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This article is about repairing via grindstones or crafting. For repair via anvils, see Anvil § Repairing. For repair via the Mending enchantment, see Mending.
Item Repair

An example of item repair.

Item repair is a feature that allows players to repair damaged tools, armor, or other items with durability by combining them in the crafting grid or a grindstone.

Usage[]

Two items of the same type and material can be placed anywhere on the crafting grid or grindstone, which results in a single repaired item. The durability of the repaired item equals the sum of the old items' durability plus a 'repair bonus' of 5% of the item's maximum uses, up to a limit of the maximum durability for that item. Repairing gives a slight benefit in conserving inventory space, as it combines two non-stackable objects into one.[1]

The repaired object is never enchanted even if both items were to have the exact same enchantments, with the exception of curse enchantments, which are transferred to the repaired item. Therefore, using a "junk" item in a repair may sometimes be useful for removing an unwanted enchantment from an item prior to enchanting it again. Tools made of different materials (for example, a wood and a stone pickaxe) cannot be combined.

Formula for uses restored[]

The formula for determining how many uses a repaired item can have restored to it in the crafting box, is as follows:

min(Item A uses + Item B uses + floor(Max uses / 20), Max uses)

where "floor" means round down to the smaller integer, and "min(x,y)" means the smallest of x or y.

Example: Two stone axes have 10 and 45 uses. A newly crafted stone axe would have 61 uses.

10 + 45 + 132/20 = 55 + 6.6 = 61

Or, in terms of percentage (approximated):

7.5% + 34% + 5% = 46.5%

The greatest benefit is gained when the two items have a combined durability of at most approximately 95%, in any combination, such as 47.5% + 47.5%, 94% + 1%, 10% + 10% or any other values that total 95% or less. The order in which items are combined does not matter; one sequence of repairs gives exactly the same durability as any other.

In the example, repairing a stone tool restores a bonus of 6 durability, which is actually only 6/132 = 4.5%. The precise combined durability for efficient repairs is shown in the following table.

Item Actual bonus (%) Actual bonus (uses) Combined durability (%) Combined durability (uses)
Golden tools 3.0% 1 97.0% 31
Wooden tools 5.0% 3 95.0% 56
Stone tools 4.5% 6 95.5% 125
Iron tools 4.8% 12 95.2% 238
Diamond tools 5.0% 78 95.0% 1483
Netherite tools 5.0% 101 95.0% 1930
Carrot on a stick 3.8% 1 96.2% 24
Flint and steel 4.6% 3 95.4% 61
Fishing rod 4.6% 3 95.4% 61
Shears 4.6% 11 95.4% 227
Bow 4.9% 19 95.1% 365

A perfect repair is theoretically possible, but unlikely in practice. Combining items whose combined durability is more than 100% actually wastes more resources than simply using tools until they break.

The precise combined durability for efficient repairs for all types of armor is shown in the following table.

Armor piece Actual bonus (%) Actual bonus (uses) Combined durability (%) Combined durability (uses)
Leather helmet 3.6% 2 96.4% 53
Leather boots 4.6% 3 95.4% 62
Leather leggings 4.0% 3 96.0% 72
Leather chestplate 4.9% 4 95.1% 76
Gold helmet 3.9% 3 96.1% 74
Gold boots 4.4% 4 95.6% 87
Gold leggings 4.8% 5 95.2% 100
Gold chestplate 4.4% 5 95.6% 108
Iron helmet 4.8% 8 95.2% 157
Iron boots 4.6% 9 95.4% 186
Iron leggings 4.9% 11 95.1% 214
Iron chestplate 5.0% 12 95.0% 228
Diamond helmet 5.0% 18 95.0% 345
Diamond boots 4.9% 21 95.1% 408
Diamond leggings 4.8% 24 95.2% 471
Diamond chestplate 4.9% 26 95.1% 502
Netherite helmet 4.9% 20 95.1% 387
Netherite boots 5.0% 24 95.0% 457
Netherite leggings 4.9% 27 95.1% 528
Netherite chestplate 4.9% 29 95.1% 563

Anvil Repair[]

Main article: Mechanics/Anvil

An anvil can also repair items in two different ways. This costs experience levels, but unlike the grindstone, the anvil preserves or can even enhance the target's enchantments. The anvil can combine the enchantments on two similar items, or rename any item (not just the ones it can repair). The costs are complex, so a summary is given here.

The repair cost is stored in a repairCost value.

Combination[]

Two items of the same type are put into the input slots; the first one is the item to be repaired and the second one is to be merged into the first. The second item's durability is added to the first, and if applicable, some or all enchantments from the second item are added.

Unit repair[]

Some items can be repaired by "covering" the damage with a specific material. The item to be repaired is put into the first input slot, and the corresponding material is put into the second slot. Each material item (unit) heals the item's durability by 25% its maximum durability, rounded down.


Anything not listed below does not have a unit repair item, and can be repaired only by consuming another instance of itself.

Repairable items (Anvil)
Item Material

Wooden Sword
Wooden Pickaxe
Wooden Axe
Wooden Shovel
Wooden Hoe
Shield

Planks

Leather Cap
Leather Tunic
Leather Pants
Leather Boots

Leather

Stone Sword
Stone Pickaxe
Stone Axe
Stone Shovel
Stone Hoe

Cobblestone
Cobbled Deepslate
Blackstone[Java Edition only][2]

Iron Helmet
Iron Chestplate
Iron Leggings
Iron Boots
Chainmail Helmet
Chainmail Chestplate
Chainmail Leggings
Chainmail Boots
Iron Sword
Iron Pickaxe
Iron Axe
Iron Shovel
Iron Hoe

Iron Ingot

Golden Helmet
Golden Chestplate
Golden Leggings
Golden Boots
Golden Sword
Golden Pickaxe
Golden Axe
Golden Shovel
Golden Hoe

Gold Ingot

Diamond Helmet
Diamond Chestplate
Diamond Leggings
Diamond Boots
Diamond Sword
Diamond Pickaxe
Diamond Axe
Diamond Shovel
Diamond Hoe

Diamond

Netherite Helmet
Netherite Chestplate
Netherite Leggings
Netherite Boots
Netherite Sword
Netherite Pickaxe
Netherite Axe
Netherite Shovel
Netherite Hoe

Netherite Ingot
Turtle Shell Scute
Elytra Phantom Membrane


Video[]

History[]

Java Edition
1.0.0September 27, 2011Notch teased that the upcoming prerelease would have item repairing via crafting table,[3][4][5] and that he had discarded the idea of a dedicated "repair table".[6]
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2Added the capability to repair items.
1.4.2?Bonus for (traditional) item repairing is reduced to 5%. Prior this update, this bonus was 10% of the max durability.
12w41aAdded the anvil. The original item repair system is unchanged.
1.1418w48aItem repair is now done with the grindstone.
1.14.3Pre-Release 3Item repair can now be done with the crafting grid again in addition to the grindstone.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.12.1build 1Added the capability to repair items and added the anvil.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0alpha 0.17.0.1Added the capability to repair items in crafting grid and crafting table using classic ui.
Bedrock Edition
1.11.0beta 1.11.0.1Items can now be repaired in grindstone.
Legacy Console Edition
TU7CU1 1.0 Patch 1Added the capability to repair items.
TU15 1.05 Changed repairing tools in the inventory to allow only tools that are not enchanted (because enchantments are lost). This is different to the Java Edition, where repairing enchanted tools in the inventory is possible and results in the loss of the enchantment.

Trivia[]

  • Working on an anvil doesn’t remove enchantments to items, but they can be removed by repairing them on a crafting grid or grindstone.

Gallery[]

See also[]

References[]

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