Mining Techniques

Mining can be very fun. It's also the most important thing in Minecraft. Well it is called Minecraft. So it's kinda obvious.

You obtain the best equipment through mining. The only equipment you don't get from mining is wooden things, and that stuff is to help you obtain stone materials, which helps you get iron materials which you can mine better and better stuff.

So here's some techniques:

1. Staircasing:

This is a great way to obtain materials. You start digging in a promising looking spot and then dig a stair looking hole downward. NEVER DIG STRAIGHT DOWN! If you fall into lava there's no hope for you. You may also fall into mobs or other horrors, so it's best to use this method to dig down to the bedrock.

Equipment needed:

Torches. Lots of them.

Two iron picks, or one diamond pick, or thee stone picks.


2. Spiraling:

This has the benefits of digging straight down without the dangers of straight down digging. Make a four by four or a six by six hole and start digging down. Leave blocks as stairs in a spiraling fashion.

Equipment needed:

Torches.

Three iron picks, or one diamond pick, or four stone picks.

3. Branching:

This mining technique is like having a home underground and may take several Minecraft days. So dig down using the staircasing technique until you get down to Y 16 or so. Check your Y, X, and Z coordinates by pressing F3. Y is your "floor level," so to speak, on your Minecraft map.

Once you get down to your desired level (note that 16 and below is where diamonds are more common), make a twenty by twenty space with a five by five squared off home for you. The reason for it being squared off is that monsters come in when the house isn't a perfect square. Then proceed to put torches up all over the place.

Then make a crafting table and place it in your home. Then craft a door, two chests, a bed, and a furnace. You want to sleep in your bed to make it your respawn point. The chests are for placing your goodies in. Make an extra large chest by placing the two chests next to each other. Make a cutout for the door. Now you have a home underground!


Now it's time to mine. Start by making a two-block high one-block wide tunnel. Make it about twenty blocks long. Make sure to put torches so you can see all the ores. Once you've made the tunnel, make another one two blocks away. Do this until you've covered the entire twenty by twenty space. Then make stairs and go right under or above your mine and repeat the process.

This is the coolest way to mine things, but it takes the longest and requires a lot of stuff.

Equipment needed:

Torches. About two stacks of 64.

Five iron picks. Two diamond picks. Or ten stone picks.

Three stacks of 64 wooden planks for crafting/smelting.

Mining can be tough, but it can be fun!



-Nick