How to Make an Anvil in Minecraft

Imagine being in the middle of a sword fight in Minecraft only to watch your sword break before killing a strong hostile mob. Or mining a deep underground cave only to realize that your pickaxe won’t last the trip back to the surface. Such scenarios haunt Minecraft players that don’t know how to make an anvil. This is the ultimate utility block that you need to upgrade and maintain all your gear in Minecraft. But, at times, the anvil can be tricky to use. So, to avoid confusion, let’s dive in and learn all you need to know about the anvil in Minecraft.

How to Make an Anvil in Minecraft (2022)

An anvil relies on a variety of game mechanics to function properly. To avoid confusion, we have covered each in a separate section. Use the table below to explore everything you need to know about an anvil.

What is an Anvil in Minecraft

The anvil is a utility block in Minecraft that allows players to repair items, rename them, and even modify enchantments in the game. It naturally spawns in the woodland mansions of Minecraft but can be crafted easily. If you’re stepping into the world of Minecraft enchantments, the anvil is a must-have.

Items You Need to Make an Anvil

You need the following items to make an anvil in Minecraft:

• 31 Iron Ingots (27 of which will be used to make blocks of iron)
• 3 Blocks of Iron (made with existing iron ingots)
• Crafting Table

As you can see, the recipe for an anvil requires a lot of iron. So, you first need to find and mine iron ore. Our Minecraft 1.19 ore distribution guide will help you find the iron ore in no time. Then, you have to smelt all the raw iron in the furnace until you have 31 iron ingots in your inventory.

Moreover, when you put nine iron ingots on the crafting table, filling it up completely, you will get a block of iron. The crafting recipe of an anvil requires 3 blocks of iron. And you can use the remaining 4 iron ingots as they are.

Minecraft Anvil: Crafting Recipe

Once you have collected all the items, it’s easy to craft an anvil. Follow the steps below to craft an anvil in Minecraft:

1. First, place three blocks of iron in the top row of the crafting area.

2. Then, place an iron ingot in the middle cell of the second row.

3. Finally, fill the bottommost row of the crafting table by placing iron ingots in each cell. And voila! You have successfully crafted an anvil in Minecraft.

Uses of An Anvil in Minecraft

If you crafted enough gear for yourself, it’s time to learn that you can use the anvil for the following purposes in Minecraft:

• Repairing: You can add a material ingot to a damaged tool on an anvil to repair it. Alternatively, you can also combine two damaged items to restore their durability. This mechanic is similar to a grindstone but doesn’t destroy their enchantments.
• Renaming: If you place an item in an anvil, you can easily use it to name or rename the item.
• Enchanted Books: You can combine enchanted books in Minecraft with tools to enchant them on an anvil.
• Weapon: Unlike most blocks in Minecraft, anvils are bound by gravity. So, if you place them floating on the side of another block, they will fall down. While doing so, they damage any entity that’s below them.
• Maps Editor: In Minecraft Bedrock Edition, you can use an anvil to expand and edit a map.

Cost of Using an Anvil in Minecraft

When you are using an anvil, you might notice that each action performed has an “enchantment cost” attached to it. Enchantment cost is the total cost of performing an action on the item, including renaming, repairing, enchanting, and more. The cost depends upon the level of repair and the type of action you are performing on the anvil.

As for the payment, the enchantment cost is paid using your in-game experience level. So, if you plan on using the anvil a lot, you should learn how to make a Sculk XP farm in Minecraft. However, once you reach an action that costs more than 40 levels, the item will become “too expensive” for the anvil. After that, you won’t be able to rename, repair, or enchantment it further.

Damaged Anvil

Every time you use an anvil, it has a slight chance of getting damaged. On average, it lasts for about 25 functions before getting completely annihilated. But it can also get damaged and destroyed due to falling. The higher the height, more will be the fall damage dealt to the anvil.

How to Use an Anvil in Minecraft

There are a number of different ways to use an anvil in Minecraft. Let’s go over its use cases individually to understand them better.

Making Name Tags

First up, you can put an item or a group of items in the anvil to rename them. To do so, you just have to type the name for that item in the name field at the top of the anvil’s UI. Once renamed, Minecraft assigns that item its new name. You can even use a nametag in the anvil to give new names to mobs.

Even though the mechanic of naming items feels simple, it can have a special effect in some cases. Here are a few of them:

• In Java Edition, you can rename mobs trapped in a bucket by placing that bucket in the anvil. The mobs will carry the name even after being removed from the anvil. The same effect applies to spawn eggs of mobs.
• Once you name an item, it can’t be stacked with other items with a different name or no name, even when they are the same type.
• Functional blocks like an enchanting table display their own name in the anvil’s UI.
• You can use name tags with an anvil to assign special names to mobs and unlock some amazing easter eggs. For example, the name “Dinnerbone” turns mobs upside down in Minecraft.

Repair Items

To repair a damaged tool in Minecraft, you simply have to place the tool in the anvil and combine it with another copy of the same tool. And you can return back to your adventures with a functioning tool.

Alternatively, you can also use an ingot of the same mineral you used to make the item that’s damaged. In some special cases, you can use technically unrelated materials to repair some items. For example, elytra can be repaired using a phantom membrane.

Enchant Items

If you combine a tool with an enchanted book in Minecraft, the enchantment gets applied to the tool. But remember that it will only work with enchantments compatible with a particular tool and destroys the enchanted book in the process. Moreover, the enchanted book always goes in the middle cell of the anvil and the item goes in the left cell during enchanting.

Falling Anvil

As mentioned earlier, when placed in a floating position, the anvil tends to fall down due to gravity. You can use this mechanic to kill mobs by throwing anvils on top of them. Moreover, you can even use a falling anvil to smash a dropped item out of existence.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is better: anvil or grindstone?

Anvil is a better utility block than a grindstone as it can perform all the actions of a grindstone without making you lose your enchantments.

How long do Minecraft anvils last?

An Anvil gets destroyed after 25 uses. Though, it can perish earlier if any fall damage is dealt to the anvil.

How do I stop anvil from saying “too expensive”?

If you want to continue using an item with an anvil after it has passed its level limits, you can switch to creative game mode to increase the limit. Doing so will also allow you to add incompatible enchantments to random items.

Make and Use Anvil in Minecraft

Just like that, you are now ready to make the most out of an anvil in Minecraft. Whether you want to enchant all your tools or keep them in mint condition, this utility block will come in handy. But it is not a powerful utility block that helps you deal with your damaged gear. If you don’t want to repair an item, you can toss them in a blast furnace. Instead of repairing them, the blast furnace will give you nuggets for your tools. Meanwhile, if you have extra pieces of gear, you can make armor stand in Minecraft to display them. With the presence of Warden in Minecraft, no one knows when you might need extra protection. Having said that, do you think the anvil usage cost is an unwanted feature, or is it an essential mechanic? Share your views in the comments below!