Find out how to find copper ore, smelt copper ingots and wax your copper blocks in Minecraft …
Copper has arrived in Minecraft 1.17 as a new block and ore to collect and craft. In its crafted form, copper ingots are used to create new items like the spyglass or lightning rod. Although copper is relatively easy to mine, there are some things you need to know about it, such as its oxidation process and ideal extraction level.
How to find copper in Minecraft?
To get copper ingots in Minecraft, you need to find copper ore. This resource appears in the form of a copper vein, which means that you will usually find several blocks of copper ore clustered together. Bring a stone pickaxe or a better quality pickaxe, because copper ore mined with a wooden pickaxe or other object will not yield anything.
Copper ore appears from the y: 0 to y: 96 level, but with a higher probability of occurrence around the intermediate layers. It is therefore wise to start looking a little below sea level (y: 63). If it appears between the y: 0 and y: 16 levels, the copper ore will be in the form of an abyssal slate copper ore. The latter has a higher level of hardness than normal copper ore and takes longer to extract. Since it is also quite rare, it is better to choose the normal type of copper ore.
Broken copper ore yields 2-5 gross copper, unless mined with an enchanted pickaxe with silk touch. It is affected by the Fortune enchantment, and can yield up to 12 raw copper with Fortune III.
How to get copper ingots in Minecraft?
Mining copper ore will only give you raw copper. You need to smelt this raw material in order to make copper ingots. This is a fairly simple step that most Minecraft players are already familiar with: just put the raw copper in a furnace and add some fuel (wood will do). Then wait until your copper ingots are ready. You can start making things!
How to use copper in Minecraft ?
Now that we have our copper ingots, it’s time to use them. Copper ingots can be used to create the following objects:
- Copper Block: Use nine copper ingots to create a smooth, solid copper block.
- Carved Copper Block: Use 4 copper blocks.
- Waxed Copper Block: Use any copper block with a honeycomb.
- Rough Copper Block: Use nine pieces of rough copper to create a rough copper block.
- Lightning Rod: Place three copper ingots on top of each other to create the lightning rod.
- Spyglass: Place an amethyst chip on top of two copper ingots to make the spyglass.
How to wax copper in Minecraft ?
Just like in real life, copper in Minecraft changes color due to oxidation. You can see the differences in the picture. If you don’t want your copper to change, you can wax it (this will preserve the current color, without resetting it). Just equip a honeycomb and use it on the copper block.
You can also use an axe on a copper block to scrape it. This will reset the oxidation level of a unit (weathered copper will become exposed copper). Finally, although you can’t really predict it, a lightning strike will completely eliminate oxidation.
