How to Make a Grindstone in Minecraft

A grindstone in Minecraft is crafted with 2 wood planks, 2 sticks, and 1 stone slab at a crafting table. Once built, it repairs tools, weapons, and armor without needing an anvil or XP, and it strips enchantments from gear in the process. It works the same way in Java Edition and Bedrock Edition.

Grindstone in Minecraft: advanced tool

The grindstone counts as a utility block, same category as the anvil, stonecutter, or smoker. It does two jobs: repair items and remove enchantments. It doesn't need experience points to run, which is the main reason players build one early. Villagers use it too. Any weaponsmith or toolsmith with a grindstone nearby will sit at it as part of their job, and placing one next to an unemployed villager can turn them into a weaponsmith.

You'll also see a grindstone drop from weaponsmith or toolsmith villager houses in naturally generated villages (find great starting locations with our Village Seeds), so you don't always have to craft one from scratch. Still, the recipe is cheap enough that most players just build it.

Crafting

Grindstone recipe: 2 wood planks, 2 sticks, 1 stone slab. That's it, 5 items total, all common early-game materials.

1. Open the crafting table (3x3 grid).
2. Place a wood plank in the top-left slot and another wood plank in the top-right slot.
3. Place a stick in the middle-left slot and a stick in the middle-right slot.
4. Place a stone slab in the center slot.
5. Drag the grindstone into your inventory.

Any wood plank type works: oak, spruce, birch, jungle, acacia, dark oak, crimson, warped, mangrove, cherry, bamboo, or pale oak. The recipe doesn't care which wood you use. The stone slab has to be a stone slab specifically, not smooth stone, cobblestone, or a different slab material.

This recipe is identical for how to craft a grindstone in Minecraft Java and how to craft a grindstone in Minecraft Bedrock. If you're asking "why can't I craft a grindstone," check two things first: you need a crafting table (grindstones can't be made in your 2x2 inventory grid), and your stone slab needs to be an actual stone slab, not stone bricks or andesite in slab form, which won't register in the recipe.

Once placed in the world, right-click (or tap on mobile and console) the grindstone to open its interface.

Minecraft grindstone usage

A grindstone has two input slots and one output slot. Put items in the two input slots to repair them, or put a single enchanted item in one slot to strip its enchantments.

Repairing items

Repairing works the same as an anvil, minus the XP cost. Put two damaged items of the same type in the input slots (two swords, two pickaxes, or two pieces of armor) and the grindstone merges them into one repaired item in the output slot. Durability combines using the same formula the anvil uses: base durability, plus the two items' remaining durability, plus a 5% bonus.

You can also repair a tool using its raw material. A damaged iron pickaxe plus an iron ingot won't work at a grindstone, that combination only works at an anvil or in a crafting grid. The grindstone only combines two of the same item type.

Enchanted books don't combine at a grindstone either. If you're trying to merge enchantment levels or apply a book to a tool, that's anvil work, not grindstone work.

Removing enchantments

Place a single enchanted item in one of the two input slots, and the grindstone strips every enchantment off it (curses included, except Curse of Binding and Curse of Vanishing, which stay on the item since they can't be removed this way). You get the plain item back plus a small amount of XP based on how many enchantments were removed and their levels.

This is the main reason players keep a grindstone around after early game. Got a diamond sword with Sharpness and a Curse you don't want gone but also don't want interfering with a trade? Strip it clean, then re-enchant it the way you want (such as adding Unbreaking or Mending, like on a banner shield or Elytra) at an enchanting table or anvil. It's also the standard way to prep gear for villager trading, since some trades reject enchanted items.

One limit worth knowing: you can't remove enchantments from two items at once by pairing them. The XP-refund enchantment-stripping behavior only triggers with a single enchanted item in one slot, nothing in the other.

Java Edition vs Bedrock Edition

The core mechanics match across both editions. Differences show up mostly in interface layout and control scheme (right-click on Java, tap or controller button on Android, iOS, and console), not in what the block actually does.

Is a grindstone better than an anvil?

Depends what you're doing. Grindstones repair for free (no XP), but only by merging two identical items, and they can't rename items or combine enchanted books. Anvils cost XP that climbs with each use ("too expensive" eventually locks you out), but they can repair with raw materials, combine enchantments from books, and rename gear. Most players keep both: grindstone for cheap repairs and de-enchanting, anvil for combining and naming.

If you're stripping a cursed item or prepping gear for a villager trade, grindstone every time. If you're stacking multiple enchantments onto one weapon, that's an anvil job.

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