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How to Craft Anvil in Minecraft

Anvil in Minecraft, drawn from the game's own block model. Renaming items. Minecraft has used the name Anvil since 1.4.2.

On a Crafting Table, 3 Blocks of Iron and 4 Iron Ingots turns into an Anvil. The top row is three Blocks of Iron, the middle row an Iron Ingot in the middle column, and the bottom row three Iron Ingots. Expect 1 Anvil from every craft.

Anvil Item ID and Give Command

The item ID for Anvil is minecraft:anvil. In commands the namespace may be left off, so anvil works too. Checked against Minecraft Java 26.2.

Give yourself one
/give @p anvil
Give a full stack of 64
/give @p anvil 64
Give it to a named player
/give Steve anvil 1

Cheats have to be on for Anvil to appear this way, and the same command works on Bedrock Edition, where the name is written the same.

Overview

The Anvil combines enchanted books with tools, renames items and repairs equipment. It degrades with use and eventually breaks. Anvil uses a shaped recipe: the ingredients only work in the pattern shown.

Minecraft has used the name Anvil since 1.4.2, the oldest release whose language file lists it.

The materials come together from a few sources: you will be working with block of iron (craft from 9 iron ingots each) and iron ingot (smelt iron ore).

Counting The Stack

One stack is 16 goes at 4 iron ingots each, which totals 16 anvils. Have 48 block of irons ready as well. Craft 16 empties the box exactly.

Materials Needed

ItemAmountWhere to Find
Block of Iron3xCraft from 9 iron ingots each
Iron IngotIron IngotIron Ingot4xSmelt iron ore

For Anvil: 3x Block of Iron (craft from 9 iron ingots each) and 4x Iron Ingot (smelt iron ore), brought to a Crafting Table.

The Full Chain

Iron Ingot, then Block of Iron, then the Anvil. All in: 31 Iron Ore.

  1. 1
    31Iron IngotIron Ingot31Iron IngotFurnace, repeat 31x
  2. 2
    Iron IngotIron Ingot273Block of Ironrepeat 3x
  3. 3
    Anvilthis page

Gather this first

31Iron Ore

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. 1

    3x Block of Iron

  2. 2

    Iron IngotIron Ingot4x Iron Ingot

  3. 3

    Anvil

Minecraft crafting recipe for Anvil: 3 x Block of Iron, 4 x Iron Ingot in a crafting table, making 1 Anvil.

Tips & Notes

  • Shopping list: 3x Block of Iron and 4x Iron Ingot. Plan the Block of Iron first: craft from 9 iron ingots each.

Uses for Anvil

  • Renaming items
  • Combining enchantments
  • Repairing tools with materials

View detailed item stats, durability and properties for Anvil on the Astroworld Items Database.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I need to craft an Anvil in Minecraft?
To craft an Anvil you need 3 Blocks of Iron and 4 Iron Ingots at a Crafting Table. Lay them out exactly as the grid above shows, and one craft produces one Anvil.
What do you need to make an Anvil from scratch?
From raw materials only, an Anvil comes down to 31 Iron Ore. The rest you make yourself, and it takes 3 crafts to get there.
Can you craft an Anvil without a crafting table?
You need a table for an Anvil. It is laid out as three Blocks of Iron filling the top row and four Iron Ingots, and that takes 3 rows, more than the 2x2 grid in your inventory can hold.
Where do you find the materials for an Anvil?
The parts of an Anvil do not all come from one place. Block of Iron: craft from 9 iron ingots each. Iron Ingot: smelt iron ore.
What should I craft first for an Anvil?
For an Anvil, start with an Iron Ingot: 31 Iron Ore gives you 31 Iron Ingots. After that the order is Block of Iron, and then the Anvil itself.
How many Anvils do you get from one craft?
The Anvil recipe makes one Anvil per craft.
What is the item ID for Anvil in Minecraft?
Anvil is registered as minecraft:anvil. Commands accept the short form anvil as well, and Bedrock spells it the same. Checked against Java 26.2.
Can you farm everything you need for an Anvil?
Anvil needs nothing you have to go find: block of iron from iron ingot and iron ingot from iron golems at a village. Set those up once and you can keep making anvil.
What is the give command for Anvil?
The command for Anvil is /give @p anvil. Add a number for more than one, so /give @p anvil 64 hands you a full stack, and it only runs with cheats enabled.
How many times do you repeat each step for an Anvil?
Most steps for an Anvil are a single craft, but Iron Ingot has to be made 31 times to reach 31 Iron Ingots and Block of Iron has to be made 3 times to reach 3 Blocks of Iron. The chain section shows the totals per step.
What version of Minecraft added the Anvil?
As far back as the language files go, the anvil appears under this name in Minecraft 1.4.2 and not before. The recipe file cannot narrow that down, because recipes only became separate files in 1.12. Today the game builds it from 3 Blocks of Iron and 4 Iron Ingots, as shown above.

Sources

Grid, ingredients and yield
3 Blocks of Iron and 4 Iron Ingots in, 1 Anvil out, Crafting Table. Java 26.2, .
That Bedrock agrees
Bedrock 1.26.40.05, same 2 ingredients.
How far back it goes
Java 1.4.2 is the earliest release that calls it this. From all 163 released Java clients, rd-132211 to 26.2.
That the ingredients come back
What drops, what villagers trade and what farms regrow in Minecraft Java, followed through the recipes to see what those ingredients can be turned into.
Stack size
The Astroworld Items Database, built from the same jar.
The recipe book unlock
What unlocks it in the recipe book. Java 26.2.
The stack sum
Counted, not played: 1 Anvil per craft against the stack size.

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