Slab

Slab

Transparency	Double slab: No Single slab: Partial (blocks light)
Luminance	No
Blast resistance	Wood: 15 Stone: 30
Tools
Renewable	Stone: Yes Wood: Yes (except Fake Wood) Cobblestone: Yes Stone Brick: Yes Purpur: Yes Quartz: Yes[Console Edition only] All others: No
Stackable	Yes (64), same type only
Flammable	Wood: Yes Stone: No
Drops	Single Slab: Itself Double Slab: 2 Fake Wood Slab: [Pocket Edition only]
Data values	See Data values
Name	See Data values

Slabs are half-versions of their respective blocks.

Obtaining

Stone-type slabs require a pickaxe to mine. Wooden slabs can be mined with anything, but an axe is quickest. Double-slab blocks cannot be acquired by normal means or by /give, though it can be placed with /setblock or /fill.

Block	Stone	Wood
Hardness	2	2
Tool
Breaking time
Hand	10	3
Wooden	1.5	1.5
Stone	0.75	0.75
Iron	0.5	0.5
Diamond	0.4	0.4
Golden	0.25	0.25

Natural generation

Stone slabs can be found naturally in villages lining the roof of blacksmith shops and inside the Butcher's Shop and the Blacksmith where they form counters. They are also found in strongholds where they are used in some of the stairs, ledges and torch pillars. Sandstone slabs can be found naturally in desert villages, desert wells, and desert temples. Double stone slabs can be found in villages, in the butcher's shop and in blacksmiths. A spruce wood slab serves as a table in igloo basements. Oak, birch, spruce, stone and cobblestone slabs can also be found in woodland mansions.

Crafting

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe	Description
Stone Slab	Stone	6	Can use stone only, no variants. Java Edition and Console Edition only.
Stone Slab	Any Stone	6	Can use stone and its variants interchangeably. Pocket Edition only.
Sandstone Slab	Any Sandstone	6
Cobblestone Slab	Cobblestone	6
Bricks Slab	Bricks	6
Stone Bricks Slab	Any Stone Bricks	6
Wood Slab	Matching Wood Planks	6 6 6 6 6 6
Nether Brick Slab	Nether Brick	6
Quartz Slab	Any Quartz Block	6
Red Sandstone Slab	Any Red Sandstone	6
Purpur Slab	Purpur Block	6	Can use purpur block only, not the pillar. Java Edition and Console Edition only.
Purpur Slab	Any Purpur Block	6	Can use purpur block and pillar interchangeably. Pocket Edition only.

Usage

Placement

Slabs can be placed either right side up or upside-down:

• Pointing at a block top or the bottom half of a block side will place the slab right side up.
• Pointing at a block bottom or the top half of a block side will place the slab upside-down.

Slabs cannot be placed on the other four axes.

Behavior

An example of how upside-down slabs can make redstone travel compactly "up stairs".

Slabs do not block a vertical redstone connection as it is a transparent block.

Slabs are treated as a whole block by other blocks and liquids. Two slabs can be piled on top of one another to make a full-size block, but different slab types cannot be mixed in this way.

Redstone can be connected to the wire on the side of the slabs. Redstone placed on top of an upside-down slab can receive signals from an adjacent block of redstone one block lower but cannot transmit signals to it. This is why "ladders" made from upside-down slabs, as pictured to the right, can transmit redstone signals up, but not down.

Mobs see a slab as a full block. Mobs can also spawn on the tops of upside-down slabs and double slabs, but not on lower slabs.

In Pocket Edition, mobs standing on right-side up slabs fail to pathfind correctly. They seem to perceive the slabs beneath them to be unwalkable, and will often end up spinning around in a small circle when they try to move. The block directly beneath the slab must be air or another right-side up slab to disturb pathfinding.

Due to the way blast rays propagate from an explosion, bottom-half slabs provide extremely effective absorption to explosions directly on top of them.

Sneaking only reduces the player's hitbox height to 1.65 blocks, and so does not allow the player to walk over a single slab with one block of air above it, which is 1.5 blocks of space. A player cannot walk from a block of soul sand directly up to a slab without jumping – this applies not just to soul sand, but to any block ⁷⁄₈ of a block high or shorter, because the maximum step height of the player is 0.6 of a block. The player can walk off a slab while sneaking, because the sneaking only prevents falling when the distance is higher than one half block.

If a slab is placed underwater, the empty half of that slab's block will appear and act as air. If the slab is upside-down, not only can the player grab a quick breath of air there, but the player can see as clearly as if they were above the surface.

Minecarts on powered rails will not be repelled from a slab. They will, however, be repelled by a slab with a minecart on top.

Fuel

Wooden slabs can be used as a fuel in furnaces, smelting 0.75 items per slab. In Pocket Edition, they smelt 1.5 items per slab.

Data values

The slab blocks use IDs and data values to differentiate between types. They also have block states which will replace data values in the future.

ID

Block	ID Name	Numerical ID
Double Stone-type Slabs	double_stone_slab	43
Stone-type Slabs	stone_slab	44
Double Wood Slab	double_wooden_slab	125
Wood Slab	wooden_slab	126
Double Red Sandstone Slab	double_stone_slab2	181
Red Sandstone Slab	stone_slab2	182
Double Purpur Slab	purpur_double_slab	204
Purpur Slab	purpur_slab	205
Pocket Edition
Double Wood Slab		157
Wood Slab		158

Block data

See also: Data values

Double stone slabs

Block 43

	DV	Description
	0	Double Stone Slab
	1	Double Sandstone Slab
	2	Double (Stone) Wooden Slab
	3	Double Cobblestone Slab
	4	Double Bricks Slab
	5	Double Stone Brick Slab
	6	Double Nether Brick Slab
	7	Double Quartz Slab
	8	Smooth Double Stone Slab
	9	Smooth Double Sandstone Slab
	15	Tile Double Quartz Slab (note the underside)

Block 181

	DV	Description
	0	Double Red Sandstone Slab
	8	Smooth Double Red Sandstone Slab

The full stone, sandstone, quartz and red sandstone slabs have a top texture on all sides.

Stone slabs

Block 44

	DV	Description
	0	Stone Slab
	1	Sandstone Slab
	2	(Stone) Wooden Slab
	3	Cobblestone Slab
	4	Bricks Slab
	5	Stone Brick Slab
	6	Nether Brick Slab
	7	Quartz Slab
	8	Upper Stone Slab
	9	Upper Sandstone Slab
	10	Upper (Stone) Wooden Slab
	11	Upper Cobblestone Slab
	12	Upper Bricks Slab
	13	Upper Stone Brick Slab
	14	Upper Nether Brick Slab
	15	Upper Quartz Slab

Block 182

	DV	Description
	0	Red Sandstone Slab
	8	Upper Red Sandstone Slab

Double wooden slabs

Block 125

	DV	Description
	0	Double Oak Wood Slab
	1	Double Spruce Wood Slab
	2	Double Birch Wood Slab
	3	Double Jungle Wood Slab
	4	Double Acacia Wood Slab
	5	Double Dark Oak Wood Slab

Wooden slabs

Block 126

	DV	Description
	0	Oak Wood Slab
	1	Spruce Wood Slab
	2	Birch Wood Slab
	3	Jungle Wood Slab
	4	Acacia Wood Slab
	5	Dark Oak Wood Slab
	8	Upper Oak Wood Slab
	9	Upper Spruce Wood Slab
	10	Upper Birch Wood Slab
	11	Upper Jungle Wood Slab
	12	Upper Acacia Wood Slab
	13	Upper Dark Oak Wood Slab

Block state

See also: Block states

Double stone slabs

minecraft:double_stone_slab

Name	Value	Description
seamless	true false	If true, the top texture is used on all sides. Smooth Double Stone Slab Smooth Double Sandstone Slab Tile Double Quartz Slab
variant	stone	Double Stone Slab
	sandstone	Double Sandstone Slab
	wood_old	Double Wood Slab (with stone properties, no longer craftable)
	cobblestone	Double Cobblestone Slab
	brick	Double Brick Slab
	stone_brick	Double Stone Brick Slab
	nether_brick	Double Nether Brick Slab
	quartz	Double Quartz Slab

minecraft:double_stone_slab2

Name	Value	Description
seamless	true false	If true, the top texture is used on all sides. Smooth Double Red Sandstone Slab
variant	red_sandstone	Double Red Sandstone Slab

minecraft:purpur_double_slab

Name	Value	Description
variant	default	Purpur Double Slab

Stone slabs

minecraft:stone_slab

Name	Value	Description
half	top bottom	Where the slab is within its block.
variant	stone	Stone Slab
	sandstone	Sandstone Slab
	wood_old	Wood Slab (with stone properties, no longer craftable)
	cobblestone	Cobblestone Slab
	brick	Brick Slab
	stone_brick	Stone Brick Slab
	nether_brick	Nether Brick Slab
	quartz	Quartz Slab

minecraft:stone_slab2

Name	Value	Description
half	top bottom	Where the slab is within its block.
variant	red_sandstone	Red Sandstone Slab

minecraft:purpur_slab

Name	Value	Description
half	top bottom	Where the slab is within its block.
variant	default	Purpur Slab

Double wooden slabs

minecraft:double_wooden_slab

Name	Value	Description
variant	oak	Double Oak Wood Slab
	spruce	Double Spruce Wood Slab
	birch	Double Birch Wood Slab
	jungle	Double Jungle Wood Slab
	acacia	Double Acacia Wood Slab
	dark_oak	Double Dark Oak Wood Slab

Wooden slabs

minecraft:wooden_slab

Name	Value	Description
half	top bottom	Where the slab is within its block.
variant	oak	Oak Wood Slab
	spruce	Spruce Wood Slab
	birch	Birch Wood Slab
	jungle	Jungle Wood Slab
	acacia	Acacia Wood Slab
	dark_oak	Dark Oak Wood Slab

History

Classic
May 17, 2009					Slabs suggested on the TIGSource forums.
0.26 SURVIVAL TEST 4					Dirt slab test.
0.26 SURVIVAL TEST 7					Half block nearly finished.
0.27 SURVIVAL TEST 10					Stone slabs were introduced to the game.
					Stone slabs could be obtained by mining coal ore because of the lack of inventory and crafting.
					At the time, slabs were called "stair" blocks before the introduction of what are currently called stairs in Alpha 1.0.0.
Indev
0.31			January 29, 2010		Slabs received a crafting recipe: 3 slabs from 3 cobblestone.
Beta
1.3					Added sandstone, wooden (oak), and cobblestone slabs.
					These old wooden slabs did not burn, and could only be collected with a pickaxe. Wooden slabs were also are not affected by fire and had a stronger blast resistance than wooden planks, which made them a useful building material. This is because they are actually a variant of stone slab with a planks texture. However, you can still obtain this slab today with with pick block in debug mode. The item tooltip will say "Wooden Slab" rather than "Oak Wood Slab" and the item form is a full block with a missing texture and it is larger than the other items.
					Before the additional slabs were added, a double stone slab would only yield one slab when broken. Since this update, all double slabs yield 2 of their respective single slabs when broken. Destroying double slabs with TNT, however, still only yields single slabs (when the slabs aren't simply destroyed by the explosion).
					Before Beta 1.3 came out, stone slabs were made with cobblestone instead of stone, but this update introduced cobblestone slabs to the game and changed the recipes for pressure plates and stone slabs so that there wouldn't be any conflicting recipes.
1.8					Added the stone brick, bricks, and smooth full half-slab. (Smooth full half-slab was only obtainable through inventory editing at the time.)
					The sprinting feature was added in this update. While stairs stopped the player's sprinting at the time, slabs allowed a player to continue sprinting.
Official release
1.2.1			1.2-pre		All types of slabs were now able to be placed upside down and under blocks; these occupy the top half of their block space rather than the bottom half.
					The crafting recipe changed so that 6 slabs would be crafted rather than 3. The prior restriction was likely due to the fact that the slab types were differentiated by their damage values instead of by different data values, similar to wood, coal or charcoal, and colored wool.
1.3.1			12w17a		New slabs were added for the four different types of wood planks, replacing the old wooden oak/"stone" slab. These new slabs were vulnerable to fire, and could be collected faster with an axe than with a pickaxe. Wooden slabs already crafted or placed in the world remain the old 'stone' type.
			12w21a		Sandstone slabs now generate in desert temples.
			12w25a		Redstone (including repeaters, torches, levers, and pressure plates) and rails can now be placed on slabs and stairs positioned upside down.
			12w26a		Mobs can now spawn on upside down slabs.
1.4.2			12w39a		Slabs interact properly with lighting now; when slabs are placed upside down, they now accept light from light sources themselves, and no longer block light to surrounding blocks; they no longer cast the shadow of a full-sized block.
1.4.6			November 28, 2012		Jeb tweeted a picture of himself crafting nether brick slabs.
			12w49a		Added nether brick slabs, which causes the smooth stone full half-slab to change its damage value to 43:7
1.5			January 22, 2013		Jeb states that the smooth stone full half-slab will be re-implemented with a value of 43:8. The smooth sandstone slab will also be implemented, with a value of 43:9. He also stated that they may be obtained legitimately later.
			13w01a		Wooden Slabs can now be used to craft daylight sensors.
			13w02a		Added quartz slabs. The formerly unused slab type, known as the smooth stone full half-slab (see gallery), was removed from the game. Its data values were replaced with the nether quartz slab.
			13w04a		The smooth stone full half-slab is re-implemented with a value of 43:8. The smooth sandstone full half-slab is also added, with a value of 43:9.
1.7.2			1.7-pre		Added acacia and dark oak slabs.
1.8			14w02a		Stone brick slabs can now be used to craft chiseled stone bricks.
					Stone slabs could be crafted using granite, diorite, andesite, or their polished counterparts.
			14w25a		Double Stone slabs and Double Wooden slabs can no longer be obtained as an item.
			14w32a		Added red sandstone slabs, including full slabs.
					Armor stands are crafted using any slab.
			14w32b		Armor stands can only be crafted using stone slabs.
			14w33a		Stone slabs can no longer be crafted using granite, diorite, andesite, or their polished counterparts.
1.9			June 22, 2015		Jeb reveals purpur slabs on Instagram, with the words "MINECON 2015 HYPE!"
			15w31a		Added purpur slabs.
			15w43a		A spruce slab acts as the middle of a table generated within igloo basements.
1.11			16w39a		Oak, birch, spruce, stone, and cobblestone slabs now generate in woodland mansions.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.1.0					Added stone slabs.
0.3.0					Added wood (original oak), brick and cobblestone slabs.
0.6.0					Added sandstone and stone brick slabs.
					Slabs can be placed on the top half of blocks.
					The recipes for crafting slabs gives 6 slabs instead of 3 slabs.
0.7.3					Added quartz slabs
					Wooden slabs crafted during and after this update are now flammable. Existing wooden slabs (which have stone properties) are now tagged "Fake Wood Slab" and drop real wooden slabs.
0.8.0			build 2		Added birch, spruce and jungle wood slabs.
0.9.0			build 1		Added acacia and dark oak wood slabs.
					Stone slabs now generate naturally in villages.
			build 11		Added crafting recipe for jungle wood slabs.
?					Changed wooden slab name from [woodtype] Slab to [woodtype] Wood Slab
0.12.1			build 1		Added nether brick slabs.
0.13.0			build 1		Wooden slabs are now used to craft daylight sensors.
0.14.0			build 1		Added red sandstone slabs.
Pocket Edition
1.0			build 1		Added purpur slabs.
					A spruce slab acts as the middle of a table generated within igloo basements.
1.1			build 1		Oak, birch, spruce, stone, and cobblestone slabs now generate in woodland mansions.
Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1		Added stone, wood (original oak), sandstone and cobblestone slabs.
TU5					Added stone brick and brick slabs.
TU9					Added birch wood, spruce wood and nether brick slabs.
					Wooden slabs crafted during and after this update are now flammable. Existing slabs (which have stone properties) are not stackable with the new slabs.
TU12					Added jungle wood slabs.
					Slabs can be placed upside down. Items can be placed directly on upside down slabs.
TU14		1.04			Added quartz slabs.
					Changed placement of half blocks & other blocks on half blocks.
					Changed placement of upside down slabs.
TU27	CU15	1.18			Added acacia and dark oak wood slabs to the creative inventory.
TU46	CU36	1.38	Patch 15		Added purpur slabs.

Issues

Issues relating to “Slab” are maintained on the issue tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

• Slabs let a small amount of light pass through their edges. This light is only visible with Smooth Lighting is turned on, and does not affect mob spawning or other light-dependent processes.
  • The exception of this is that any light directed through a slab does not affect any block's light values north of the source.

Gallery

• 

  Brick slabs.

• 

  Stone Brick slabs.

• 

  Double stone slab (left) compared to smooth full half-slab.

• 

  Naturally occurring stone slabs in a butcher shop.

• 

  Naturally occurring stone slabs in a village Blacksmith.

• 

  First image of upside down slabs as shown on Jeb's Twitter.

• 

  Slabs used to create the impression of half-aligned full blocks.

• 

  All six types of wooden slabs.

• 

  Trapdoors on slabs.

• 

  Example of slab shelving by placing slabs below other slabs.

• 

  Smooth sandstone double slabs compared to smooth stone double slabs

• 

  A wooden "stone" slab house with a netherrack fireplace.

• 

  Light passing through the sides of a brick slab from above. A normal block would render complete darkness.

• 

  Fake wooden slabs.

References

Redstone

View at: Template:Redstone/content [edit]

Blocks

View at: Template:Blocks/content [edit]