Coal

Coal

Type	Raw materials
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
First appearances	See History
Name	See Data values

This article is about the coal lump and charcoal item. For other uses, see Coal (disambiguation).

Coal lumps are items mainly obtained by harvesting coal ore blocks. Their main uses are as a fuel or crafting torches.

Charcoal is an alternative to coal obtained from smelting logs or wood. It has the same uses as normal coal, except it cannot be traded with villagers or crafted into a block of coal. Coal and charcoal also cannot stack together.

Obtaining

The main difference between coal and charcoal is in the methods of obtaining.

Mining

Coal ore mined using a pickaxe will drop 1 unit of coal. If the pickaxe is enchanted with Fortune, it may drop an extra unit per level of Fortune, up to a maximum of 4 with Fortune III.

Crafting

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Coal	Block of Coal	9

Compound creation

Charcoal can be created from its base elements, using the compound creator.^{[Bedrock and Education editions only]}

Name	Elements	Example recipe
Charcoal	7 Carbon 4 Hydrogen 1 Oxygen	7 4

Smelting

Name	Ingredients	Smelting recipe
Coal	Coal Ore + Any fuel
Charcoal	Any Log or Any Stripped Log or Any Wood or Any Stripped Wood + Any fuel

Wither Skeletons

Wither skeletons have a ¹⁄₃ chance of dropping a coal lump upon death, and amounts and chances increases by the Looting enchantment.

Natural generation

Coal can be found in 81.0% of big underwater ruins chests, 26.6% of dungeon chests, 70.4% of igloo chests, 84.2% of small underwater ruins chests, and 26.6% of woodland mansion chests, all in stacks of 1–4; in 45.4% of shipwreck supply chests in stacks of 2–8; and in 34.3% of stronghold storeroom chests and 31.6% of chest minecarts in abandoned mineshafts in stacks of 3–8.

In Bedrock Edition they can be found in 28.5% of stronghold storeroom chests in stacks of 3–8. In Bedrock Edition 1.8^[upcoming] they can be found in 44.4% of shipwreck supply chests in stacks of 2–8.

Usage

Lab table ingredient

Charcoal is one of the lab table ingredients needed to produce the heat block.^{[Bedrock and Education editions only]}

Result	Materials Needed
Heat Block
	Iron, Water, Charcoal, Salt

Fuel

When used in a furnace as a fuel, a coal lump or piece of charcoal lasts 80 seconds (which smelts up to 8 items). Coal/charcoal used as fuel lasts more than 5 times longer than wood planks or wood logs used as fuel.

Coal and charcoal are also the only fuels accepted by powered minecarts. They provide approximately four minutes of transit each.

Trading

Main article: Trading

Villager fishermen, armorers, tool smiths and weapon smiths buy 16-24 coals for one emerald as part of their first tier trades. Butchers buy 16-24 coals for one emerald as part of their second tier trades.

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Item	ID Name
Coal	coal
Charcoal	charcoal

Bedrock Edition:

Item	ID Name	Numeral ID
Coal	coal	263

Achievements

Main article: Achievements

Icon	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Availability				Xbox points earned	Trophy type (PS)
				Xbox	PS	Bedrock	Nintendo
	Renewable Energy	Smelt wood trunks using charcoal to make more charcoal.		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	10G	Bronze

Video

Note: The video does not show a crafting recipe for blocks of coal. This was before blocks of coal were added in 1.6.1.

Note: The video states that charcoal looks the same as coal. This was before 1.6.1, when charcoal's texture was changed.

History

Classic
May 21, 2009					Notch shows interest in adding coal, commenting that it might be combined with iron ore to make steel.
Indev
0.31 (January 29, 2010)					Added coal, which can be mined from coal ore blocks.
					Coal can be used to craft torches.
February 19, 2010					Coal texture has been changed.
Beta
December 25, 2010					Charcoal is suggested to Notch by @Moleculor as a writing implement.
1.2					Charcoal has been added, with the same texture as coal. It is not used as a writing implement.
1.8			Pre-release		Coal can be found in the new abandoned mineshaft chests and stronghold storeroom chests.
Java Edition
1.2.1			12w04a		Coal and charcoal are now used to craft fire charges.
1.3.1			12w21a		Blacksmith and butcher villagers will now buy 16–23 of either coal or charcoal for 1 emerald.
1.4.2			12w36a		Coal is now dropped by wither skeletons, making it renewable.
1.6.1			13w18a		Coal can now be used to craft coal blocks.
			13w19a		Changed the charcoal texture.
1.8			14w02a		Fisherman, armorer, tool smith, weapon smith and butcher villagers will now buy 16–24 coal for 1 emerald.
					Charcoal can now no longer be traded from villagers.
1.9			15w43a		Coal may now be found in igloo basement chests.
			15w44a		The average yield from mineshaft chests has been decreased, and added to dungeon chests.
1.11			16w39a		Coal can now be found in the new woodland mansion chests.
1.13			17w47a		The different data values for the coal ID have been split up into their own IDs.
					Prior to The Flattening, this item's numeral ID was 263.
			18w09a		Coal can now be found in the loot chests of underwater ruins.
			18w11a		Coal will now generate in shipwreck chests.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.3.0					Added coal, which can be used to craft torches.
0.3.2					Added charcoal.
0.8.0			?		Coal can now be crafted to make a block of coal.
0.8.1					Changed the charcoal texture.
0.12.1			build 1		Coal is now dropped by wither skeletons.
0.14.0			build 1		Coal can be found inside chest minecarts in abandoned mineshafts.
0.15.0			build 1		Coal and charcoal are now used to craft fire charges.
Pocket Edition
1.0			build 1		Coal can now be found in the stronghold storeroom chests.
					Coal may now be found in igloo basement chests.
1.0.4			build 1		Fisherman, armorer, tool smith, weapon smith and butcher villagers now sell 16–24 coal for 1 emerald.
1.1			build 1		Coal is now found in woodland mansion chests.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.13			build 3		Added stripped log variants, which can smelted to obtain charcoal.
1.2.14			build 1		Coal can now be found inside shipwreck chests.
1.4			build 7		Coal can now be found inside underwater ruins chests.
					Charcoal now can be crafted using 7 Carbon, 4 Hydrogen, and an Oxygen in a compound creator.
					Charcoal can now be used in the lab table to create a heat block.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1		Added coal and charcoal.
TU19	CU7	1.12			Changed charcoal texture.

Issues

Issues relating to "Coal" or "Charcoal" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Items

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