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How to Craft Flint and Steel in Minecraft

Flint and Steel in Minecraft, drawn from the game's own item texture. Lighting fires.

Making a Flint and Steel takes 1 Iron Ingot and 1 Flint at a Crafting Table. That comes out as 1 Flint and Steel. Durability is 64, and that is how many uses one gets you.

Flint and Steel Item ID and Give Command

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

Give yourself one
/give @p flint_and_steel
Give several at once
/give @p flint_and_steel 5
Give it to a named player
/give Steve flint_and_steel 1

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

Repairing Flint and Steel

Flint and Steel lasts 64 uses, and a worn one is not scrap: two of them merged on an anvil give you a single item carrying the durability of both.

There is a cheaper way, and a catch. A grindstone merges two worn Flint and Steel items without costing levels, but it removes every enchantment while it does so.

The cheapest fix of all is Mending, which Flint and Steel accepts. Experience you collect goes into the tool rather than your level bar, and it keeps itself topped up.

Overview

Flint and Steel creates fire on blocks and activates nether portals. It has 64 uses. Flint and Steel uses a shapeless recipe, so the ingredients can go in any cells of the grid as long as all of them are present.

The flint and steel was already in the game in Minecraft Beta 1.0, the oldest release with an English language file to read, so this recipe is at least that old.

The materials come together from a few sources: you will be working with iron ingot (smelt iron ore) and flint (breaking gravel).

Per Stack

Work a stack down, 64 flint, and you land on 64 flint and steels. On top of that: 64 iron ingots. Craft 64 clears the box of flint.

Materials Needed

ItemAmountWhere to Find
Iron IngotIron IngotIron Ingot1xSmelt iron ore
FlintFlintFlint1xBreaking gravel

To make Flint and Steel you will gather Iron Ingot (smelt iron ore) and Flint (breaking gravel), and craft them at a Crafting Table.

The Full Chain

1 Iron Ore makes 1 Iron Ingot, the one part of this you craft rather than gather. All in: 1 Flint and 1 Iron Ore.

  1. 1
    Iron IngotIron IngotIron IngotFurnace
  2. 2
    Flint and SteelFlint and SteelFlint and Steelthis page

Gather this first

FlintFlintFlintIron Ore

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. 1

    Iron IngotIron IngotIron IngotFlintFlintFlint

  2. 2

    Flint and Steel

Minecraft crafting recipe for Flint and Steel: 1 x Iron Ingot, 1 x Flint in a crafting table, making 1 Flint and Steel.

Tips & Notes

  • Because this one is shapeless, Iron Ingot and Flint can go in any cells you like. The grid only checks that they are all present.
  • One craft costs 1x Iron Ingot and 1x Flint. Start with the Iron Ingot: smelt iron ore.

Uses for Flint and Steel

  • Lighting fires
  • Activating nether portals
  • Lighting TNT and campfires
  • Detonating creepers

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

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I need to craft a Flint and Steel in Minecraft?
To craft a Flint and Steel you need 1 Iron Ingot and 1 Flint at a Crafting Table. The cells do not matter here, so drop them in anywhere, and one craft produces one Flint and Steel.
What do you need to make a Flint and Steel from scratch?
Gather 1 Flint and 1 Iron Ore and you have everything a Flint and Steel needs. The in-between items are all crafted, 2 crafts from start to finish.
Where do you find the materials for a Flint and Steel?
The parts of a Flint and Steel do not all come from one place. Iron Ingot: smelt iron ore. Flint: breaking gravel.
How many Flint and Steels do you get from one craft?
The Flint and Steel recipe makes one Flint and Steel per craft.
What is the item ID for Flint and Steel in Minecraft?
The Flint and Steel item ID is minecraft:flint_and_steel, and in a command you can drop the namespace and write flint_and_steel on its own. Checked against Java 26.2.
What is the give command for Flint and Steel?
Use /give @p flint_and_steel to put a Flint and Steel in your own inventory. Add a number on the end for more than one, and note that cheats have to be on.
Is the Flint and Steel recipe the same in Java and Bedrock Edition?
It is the same recipe on both: 1 Iron Ingot and 1 Flint at a Crafting Table gives you a Flint and Steel, in the layout shown above, one at a time.
Does it matter where you put the ingredients for a Flint and Steel?
No, a Flint and Steel is a shapeless recipe, so 1 Iron Ingot and 1 Flint can go in any slots you like. Only the set of ingredients is checked, not their arrangement.
What version of Minecraft added the Flint and Steel?
The flint and steel was already listed in Minecraft Beta 1.0, the oldest release Mojang publishes with an English language file, so this one is older than the files can prove and there is nothing earlier to check against. What you see in the grid above is how it works in the current release.

Sources

Grid, ingredients and yield
1 Iron Ingot and 1 Flint in, 1 Flint and Steel out, Crafting Table. Java 26.2, .
That Bedrock agrees
Bedrock 1.26.40.05, same 2 ingredients.
How far back it goes
Present in Minecraft Java Beta 1.0, the oldest release that exists to check. From all 163 released Java clients, rd-132211 to 26.2.
Stack size, durability, enchantments
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 Flint and Steel per craft against the stack size.

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