Minecraft is a sandbox game geared towards surviving and creativity, and one of the biggest driving forces are the “tools” in the game. They allow you to gather precious materials, which can then be used to craft better tools, weapons, and armor that make surviving much easier in a Minecraft world. Moreover, these tools are essential for collecting various building and decorative blocks that you use to bring your house ideas to life in Minecraft. Every single tool has a durability, so you will have more realistic challenges during gameplay. However, there is one item that acts like a tool but doesn’t have durability. Yeah, we are talking about a bucket. No Minecraft player can imagine playing the game without a bucket, so let’s see how you can easily make a bucket in the game right now.
Bucket is a fairly useful item in Minecraft. Players can either craft a bucket or find it in their worlds. This item has a few functions crucial for the progression and gameplay. If you already know how to obtain a bucket, skip to the last section of the article, where we discuss the different uses of a bucket in Minecraft.
How to Craft a Bucket in Minecraft
Crafting recipe for a Minecraft bucket is cheap and easy, all you need is three iron ingots. Iron is a common precious ore. Iron ingots also generate in some structures’ chests and in the buried treasure chest. To find buried treasure, follow our linked guide.
That said, follow the crafting recipe below to make a bucket in Minecraft:
1. First, you need to obtain iron ore (see image to identify how it looks). You can read our Minecraft ore distribution guide to see where iron ore generates.
2. Then, smelt the iron ore in a Minecraft furnace to get iron ingots. Each ore block generates a single ingot.
3. Now, open the crafting table in Minecraft and place the iron ingots, as instructed below.
4. First, place an iron ingot in the center cell of the middle row. Then, place an iron ingot on either side of the first row, leaving the middle cell empty.
The bucket has a fixed crafting recipe in Minecraft, so you need to place the iron ingots in their specified spots in the crafting table.
Where to Find a Bucket in Minecraft
Bucket is not a regular part of the loot in most structures, but it does appear in certain locations. You can find a bucket in the chest of the following structures in Minecraft:
- Dungeons
- Villages – Bucket has a chance to generate in a savanna house chest
- Woodland Mansions – Bucket is part of the random loot chests
Different Uses of Bucket in Minecraft
Bucket is an iconic item in Minecraft. Most players cannot even imagine playing without it, as it makes the game easier and even allows us to achieve certain goals. Now, let’s focus on all the uses a bucket has in Minecraft.
1. Carry Liquids in Minecraft
You may sometimes overlook this simple mechanic, but using a bucket to move liquid source blocks around is one of the main abilities players have in Minecraft. Scooping up water lets you plant seeds and grow crops wherever you want, move select items around with water streams, make obsidian and create cobblestone generators, and so much more.
Whereas carrying lava in a bucket allows you to use the best fuel source in the game, make killing chambers for automatic farms, such as an iron farm in Minecraft, and pull silly pranks on your server mates. To scoop up any liquids, simply right-click on their source blocks with a bucket equipped.
2. Catch Aquatic Mobs in Minecraft
When you fill a bucket with water, you can use it to catch different aquatic mobs in-game. Those include fishes, like cod, salmon, tropical fish and pufferfish, for which you will get a Tactical Fishing advancement in Java Edition. In addition, you can also scoop up and tame an axolotl, so you can raid and ocean monument together.
If you’re a collector, you can use the bucket to catch a tadpole and transport it to a different location, so you can get different types of frogs in Minecraft. To collect these animals, right-click on them while holding a water bucket.
3. Scoop up Powder Snow in Minecraft
Powder snow is a unique block added in Minecraft 1.17. It’s not solid and when you are inside it, you will start taking slow freezing damage, similar to drowning. This block has some very cool properties that allows us to use it in specific farm designs, such as a froglight farm. You can easily collect the powder snow by right-clicking on it while holding a bucket.
4. Milking Cows, Mooshrooms and Goats
If you were unaware, you can milk cows, mooshrooms and goats using a bucket in Minecraft. Milk buckets, beside being used for making cake, are essential, because they remove all status effects players have at the time. This includes the Minecraft potions‘ effects, as well as other ones, such as a bad omen or mining fatigue.
If you have set up your base near a village in Minecraft, it’s a great idea to store a bucket of milk in your ender chest to avoid any raids in the area. In order to collect milk from these animals, right-click on them with a bucket selected.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes and no. Empty buckets can be stacked up to 16. But all the filled bucket types don’t stack.
No, you can’t smelt buckets in Minecraft.
