Stonecutter

Overview

A stonecutter converts one stone-type block into one of its variants with no waste and no recipe to remember. Put in a block of stone, deepslate, sandstone, quartz, blackstone, tuff, copper, prismarine, purpur or any of the other stone families, and it offers every stair, slab, wall, brick, chiseled and polished form of that material as a single click. The efficiency matters. Crafting stairs the ordinary way turns 6 blocks into 4 stairs, losing a third of the material; a stonecutter turns 1 block into 1 stair, so a large build in stairs costs 33 percent less stone through the cutter. Slabs come out the same either way at 2 per block. It also removes the intermediate steps entirely — cobblestone goes to a cobblestone wall in one action rather than through a crafting grid — which is a large saving in time when you are building at scale. It cannot be used on wood, so plank stairs still need a crafting table. It is the stonemason villager's job site block, and a stonemason buys stone and clay and sells quartz and terracotta.

Cutting stairs at 1 block per stair rather than losing a third of the material to the crafting grid, converting stone families into any variant in one click, and assigning the stonemason profession.

Stonecutter is a functional block in Minecraft Java Edition 1.21.4. A crafting table turns its ingredients into Stonecutter. A hardness of 3.5 makes it slow going without the right tool.

Anything below a wooden pickaxe breaks it without leaving a drop. It drops as the same block you mined. It stacks to 64.

You make it with Iron Ingot and Stone. No recipe takes it as an ingredient.

How to get it

Craft it from 1 iron ingot and 3 stone. It also generates in mason houses in villages, where it can simply be picked up, and it is one of the cheapest useful blocks in the game.

Tips

• Stairs cost 33 percent less material through a stonecutter than through a crafting table — always use it for large builds.
• It works on every stone family but never on wood, so plank stairs still need a crafting table.
• Standing on a stonecutter deals damage in Bedrock Edition but not in Java, which is a common cross-platform surprise.
• A stonemason villager buys stone for emeralds, which turns a cobblestone generator into an income.

How long it takes to break

Stonecutter sits at hardness 3.5: 18 seconds per block with your fists, 0.6 with the correct netherite tool.

You are looking at 0.9 seconds on iron and 0.7 on diamond — the iron step is where the time actually falls.

A weaker tool still breaks it, but anything under wooden returns nothing — you spend the time and lose the drop, which is how most veins get wasted.

Efficiency adds its level squared plus one to the tool speed, so Efficiency V is about 4 times faster than the same tool unenchanted.

Properties

With 3.5 blast resistance Stonecutter usually goes down to a nearby explosion. It is fully opaque and produces no light. One inventory slot holds 64, the normal full stack. A pickaxe is the fastest choice here. A tool of the wrong class is no better than your fist — the speed bonus is tied to the block's own tool tag.

Crafting recipe

Crafting Table

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Stonecutter

Drops

Mined with Wooden Pickaxe, Stonecutter drops itself.

Stonecutter

Guides and tools that cover this

• GuidesHow the Minecraft Crafting System Works→
• GuidesVillager Trading and How to Get Cheap Mending→
• GuidesThe First Ten Things to Build in a New Minecraft World→
• ToolsStack & Shulker Calculator→

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

StoneIron IngotSpruce Wall SignTrial SpawnerSpruce Wall Hanging SignVaultSpruce TrapdoorWater Cauldron