experience for all the items smelted in that furnace, even ones which had already been pulled out by a hopper.

Using a campfire

This article describes content that may be included in Section Edition.

This content has appeared in Section Edition development versions, but the full update containing it has not been released yet.

Items can also be smelted using a campfire.^{[upcoming Lua error in Module:Version_link at line 117: attempt to concatenate local 'text' (a nil value).]} To do so, the player must use a lit campfire, with any of the food items listed in the Recipes section in their hand. Fuel is not required; the campfire is able to cook items infinitely on its own. Smelting an item takes 30 seconds, three times the amount of time it would take if a furnace were used instead. A campfire can hold up to four items at the same time. Once the campfire has finished cooking an item, it will come out of the campfire as an item entity.

Recipes

Food

Product	Ingredient	Exp	Description
Cooked Porkchop	Raw Porkchop	0.35	Fills 8 (), while raw only fills 3 ().
Steak	Raw Beef	0.35	Fills 8 (), while raw only fills 3 ().
Cooked Chicken	Raw Chicken	0.35	Fills 6 (), while raw only fills 2 () and has a 30% chance to give the Hunger status effect.
Cooked Cod	Raw Cod	0.35	Fills 5 (), while raw only fills 2 ().
Cooked Salmon	Raw Salmon	0.35	Fills 6 (), while raw only fills 2 ().
Baked Potato	Potato	0.35	Fills 5 (), while raw only fills 1 ().
Cooked Mutton	Raw Mutton	0.35	Fills 6 (), while raw only fills 2 ().
Cooked Rabbit	Raw Rabbit	0.35	Fills 5 (), while raw only fills 3 ().
Dried Kelp	Kelp	0.1	Fills 0.5 (), while normal kelp is inedible.

Processing ores and materials

Product	Ingredient	Exp	Description
Iron Ingot	Iron Ore	0.7	Used to craft various items. See iron ingot.
Gold Ingot	Gold Ore	1.0	Used to craft various items. See gold ingot.
Glass	Sand	0.1	Used to make transparent structures. Also used to craft glass panes, glass bottles, stained glass, daylight detectors, and beacons.
Stone	Cobblestone	0.1	Used as a building material. Also used for crafting stone pressure plates, stone buttons, stone bricks, redstone comparators, and redstone repeaters.
Brick	Clay	0.3	Used to make bricks and flower pots.
Nether Brick	Netherrack	0.1	Used to make nether bricks.
Terracotta	Invicon Clay (block).png: Inventory sprite for Clay (block) in Minecraft as shown in-game linking to Clay (block) with description: Clay (block) Clay	0.35	Decoration block. Also used to make dyed terracotta.
Cracked Stone Bricks	Stone Bricks	0.1	Decoration block. Also spawns in strongholds.
Glazed Terracotta	Dyed Terracotta	0.1	Decoration block.

Wasting ores

The following ores can be smelted, but in these cases this is unnecessary and wasteful. All these ores will yield their product freely when mined with an appropriate pickaxe. The ore blocks themselves can only be obtained with the Silk Touch enchantment. Also, these ores either produce multiple drops when mined, or they may do so when mined with a Fortune-enchanted pickaxe. Smelting, however, will always give only a single unit of the product. Mining the ore blocks will also give far more experience.

Product	Ingredient	Exp	Description
Diamond	Diamond Ore	1.0	Used to craft various items. When normally mined drops 1 diamond and 3–7 exp.
Lapis Lazuli	Lapis Lazuli Ore	0.2	Used as a dye‌^{[until Lua error in Module:Version_link at line 117: attempt to concatenate local 'text' (a nil value).]}, to enchant items, and to craft lapis lazuli blocks. When normally mined drops 4–8 lapis lazuli and 2–5 exp.
Redstone Dust	Redstone Ore	0.7	Used in crafting, brewing, and redstone circuits. When normally mined drops 4–5 redstone and 1–5 exp.
Coal	Coal Ore	0.1	Used as a fuel and as lighting. When normally mined drops 1 coal and 0–2 exp.
Emerald	Emerald Ore	1.0	Used for trading and to craft emerald blocks. When normally mined drops 1 emerald and 3–7 exp.
Nether Quartz	Nether Quartz Ore	0.2	Used to craft various items When normally mined drops 1 nether quartz and 2–5 exp.

Tools, weapons, and armor

Product	Ingredient	Exp	Description
Iron Nugget	Tools, armor and horse armor made from iron; chainmail armor	0.1	Can be crafted back into iron ingots.
Gold Nugget	Tools, armor and horse armor made from gold	0.1	Can be crafted back into gold ingots.

Other smeltable items

Product	Ingredient	Exp	Description
Cactus Green	Cactus	0.2	Used as a dye.
Charcoal	Log Stripped Log Wood Stripped Wood	0.15	Used to craft torches and fire charges and as fuel in a furnace or in a minecart with furnace. Ingredient must be a log or wood, not sticks or planks.
Popped Chorus Fruit	Chorus Fruit	0.1	Used to make purpur blocks.
Sponge	Wet Sponge	0.15	Used to soak up water. Drying a sponge allows it to be reused. If an empty bucket is in the ingredient slot when a wet sponge is smelted, the bucket will be filled with water.‌^{[Java and Bedrock editions only]}
Lime Dye	Sea Pickle	0.2	Used as a dye.

A note about fractional experience values: For fractional values, first multiply this value by the number of smelted items removed from the furnace, then award the player the whole-number part, and if there is a fractional part remaining, this represents the chance of an additional experience point.

For example, when smelting 1 coal ore and removing the coal, the value is 0.1, so this grants a 10% chance of getting 1 experience point.
Or, when smelting 6 sea pickles and removing all 6 lime dye, the value is 0.2 * 6 = 1.2, so this grants 1 point, plus a 20% chance of an additional point.

Fuel

There are multiple fuels that can be used to smelt items. The type of fuel that should be used depends on the number of items in question.

For larger jobs, a single lava bucket or a block of coal can burn more items than what will fit in the furnace—both input and output are limited to a stack of 64, but a block of coal burns 80 items, and lava can burn 100 items.

Items that can be used as fuel


Fuel	Burning time (seconds) ^{[note 1]}	Number of operations per fuel	Number of operations per stack (64) of fuel ^{[note 2]}	Seconds per log ^{[note 3]}	Seconds per bamboo ^{[note 4]}	Amount needed to smelt a stack (64) of items	Notes
Lava Bucket	1000 16:40 20000 ticks	100	100	None used	None used	0.64	If a lava bucket is used as fuel, an empty bucket remains in the fuel slot.
Block of Coal	800 13:20 16000 ticks	80	5120	None used	None used	0.8
Dried Kelp Block	200 3:20 4000 ticks	20	1280	None used	None used	3.2
Blaze Rod	120 2:00 2400 ticks	12	768	None used	None used	5 ¹⁄₃
Coal	80 1:20 1600 ticks	8	512	None used	None used	8
Charcoal	80 1:20 1600 ticks	8	512	70 ^{[note 5]}	None used	8
Any Boat	60 1200 ticks	6	6	48	2 ²⁄₃	10 ²⁄₃
Any Boat with Chest	60 1200 ticks	6	6	18 ⁶⁄₁₃ (~18.46)	1 ¹⁄₃₉ (~1.03)	10 ²⁄₃
Bamboo Mosaic	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	None used	3 ¹⁄₃	42 ²⁄₃
Bamboo Mosaic Slab	7.5 150 ticks	0.75	48	60	3 ¹⁄₃	85 ¹⁄₃	‌^{[Java Edition only]}
Bamboo Mosaic Slab	15 300 ticks ^{[note 6]}	1.5	96	120 ^{[note 6]}	6 ²⁄₃ ^{[note 6]}	42 ²⁄₃	‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}
Bamboo Mosaic Stairs	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	None used	3 ¹⁄₃	42 ²⁄₃
Bee Nest	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	None used	None used	42 ²⁄₃	‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}
Beehive	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	10	⁵⁄₉ (0.5)	42 ²⁄₃	‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}
Chiseled Bookshelf	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	2 ¹³⁄₁₆ (2.8125)	⁴⁄₉ (0.4)	42 ²⁄₃
Block of Bamboo or Block of Stripped Bamboo	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	None used	1 ²⁄₃	42 ²⁄₃	‌^{[Java Edition only]}
Overworld Log or Stripped Log	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	15	None used	42 ²⁄₃
Overworld Wood or Stripped Wood	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	11.25	None used	42 ²⁄₃
Overworld Planks	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	60	3 ¹⁄₃	42 ²⁄₃
Overworld Wooden Slab	7.5 150 ticks	0.75	48	60	3 ¹⁄₃	85 ¹⁄₃	‌^{[Java Edition only]}
Overworld Wooden Slab	15 300 ticks ^{[note 6]}	1.5	96	120 ^{[note 6]}	6 ²⁄₃ ^{[note 6]}	42 ²⁄₃	‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}
Overworld Wooden Stairs	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	40	2 ²⁄₉ (2.2)	42 ²⁄₃
Overworld Wooden Pressure Plate	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	30	1 ²⁄₃	42 ²⁄₃
Overworld Wooden Button	5 100 ticks	0.5	32	20	1 ¹⁄₉ (1.1)	128
Overworld Wooden Trapdoor	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	20	1 ¹⁄₉ (1.1)	42 ²⁄₃
Overworld Fence Gate	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	15	¹⁵⁄₁₇ (~0.88)	42 ²⁄₃
Overworld Wooden Fence	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	36	¹⁵⁄₂₂ (0.681)	42 ²⁄₃
Mangrove Roots	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	None used	None used	42 ²⁄₃	‌^{[Java Edition only]}^{[upcoming BE 1.21.80]}
Ladder	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	51 ³⁄₇ (~51.43)	3 ³⁄₁₄ (~3.21)	42 ²⁄₃	‌^{[Java Edition only]}
Crafting Table	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	15	⁵⁄₆ (0.83)	42 ²⁄₃
Cartography Table	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	15	⁵⁄₆ (0.83)	42 ²⁄₃
Fletching Table	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	15	⁵⁄₆ (0.83)	42 ²⁄₃
Smithing Table	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	15	⁵⁄₆ (0.83)	42 ²⁄₃
Loom	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	30	1 ²⁄₃	42 ²⁄₃
Bookshelf	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	10	⁵⁄₉ (0.5)	42 ²⁄₃
Lectern	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	7.5	⁵⁄₁₂ (0.416)	42 ²⁄₃
Composter	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	17 ¹⁄₇ (~17.14)	²⁰⁄₂₁ (~0.95)	42 ²⁄₃
Chest	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	7.5	⁵⁄₁₂ (0.416)	42 ²⁄₃
Trapped Chest	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	6 ⁶⁄₇ (~6.86)	⁶⁰⁄₁₅₇ (~0.38)	42 ²⁄₃
Barrel	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	8 ⁴⁄₇ (~8.57)	¹⁰⁄₂₁ (~0.48)	42 ²⁄₃
Daylight Detector	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	40	2 ²⁄₉ (2.2)	42 ²⁄₃
Jukebox	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	7.5	⁵⁄₁₂ (0.416)	42 ²⁄₃
Note Block	15 300 ticks	1.5	96	7.5	⁵⁄₁₂ (0.416)	42 ²⁄₃
Any Banner	15 300 ticks	1.5	24	120	7.5	42 ²⁄₃
Crossbow	15 300 ticks	1.5	1.5	26 ²⁄₃	1 ²³⁄₃₇ (1.621)	42 ²⁄₃	‌^{[Java Edition only]}
Crossbow	10 200 ticks	1	1	17 ⁷⁄₉ (17.7)	1 ³⁄₃₇ (1.081)	64	‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}
Bow	15 300 ticks	1.5	1.5	40	2.5	42 ²⁄₃	‌^{[Java Edition only]}
Bow	10 200 ticks	1	1	26 ²⁄₃	1 ²⁄₃	64	‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}
Fishing Rod	15 300 ticks	1.5	1.5	40	2.5	42 ²⁄₃
Overworld Wooden Door	10 200 ticks	1	64	20	1 ¹⁄₉ (1.1)	64
Overworld Sign	10 200 ticks	1	16	18 ⁶⁄₁₃ (~18.46)	¹⁰⁄₂₉ (~0.34)	64
Overworld Hanging Sign	10 200 ticks	1	16	10	1 ¹⁄₉ (1.1)	64
Wooden Pickaxe	10 200 ticks	1	1	10	⁴⁄₇ (~0.57)	64
Wooden Shovel	10 200 ticks	1	1	20	1 ³⁄₁₇ (~1.18)	64
Wooden Hoe	10 200 ticks	1	1	13 ¹⁄₃	¹⁰⁄₁₃ (~0.77)	64
Wooden Axe	10 200 ticks	1	1	10	⁴⁄₇ (~0.57)	64
Wooden Sword	10 200 ticks	1	1	16	¹⁰⁄₁₁ (0.90)	64
Bowl	5 100 ticks	0.5	32	26 ²⁄₃	1 ¹³⁄₂₇ (1.481)	128	‌^{[Java Edition only]}
Bowl	10 200 ticks	1	64	53 ¹⁄₃	2 ²⁶⁄₂₇ (2.962)	64	‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}
Any Sapling/non-solid block with `saplings` Item Tag (e.g. propagule)	5 100 ticks	0.5	32	None used	None used	128
Stick	5 100 ticks	0.5	32	40	2.5	128
Dead Bush	5 100 ticks	0.5	32	None used	None used	128
Azalea	5 100 ticks	0.5	32	None used	None used	128
Leaf Litter	5 100 ticks	0.5	32	None used	None used	128
Short Dry Grass	5 100 ticks	0.5	32	None used	None used	128
Tall Dry Grass	5 100 ticks	0.5	32	None used	None used	128
Any Wool	5 100 ticks	0.5	32	None used	None used	128	‌^{[Java Edition only]}
Any Wool Carpet	3.35 67 ticks	0.335	21.44	None used	None used	191 ³⁄₆₇ (~191.04)	‌^{[Java Edition only]}
Bamboo	2.5 50 ticks	0.25	16	None used	2.5	256
Scaffolding	2.5 50 ticks	0.25	16	None used	2.5	256

↑ All times given are for fuel burned in a furnace. When burned in a blast furnace or smoker, fuel is burned twice as fast but produces the same number of items.
↑ Items in red are not stackable, items in yellow only stack up to 16.
↑ Calculated as the burning time in seconds divided by the number of logs used to make one fuel when all wood ingredients are made from logs. Items in red are not made entirely of wood.
↑ Calculated as the burning time in seconds divided by the amount of bamboo used to make one fuel when all wood ingredient are made from bamboo. Items in red are not made entirely of bamboo.
↑ 80 seconds of fuel per log, but 10 seconds are needed to smelt the charcoal, so the net time is 70 seconds.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Wooden slabs have the same burn time as planks due to a bug; see MCPE-94368.

Hopper automation

Automated furnace

The smelting process can be automated with hoppers on top and bottom of the furnace. For larger smelting jobs, a third hopper can feed in fuel with empty buckets coming out of the bottom hopper. This will automatically feed and empty the furnace so that different materials can be smelted in the same batch with no loss.

Any experience from items smelted is saved even if the furnace is completely emptied by a hopper.‌^{[Java Edition only]} If one item is later taken out of the furnace, the player will receive experience for any items that were smelted. In Bedrock Edition, the furnace must be manually unloaded as taking out even one item with a hopper causes all experience to be lost.‌^{[until BE 1.11]}^[1]

Achievements


Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
		Acquire Hardware	Smelt an iron ingot	Pick up an iron ingot from a furnace output.	15	Bronze
		Delicious Fish	Catch and cook a fish!	Pick up a cooked cod after cooking it in a furnace, smoker, campfire, or soul campfire. Note: This does not work if the block used is connected to a hopper underneath, as the player is not getting the item directly from the output.	15	Silver
		Dry Spell	Dry a sponge in a furnace	—	15	Bronze
		Pork Chop	Cook and eat a pork chop.	—	10	Bronze
		Rabbit Season	Cook and Eat Rabbit Meat	—	15	Bronze
		Renewable Energy	Smelt wood trunks using charcoal to make more charcoal.	Smelt a wooden log with charcoal as the fuel.	10	Bronze
		Super Fuel	Power a Furnace with Lava	Smelt an item using a lava bucket on a furnace, blast furnace or smoker and pick up the resulting item from the output slot.	20	Bronze

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Acquire Hardware	Smelt an Iron Ingot	Have an iron ingot in the inventory.

Video

Smelting/video

History

indev
0.31							Flint and steel can now be used to smelt ores and cook food.^[2] {"type": "indev", "version": "0.31", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "(link to Flint and steel article, displayed as Flint and steel) can now be used to smelt (link to ore article, displayed as ores) and cook (link to food article, displayed as food)."}
Indev							Furnaces have now been added to replace the cooking/smelting function of flint and steel. {"type": "indev", "version": "Indev", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "(link to Furnace article, displayed as Furnaces) have now been added to replace the cooking/smelting function of flint and steel."}
Lua error in Module:Version_link at line 117: attempt to concatenate local 'text' (a nil value).							The first smeltable item has now been added, cobblestone, which can be smelted into stone. {"type": "indev", "version": "", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "The first smeltable (link to item article, displayed as item) has now been added, (link to cobblestone article, displayed as cobblestone), which can be smelted into (link to stone article, displayed as stone)."}
Java Edition
1.3.1							Wooden tools will now work in furnaces as one full furnace use. {"type": "java", "version": "1.3.1", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Wooden (link to tool article, displayed as tools) will now work in (link to furnace article, displayed as furnaces) as one full furnace use."}
Lua error in Module:Version_link at line 117: attempt to concatenate local 'text' (a nil value).							Smelting various ores in furnaces will now reward players with experience points. {"type": "java", "version": "", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Smelting various (link to ore article, displayed as ores) in furnaces will now reward (link to player article, displayed as players) with (link to experience article, displayed as experience) points."}
							When using lava for fuel, the player can now get the bucket back. {"type": "java", "version": "", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "When using (link to lava article, displayed as lava) for fuel, the player can now get the (link to bucket article, displayed as bucket) back."}
1.8							When a furnace runs out of fuel, the smelting progress will now rewind at 2x speed. {"type": "java", "version": "1.8", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "When a (link to furnace article, displayed as furnace) runs out of fuel, the smelting progress will now rewind at 2x speed."}
1.13							The smelting GUI will now include a recipe tab, which allows players to know how to smelt previously-smelted items, automatically fill in the item to be smelted and filter out the recipes to what they can make from their inventory. {"type": "java", "version": "1.13", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "The smelting GUI will now include a (link to recipe article, displayed as recipe) tab, which allows (link to player article, displayed as players) to know how to smelt previously-smelted (link to item article, displayed as items), automatically fill in the item to be smelted and filter out the recipes to what they can make from their (link to inventory article, displayed as inventory)."}
							Custom recipes are now loaded from data packs in data/(namespace)/recipes/(name).json. {"type": "java", "version": "1.13", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Custom recipes are now loaded from data packs in data/(namespace)/recipes/(name).json."}
							Turning off the vanilla data pack will now also remove all recipes. {"type": "java", "version": "1.13", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Turning off the vanilla data pack will now also remove all recipes."}
Lua error in Module:Version_link at line 117: attempt to concatenate local 'text' (a nil value).							Dried kelp blocks have now been added as a new fuel. {"type": "java", "version": "", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "(link to Dried kelp block article, displayed as Dried kelp blocks) have now been added as a new fuel."}
Upcoming Java Edition
1.14							Added bamboo, which can now be used as a fuel. {"type": "java upcoming", "version": "1.14", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Added (link to bamboo article, displayed as bamboo), which can now be used as a fuel."}
1.14							Dead Bushes can now be used as a fuel, smelting .5 items. {"type": "java upcoming", "version": "1.14", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "(link to Dead Bush article, displayed as Dead Bushes) can now be used as a fuel, smelting .5 items."}
Lua error in Module:Version_link at line 117: attempt to concatenate local 'text' (a nil value).							Added scaffolding, which can now be used as a fuel. {"type": "java upcoming", "version": "", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Added (link to scaffolding article, displayed as scaffolding), which can now be used as a fuel."}
Lua error in Module:Version_link at line 117: attempt to concatenate local 'text' (a nil value).							Items can now be smelted using a campfire instead of a furnace. {"type": "java upcoming", "version": "", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Items can now be smelted using a (link to campfire article, displayed as campfire) instead of a furnace."}
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.3.2							Furnaces have now been added, which means that every available block and item can now be gathered, crafted or smelted into (no more unlimited items). {"type": "pocket Alpha", "version": "0.3.2", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "(link to Furnace article, displayed as Furnaces) have now been added, which means that every available (link to block article, displayed as block) and (link to item article, displayed as item) can now be gathered, crafted or smelted into (no more unlimited items)."}
0.8.0							Wooden tools can now be used as fuel. {"type": "pocket Alpha", "version": "0.8.0", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Wooden (link to tool article, displayed as tools) can now be used as fuel."}
0.8.0							Lava buckets can now be placed to smelt items (100 items). {"type": "pocket Alpha", "version": "0.8.0", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "(link to Lava bucket article, displayed as Lava buckets) can now be placed to smelt (link to item article, displayed as items) (100 items)."}
0.11.0							Added boats and fishing rods, which can now be used as fuel. {"type": "pocket Alpha", "version": "0.11.0", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Added (link to boat article, displayed as boats) and (link to fishing rod article, displayed as fishing rods), which can now be used as fuel."}
0.12.1							Added blaze rods, which can now be used as fuel. {"type": "pocket Alpha", "version": "0.12.1", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Added (link to blaze rod article, displayed as blaze rods), which can now be used as fuel."}
0.13.0							Added note blocks and daylight sensors, which can now be used as fuel. {"type": "pocket Alpha", "version": "0.13.0", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Added (link to note block article, displayed as note blocks) and (link to daylight sensor article, displayed as daylight sensors), which can now be used as fuel."}
0.16.0							The furnace's interface has now been changed. {"type": "pocket Alpha", "version": "0.16.0", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "The (link to furnace article, displayed as furnace)'s interface has now been changed."}
Pocket Edition
1.0.0							Added new furnace UI for classic UI. {"type": "pocket", "version": "1.0.0", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Added new (link to furnace article, displayed as furnace) UI for classic UI."}
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0							Added jukeboxes and banners, which can now be used as fuel. {"type": "bedrock", "version": "1.2.0", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Added (link to jukebox article, displayed as jukeboxes) and (link to banner article, displayed as banners), which can now be used as fuel."}
1.4.0							Added stripped logs, which can now be used as fuel. {"type": "bedrock", "version": "1.4.0", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Added (link to stripped log article, displayed as stripped logs), which can now be used as fuel."}
Lua error in Module:Version_link at line 117: attempt to concatenate local 'text' (a nil value).							Added dried kelp blocks, which can now be used as fuel. {"type": "bedrock", "version": "", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Added (link to dried kelp block article, displayed as dried kelp blocks), which can now be used as fuel."}
1.8.0							Added bamboo and scaffolding, which can now be used as fuel. {"type": "bedrock", "version": "1.8.0", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Added (link to bamboo article, displayed as bamboo) and (link to scaffolding article, displayed as scaffolding), which can now be used as fuel."}
Upcoming Bedrock Edition
1.10.0							Dead bush can now be used as fuel. {"type": "bedrock upcoming", "version": "1.10.0", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Dead bush can now be used as fuel."}
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
1.1.06							Smelting various ores in furnaces will now reward players with experience points. {"type": "new3ds", "version": "1.1.06", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Smelting various ores in furnaces will now reward players with experience points."}

Trivia

It takes 10 minutes and 40 seconds to smelt a stack of 64 items in a single furnace, although this time can be reduced by splitting the load between multiple furnaces.
Burning logs or wood with wood planks to make charcoal is over 4 times (×4.57) more efficient than using the log or wood itself as fuel. It is just over 1¹⁄₄ times more efficient than using planks.
The most efficient fuel to make charcoal is charcoal itself.
Turning coal into blocks of coal is slightly more efficient (x1.11) than using the coal itself as fuel. For 9 coal, you get 80 smelts instead of the usual 72.
If you want to use wooden tools as fuel, the most efficient way is to use it until its durability reaches 1, then use it as a fuel afterwards.
"Smelting" is a pretty broad term in the context of Minecraft while in the real world, smelting has a more precise definition.^[3]

References

↑ "Congrats to @realtomicstars for being the first to guess the new feature I added to Bedrock - furnaces storing XP! Starting in 1.11, when unloaded by hopper, they store all the XP from smelting and release it the next time you manually remove an item. Great for peaceful players!" – @CornerHardMC on X (formerly Twitter), February 14, 2019
↑ "Crafting and Mining in Minecraft" – Nizzotch on YouTube, January 29, 2010
↑ "Block of the Week: Furnace" – Minecraft.net, September 15, 2017.

[1] All times given are for fuel burned in a furnace. When burned in a blast furnace or smoker, fuel is burned twice as fast but produces the same number of items.

[2] Items in red are not stackable, items in yellow only stack up to 16.

[3] Calculated as the burning time in seconds divided by the number of logs used to make one fuel when all wood ingredients are made from logs. Items in red are not made entirely of wood.

[4] Calculated as the burning time in seconds divided by the amount of bamboo used to make one fuel when all wood ingredient are made from bamboo. Items in red are not made entirely of bamboo.

[5] 80 seconds of fuel per log, but 10 seconds are needed to smelt the charcoal, so the net time is 70 seconds.

[MCPE-94368-6] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Wooden slabs have the same burn time as planks due to a bug; see MCPE-94368.

[7] "Congrats to @realtomicstars for being the first to guess the new feature I added to Bedrock - furnaces storing XP! Starting in 1.11, when unloaded by hopper, they store all the XP from smelting and release it the next time you manually remove an item. Great for peaceful players!" – @CornerHardMC on X (formerly Twitter), February 14, 2019

[8] "Crafting and Mining in Minecraft" – Nizzotch on YouTube, January 29, 2010

[9] "Block of the Week: Furnace" – Minecraft.net, September 15, 2017.

[note 1]

[note 2]

[note 3]

[note 4]

[note 5]

[note 6]

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Gameplay
General mechanics	Add-ons Attribute Commands Distance Effect Potency Explosion Game rules Interaction range Inventory Creative inventory Saved Hotbars Generated loot Hitbox Multiplayer Server Server list Realms Splitscreen Oxidation Rarity Redstone circuits Conductivity Renewability Renewable Non-renewable Rotation Snowlogging South-east rule Spawn protection Tiers Waterlogging
Survival	Advancements Achievements Archaeology Armor materials Bartering Breaking Instant mining Breeding Brewing Cooking Crafting 2×2 grid Recipe book Dual wield Difficulty Durability Enchanting Experience Farming Fishing Health Healing Hunger Item repair Mob spawning Ominous Event Ominous Trial Raid Patrol Raid captain Smelting Smithing World Spawn Taming Trading Workstations Zombie siege
Combat	Blocking Damage Attack cooldown Critical hit Knockback Sprint-knockback Drops Monster infighting
Environment	Biomes Daylight cycle Dimensions Light Seeds Structures Weather World generation
Movement	Crawling Flying Gliding Jumping Lying Riding Sitting Sneaking Sprinting Swimming Walking
User interface	Action bar Bossbar Chat Death messages Game mode switcher Heads-up display Narrator Locator Bar^[upcoming] Scoreboard Toasts Tutorial hints Tooltip
Visuals	Color Block colors Item colors Effect colors Miscellaneous colors Emotes Error Missing textures Resource pack Screen effects Skins Character Skin pack Third-person view
Outdated	Sword blocking Materials Update Suppression