How to Craft Iron Shovel in Minecraft
An Iron Shovel costs you 1 Iron Ingot and 2 Sticks, put together at a Crafting Table. Laid out, that is a single Iron Ingot in the top-middle cell and two Sticks stacked in the middle column. Expect 1 Iron Shovel from every craft. It holds up for 250 uses before it breaks.
Iron Shovel Item ID and Give Command
The item ID for Iron Shovel is minecraft:iron_shovel. In commands the namespace may be left off, so iron_shovel works too. Checked against Minecraft Java 26.2.
- Give yourself one
/give @p iron_shovel- Give several at once
/give @p iron_shovel 5- Give it to a named player
/give Steve iron_shovel 1
Cheats have to be on for Iron Shovel to appear this way, and the same command works on Bedrock Edition, where the name is written the same.
Repairing Iron Shovel
An anvil and Iron Ingot will restore Iron Shovel long before its 250 uses run out, and nothing enchanted on it is lost in the process.
There is a cheaper way, and a catch. A grindstone merges two worn Iron Shovel items without costing levels, but it removes every enchantment while it does so.
Mending can go on Iron Shovel, and that is the only repair that costs nothing at all: the experience you pick up flows into the item instead of into your own level, so it never sees an anvil again.
Overview
The Iron Shovel has 250 durability. It digs dirt, sand, gravel, clay and snow efficiently. Iron Shovel uses a shaped recipe: the ingredients only work in the pattern shown.
The iron shovel 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 recipe itself last changed in Minecraft 1.21.2. Guides written before that release show a different set of ingredients for the iron shovel, so check the grid above rather than the video.
The materials come together from a few sources: you will be working with iron ingot (smelt iron ore) and stick (craft from planks).
Counting The Stack
Feed 2 sticks a craft, so 64 covers 32 of them: 32 iron shovels. On top of that: 32 iron ingots. Craft 32 empties the box exactly.
Which Material Lasts Longest
Durability of every material this item comes in, weakest first. Gold 32 Wood 59 Stone 131 Iron 250 Diamond 1561 Netherite 2031
How Long It Takes
- Blocks before it breaks
- 250 blocks
- Attack damage
- 4.5
- Attacks per second
- 1
- Enchantability
- 14
| Block | Iron Shovel | Bare hand | Drops |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dirt | 0.15s | 0.75s | yes |
| Grass Block | 0.15s | 0.9s | yes |
| Sand | 0.15s | 0.75s | yes |
| Gravel | 0.15s | 0.9s | yes |
| Clay | 0.15s | 0.9s | yes |
| Soul Sand | 0.15s | 0.75s | yes |
Everything on this list drops for a iron shovel, so the material buys speed and nothing else. Dirt is the quickest of them at 0.15s, which is 5 times faster than doing it by hand.
Calculated from Minecraft Java 26.2’s own block hardness and tool speed values, without enchantments, Haste or Mining Fatigue. Bedrock Edition publishes no equivalent figures, so these are Java only.
Materials Needed
For Iron Shovel: Iron Ingot (smelt iron ore) and 2x Stick (craft from planks), brought to a Crafting Table.
The Full Chain
Stick, then Iron Ingot, then the Iron Shovel. All in: 1 Iron Ore and 2 Planks.
- 1
- 2
- 3
Iron Shovelthis page
Gather this first
Step-by-Step Instructions
- 1
Iron Ingot - 2
2x Stick - 3
Iron Shovel
Tips & Notes
- Line up 1x Iron Ingot and 2x Stick before you open the Crafting Table. Iron Ingot: smelt iron ore.
Uses for Iron Shovel
- Efficient digging
- Creating paths
- Mid-game terrain tool
View detailed item stats, durability and properties for Iron Shovel on the Astroworld Items Database.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do I need to craft an Iron Shovel in Minecraft?
Where do you find the materials for an Iron Shovel?
How many Iron Shovels do you get from one craft?
What is the item ID for Iron Shovel in Minecraft?
What is the give command for Iron Shovel?
Is the Iron Shovel recipe the same in Java and Bedrock Edition?
What version of Minecraft added the Iron Shovel?
Sources
- Grid, ingredients and yield
- 1 Iron Ingot and 2 Sticks in, 1 Iron Shovel 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.
- When the recipe last changed
- Every Java release since 1.13 was checked in order, 50 of them, and 1.21.2 is where this recipe last changed.
- Stack size, durability, enchantments
- The Astroworld Items Database, built from the same jar.
- Break times, damage and wear
- Hardness and tool speed, Java 26.2. Calculated, not timed.
- What it can mine
- Which blocks want this tool, and the tier they refuse below. Java 26.2.
- The recipe book unlock
- What unlocks it in the recipe book. Java 26.2.
- The stack sum
- Counted, not played: 1 Iron Shovel per craft against the stack size.
