To make smooth stone in Minecraft, smelt Cobblestone in a regular Furnace to get Stone, then smelt that Stone a second time to get Smooth Stone. If you already have Stone, you only need the second smelt. Each piece of Coal or Charcoal fuels 8 smelts. A Blast Furnace will not do either step, even though you need Smooth Stone to craft one.
Most players want Smooth Stone for one of two things: Smooth Stone Slabs or a Blast Furnace. Both recipes are below, along with a Silk Touch shortcut and the fuel for a full stack.
The short version
- Two smelts: Cobblestone turns into Stone in a Furnace, and Stone turns into Smooth Stone in a second smelt.
- Already have Stone? Smelt it once. A pickaxe with Silk Touch mines Stone instead of Cobblestone.
- Fuel: one Coal or Charcoal smelts 8 items, so 64 Smooth Stone made from Cobblestone takes 16.
- Slabs: 3 Smooth Stone in one row make 6 Smooth Stone Slabs, and a Stonecutter turns 1 block into 2 slabs.
- Blast Furnace: it takes 3 Smooth Stone to craft, but it will not smelt Stone or Cobblestone.
The smooth stone recipe at a glance
Smooth Stone is made in a regular Furnace, from Stone, and Stone itself comes from smelting Cobblestone. Find the row that matches what you have now.
| What you have | What to do | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Cobblestone | Smelt it in a Furnace, then smelt the Stone it makes | Smooth Stone, after two smelts |
| Stone | Smelt it once in a Furnace | Smooth Stone, after one smelt |
| A pickaxe with Silk Touch | Mine natural stone, then smelt what drops once | Smooth Stone, after one smelt |
| 3 Smooth Stone | Place them in one row of a Crafting Table | 6 Smooth Stone Slabs |
| 1 Smooth Stone and a Stonecutter | Put it in the Stonecutter and pick the slab | 2 Smooth Stone Slabs |
| 3 Smooth Stone, 1 Furnace and 5 Iron Ingots | Craft them on a Crafting Table | 1 Blast Furnace |
The names matter, because three of these blocks look alike. Cobblestone is the lumpy block you get from mining, Stone is the plain grey block you find in caves and hillsides, and Smooth Stone has a flat face with a neat border. Select the item in your inventory and check its displayed name.
What you need before you start
You need four things: a pickaxe, some Cobblestone or Stone, a Furnace and fuel. Coal and Charcoal are the easiest fuels, because each piece smelts 8 items.
If you do not have a Furnace yet, open a Crafting Table and place 8 Cobblestone in every slot except the middle one. Take the Furnace from the result slot and place it on the ground. No Coal nearby? Two Sticks are enough to cook one log into Charcoal, and one Charcoal then cooks 8 more logs.
The Furnace window has three slots. The top slot takes the item you want to smelt, the bottom slot takes the fuel, and the finished item appears in the slot on the right. In Java Edition the Furnace window also has a recipe book.
Get Cobblestone or Stone
Mine an ordinary stone block with a pickaxe and it drops Cobblestone, not Stone. That is why most players start with Cobblestone and need two smelts. Stone is easy to find in caves and hillsides, so a short dig gives you plenty.
For a big floor or wall, mining one block at a time gets slow. For a steady supply, build a cobblestone generator in Minecraft with one water bucket and one lava bucket, then smelt what it produces.
Smelt Cobblestone into Stone
Place the Furnace and open it the same way you open a chest. Put your Cobblestone in the top slot, then put one Coal or Charcoal in the bottom slot. The fire lights, the arrow fills from left to right, and Stone appears in the output slot.
One piece of Coal burns long enough for 8 items, so smelt in groups of 8 to use every piece fully. If you put in 9 Cobblestone, the ninth one needs a second piece of fuel.
Take the Stone out of the output slot when it is done. Stone is only the halfway point: it looks smoother than Cobblestone, but it is not Smooth Stone yet.
Smelt Stone into Smooth Stone
Put the Stone back into the top slot of the same Furnace, and add fuel to the bottom slot if the fire has gone out. When the arrow finishes, Smooth Stone appears in the output slot. Check its displayed name before you craft with it.
Coal and Charcoal work the same way here. Charcoal is just as efficient as Coal, so a player with plenty of trees never has to dig for fuel. If you started with Stone rather than Cobblestone, this is the only smelt you need.
Skip the first smelt with Silk Touch
A pickaxe with Silk Touch makes ordinary stone drop as Stone instead of Cobblestone. That Stone can go straight into the second smelt, which halves the furnace time and the fuel for every block.
Silk Touch does not skip both steps. Stone mined this way still needs one trip through a Furnace, because no tool mines natural stone straight into Smooth Stone.
Make Smooth Stone Slabs
Open a Crafting Table and place 3 Smooth Stone side by side in one row. Any of the three rows works, but the recipe needs a full row of three slots, so the small grid in your inventory is too narrow. The result is 6 Smooth Stone Slabs.
A Stonecutter makes the same slab one block at a time. Put 1 Smooth Stone in its input slot and choose the slab to get 2 Smooth Stone Slabs. That is the same 2 slabs per block as the Crafting Table, so the Stonecutter is not more efficient, but it helps when you only have 1 or 2 blocks. If you need to build one first, follow our guide to making a stonecutter in Minecraft.
Check the name on the result. A Stone Slab and a Smooth Stone Slab are different items: a Stone Slab comes from plain Stone, while the smooth one needs Smooth Stone. The grindstone recipe in Minecraft uses the regular Stone Slab, so check which one a recipe asks for before you craft.
Older guides often mix the two up. In the same update that made Smooth Stone something you could smelt, Mojang changed all existing Stone Slabs into Smooth Stone Slabs, so a slab called Stone Slab in an old tutorial may be the smooth one.
Craft a Blast Furnace with Smooth Stone
The Blast Furnace is the other big reason to make Smooth Stone. Open a Crafting Table and put 3 Smooth Stone along the bottom row, a Furnace in the middle slot, and 5 Iron Ingots in the other slots of the top and middle rows.
Plain Stone in the bottom row will not work, because the recipe asks for Smooth Stone. The full grid, the recipe book route and fixes for an empty output slot are in our guide to making a blast furnace in Minecraft.
Why a Blast Furnace will not make Smooth Stone
This is a common mix-up. The Blast Furnace is made from Smooth Stone, so many players expect it to make Smooth Stone faster, but it is built for ores and some metal tools and armor. Put Stone or Cobblestone in it and nothing smelts, so use a regular Furnace for both steps.
The Blast Furnace works twice as fast as a regular Furnace but also burns fuel twice as fast, so the fuel per item is the same. It is worth building for iron and gold, not for stone.
Once you have one, it stays useful later on. It can smelt Ancient Debris into Netherite Scrap, one of the steps in getting Netherite in Minecraft, and a regular Furnace can do that job too, just more slowly.
Make a full stack of Smooth Stone
For a floor or a big wall, count the smelts before you start. Every block made from Cobblestone needs two smelts, so 64 Smooth Stone takes 128 smelts in all. At 8 smelts per piece of fuel, that is 8 Coal for the first pass and 8 more for the second, or 16 Coal or Charcoal altogether.
Several Furnaces side by side cut the wait without using extra fuel, as long as each one gets a multiple of 8 items. Each Furnace still burns one piece of fuel per 8 items, so the total for the stack stays at 16.
Hoppers can load a Furnace for you. Put a chest of Stone or Cobblestone on a hopper above the Furnace, a hopper under the Furnace leading into a chest that collects the results, and a third hopper on the side of the Furnace, fed by a chest of fuel. To build one, see how to make a hopper in Minecraft, and remember that the Stone still has to go through a Furnace a second time.
If your stone will not smelt
Start with the block you are using: use a regular Furnace, not a Blast Furnace. Then check the item name: the second smelt needs Stone, and Cobblestone in that slot only gives you more Stone.
Next, look at the fuel. It goes in the bottom slot, under the fire icon, and the arrow only moves while the fire is lit.
If Stone and fuel are in a regular Furnace and the fire still will not light, your game may be out of date. Check how to update Minecraft on your device, then try again.
What Smooth Stone is used for
Smooth Stone Slabs go into one well-known recipe. Making an Armor Stand in Minecraft takes 6 Sticks and 1 Smooth Stone Slab, and a regular Stone Slab will not do. Full Smooth Stone blocks and slabs also make clean floors, paths and roofs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make smooth stone from cobblestone?
Smelt the Cobblestone in a regular Furnace to get Stone. Then smelt that Stone again in the same Furnace to get Smooth Stone.
Why did my cobblestone only turn into stone?
Stone is the halfway point, not a mistake. Put the Stone back into the Furnace for a second smelt and it comes out as Smooth Stone.
Can a blast furnace make smooth stone?
No. A Blast Furnace is crafted with Smooth Stone, but it is built for ores and some metal tools and armor, so both steps need a regular Furnace.
How much coal do I need for a stack of smooth stone?
Starting from 64 Cobblestone, you need 16 Coal or Charcoal: 8 for the first pass and 8 for the second. Starting from 64 Stone, 8 is enough.
How do I make a smooth stone slab?
Place 3 Smooth Stone in one row of a Crafting Table to get 6 slabs. A Stonecutter also works, turning 1 Smooth Stone into 2 slabs.
Is a stone slab the same as a smooth stone slab?
No. A Stone Slab is made from plain Stone, while a Smooth Stone Slab is made from Smooth Stone, and an Armor Stand needs the smooth one.