Minecraft

How to Craft a Shield in Minecraft

To craft a shield in Minecraft you need six wooden planks and one iron ingot. On the Crafting Table the iron sits in the top-middle square and the planks fill a Y around it. Below are the items, the recipe, and where the iron and planks come from.

Crafting Table
Wooden Planks
Iron Ingot
Wooden Planks
Wooden Planks
Wooden Planks
Wooden Planks
Wooden Planks
Shield
Materials
Item Qty Where to get it
Wooden Planks 6 Punch or axe a log, then convert the log to planks in the 2×2 inventory grid. Oak, birch, spruce and the rest all count. This ingredient is crafted too — station below.
Iron Ingot 1 Mine iron ore with a stone pickaxe or better, then smelt it in a furnace. Iron golems and zombies can also drop ingots. This ingredient is crafted too — station below.

Shield specs

Difficulty
Early game
Where it lives
Crafted. Armorer villagers can also trade a shield.
Where to get it
Craft on a Crafting Table with six oak planks in a Y and one iron ingot in the top middle.
Item ID
minecraft:shield
Numerical ID
442
Stackable
No
Max stack
1
Renewable
Yes
Material
Item
Diggable
No
Give command
/give @p minecraft:shield 1

Ingredient specs

Wooden Planks

Early game
Where to get it
Punch or axe a log, then convert the log to planks in the 2×2 inventory grid. Oak, birch, spruce and the rest all count.
Where it lives
Overworld trees. Any wood biome.
Item ID
minecraft:oak_planks
Legacy item ID
minecraft:planks
Numerical ID
5
Stackable
Yes
Max stack
64
Renewable
Yes
Hardness
2
Blast resistance
2
Material
Wood
Diggable
Yes

Iron Ingot

Early game
Where to get it
Mine iron ore with a stone pickaxe or better, then smelt it in a furnace. Iron golems and zombies can also drop ingots.
Where it lives
Overworld caves and mountains. Also buried treasure and village chests.
Item ID
minecraft:iron_ingot
Numerical ID
265
Stackable
Yes
Max stack
64
Renewable
Yes
Material
Item
Diggable
No
Furnace time
10 s

Oak Log

Early game
Where to get it
Punch or axe an oak tree. Any overworld log type also converts to its matching planks.
Where it lives
Oak trees in forests, plains, and villages in the Overworld.
Item ID
minecraft:oak_log
Legacy item ID
minecraft:log
Numerical ID
17
Stackable
Yes
Max stack
64
Renewable
Yes
Hardness
2
Blast resistance
2
Material
Wood
Diggable
Yes

Raw Iron

Early game
Where to get it
Mine iron ore with a stone pickaxe or better. Silk Touch keeps the ore block; otherwise you get raw iron.
Where it lives
Overworld caves and mountains, mostly between deepslate and the surface.
Item ID
minecraft:raw_iron
Stackable
Yes
Max stack
64
Renewable
Yes
Material
Item
Diggable
No

How to craft these materials

Wooden Planks

Inventory (2×2)
Oak Log
Wooden Planks ×4

Shapeless: the slots can sit anywhere on the grid.

Iron Ingot

Furnace
  • 1 Raw Iron
Iron Ingot

Six oak planks, one iron ingot

Two oak logs give eight planks in the inventory 2×2; you need six, so that pair covers the wood. Mine iron ore with a stone pickaxe or better and smelt the raw iron in a furnace for one ingot. That is the whole shopping list.

Iron in the top middle

Open the Crafting Table. Put the ingot in the top-middle square. Planks go in the top-left and top-right, all three squares of the middle row, and the bottom-middle — a Y with iron at the neck. One shield appears on the right; take it.

Raise it in the off-hand

Put the shield in the off-hand slot and hold use to lift it. Hits and arrows from in front bounce or stop; you still take damage from behind or while the shield is down. An axe swing can knock the shield away for a few seconds, so wait before raising it again.

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