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How to Craft Shears in Minecraft

Shears in Minecraft, drawn from the game's own item texture. Shearing sheep for wool. Minecraft has used the name Shears since Beta 1.7.

Making Shears takes 2 Iron Ingots at a Crafting Table. The top row is an Iron Ingot in the middle column and the bottom row an Iron Ingot in the left column. Done once, that is 1 Shears. One lasts 238 uses.

Shears Item ID and Give Command

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

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

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

Repairing Shears

Shears lasts 238 uses, and it does not have to be thrown away when it runs low: an anvil and some Iron Ingot put it back, and every enchantment on it stays.

The grindstone does the same merge for free, at a price: it takes the enchantments with it. Fine for a plain Shears, wasteful for one you have put levels into.

Shears takes Mending, and once it does you can stop thinking about repairs: every orb you pick up goes into the item.

Overview

Shears are used to collect wool from sheep without killing them, harvest leaves, vines, tall grass and ferns. They have 238 durability. Shears uses a shaped recipe: the ingredients only work in the pattern shown.

Minecraft have used the name Shears since Beta 1.7, the oldest release whose language file lists it.

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

Stack Maths

Per craft 2 iron ingots buy 1 shears; per stack 64 buys 32. Craft 32 empties the box exactly.

Materials Needed

ItemAmountWhere to Find
Iron IngotIron IngotIron Ingot2xSmelt iron ore

Shears needs 2x Iron Ingot (smelt iron ore), worked together at a Crafting Table.

The Full Chain

2 Iron Ore makes 2 Iron Ingot, the one part of this you craft rather than gather. All in: 2 Iron Ore.

  1. 1
    2Iron IngotIron Ingot2Iron IngotFurnace, repeat 2x
  2. 2
    ShearsShearsShearsthis page

Gather this first

2Iron Ore

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. 1

    Iron IngotIron Ingot2x Iron Ingot

  2. 2

    Shears

Minecraft crafting recipe for Shears: 2 x Iron Ingot in a crafting table, making 1 Shears.

Tips & Notes

  • Caught out without a Crafting Table? Shears fits the 2x2 inventory grid, so you can make it anywhere.
  • Shopping list: 2x Iron Ingot. Plan the Iron Ingot first: smelt iron ore.

Uses for Shears

  • Shearing sheep for wool
  • Harvesting leaves and vines
  • Collecting cobwebs
  • Breaking tripwire without activating it

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

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I need to craft Shears in Minecraft?
2 Iron Ingots at a Crafting Table: that is the whole shopping list for Shears. Copy the grid above cell for cell, and one craft produces one Shears.
What do you need to make Shears from scratch?
Counting all the way down, Shears comes to 2 Iron Ore, spread over 2 crafts.
Can you craft Shears without a crafting table?
You can, and without a table: the 2x2 grid in your inventory is enough for Shears. It is laid out as two Iron Ingots, which never leaves a 2x2 area.
Where do you find the materials for Shears?
Here is where each part of Shears comes from. Iron Ingot: smelt iron ore.
How many Shears do you get from one craft?
The Shears recipe makes one Shears per craft.
What is the item ID for Shears in Minecraft?
The Shears item ID is minecraft:shears, and in a command you can drop the namespace and write shears on its own. Checked against Java 26.2.
What is the give command for Shears?
The command for Shears is /give @p shears, with an optional count after it. It only runs with cheats enabled.
What enchantments can you put on Shears?
Shears takes 4 enchantments: Unbreaking, Mending, Efficiency and Curse of Vanishing. An enchanting table or an anvil can apply them.
What version of Minecraft added Shears?
The name Shears goes back to Minecraft Beta 1.7, and no older release we can read uses it. The recipe file cannot narrow that down, because recipes only became separate files in 1.12. The Shears recipe above matches the current release.

Sources

Grid, ingredients and yield
2 Iron Ingots in, 1 Shears out, Crafting Table. Java 26.2, .
That Bedrock agrees
Bedrock 1.26.40.05, same ingredient.
How far back it goes
Java Beta 1.7 is the earliest release that calls it this. 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 Shears per craft against the stack size.

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