Seamless stone slab refers to several unused variants of the slab block with metadata exceeding what was actually used at the time. They can be considered a precursor to smooth stone.
Obtaining[]
Seamless slabs were never intended to be obtainable by any means, and as such inventory editors are generally the most reliable method of obtaining them.
There exist methods of block transmutation that may be used to obtain seamless stone slabs, allowing them to exist in block form, and then be broken to collect them in item form.
Due to their nature of being extreme data values, and the fact that all of these data values eventually became used in-game, worlds containing the slabs that eventually used said values can be downgraded to obtain seamless slabs in an earlier version. This is, however, risky, and can cause crashes and world corruption.
Breaking[]
Seamless stone slabs require a pickaxe to mine, dropping themselves when broken.
| Block | Seamless Stone Slab | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardness | ? | |
| Breaking time (secs) | ||
| Default | ? | |
Usage[]
Seamless stone slabs can be used for any of the things other stone-type slabs can be used for, aside from being a crafting ingredient. They can be placed in the exact same way other slabs can.
Model[]
The seamless stone slab can be visually distinguished from normal smooth stone slabs via the texture they use: while smooth stone slabs have a dedicated side texture as to make single slabs appear polished, and double slabs appear to be composed of two single slabs, the seamless stone slab's side texture appears cut off in single form, and in double form identical to smooth stone. Indeed, the seamless stone double slab was itself a precursor to smooth stone, which would end up being implemented intentionally.
The use of a single texture on all sides is a trend that can be seen in many other extreme metadata variants: wood, which also eventually became obtainable intentionally, pistons and sticky pistons, hay bales, and Bedrock Edition-exclusive cases of chiseled quartz blocks, quartz pillars, purpur pillars and bone blocks. (Several other extraneous metadata variants, such as those of lit and unlit furnaces, dispensers, droppers, jack o'lanterns and pumpkins, the last of which also was reimplemented intentionally, used their texture on four sides, due to having a dedicated top and bottom and most being able to face in four directions.)
Conversion[]
As the seamless stone slab is, by definition, an extreme metadata value of the smooth stone slab, and metadata was used to distinguish different slab types, seamless stone slabs would end up transforming into these slab variants as a world is updated.
The following table lists all conversions in Java Edition:
| Metadata | Versions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beta 1.3 | Beta 1.8 (Pre-release) | 1.2.1 (1.2) | 1.4.6 (12w49a) | 1.5 (13w02a) | |
| 4 | 
|
| |||
| 5 |
|
| |||
| 6 |
|
| |||
| 7 |
|
| |||
| 8 | 
|
| |||
| 9 |
|
| |||
| 10 |
|
| |||
| 11 |
|
| |||
| 12 |
|
| |||
| 13 |
|
| |||
| 14 |
|
|
| ||
| 15 |
|
|
| ||
History[]
| Java Edition Beta | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.3 | Added seamless stone single slabs, which visually differ from regular smooth stone slabs by using the top texture on the sides. They existed as numerical metadata values of the usual slab block, with values 4 to 15. All twelve of these appeared identical, but would not stack, and would not create double slabs with a seamless stone slab of another data value.
| ||||
| Prior to this version, stone slab blocks could be given metadata above 0, but would just look like normal smooth stone slabs.[verify] | |||||
| 1.7 | The texture application of the single slab has changed to use the bottom half of the texture, like with all slabs and many other blocks after this update. | ||||
| 1.8 | Pre-release | With the addition of brick slabs and stone brick slabs, two of the seamless slab types have been replaced with these, resulting in 6 and 7 being seamless single slabs. | |||
| Java Edition | |||||
| 1.2.1 | 1.2 | Seamless stone slabs can now be placed on the top half of blocks.
| |||
| As a result of the implementation of top slabs, seamless stone slabs with data values 8-13 have been replaced with the upper versions of the normally obtainable slabs 0-5, and 14-15 have been replaced by the top versions of seamless stone slabs 6-7. | |||||
| This also means that the item forms of smooth stone slabs with metadata 8 through 15 can no longer be obtained via mining the respective blocks. Refer to Invalid Data Value Stone Slab for more information on these items. | |||||
| 1.4.6 | 12w49a | With the addition of nether brick slabs, the only remaining seamless single slab has metadata value 7. | |||
| 1.5 | 13w02a | The last remaining seamless stone slab has been replaced with the quartz slab, completely removing this block from the game. | |||
| 22 January 2013 | Jeb, acknowledging the existence of the seamless stone slab, states plans to reimplement its double variant as the stone double stab with metadata value 8. | ||||
| 13w04a | "Smooth stone" has been reimplemented as the double stone slab with metadata value 8, by having double slabs 8 and above use the top texture on all six sides. There is still no single variant. | ||||
| 1.13 | 17w47a | Smooth stone has been given a unique ID, fully separating it from any dependency on slabs. | |||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| ? | Seamless stone slabs existed in this edition.[1] | ||||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| ? | Seamless stone slabs existed in this edition.[2] | ||||
Issues[]
Seamless Stone Slabs effectively were issues themselves, due to resulting from a quirk of block metadata handling at the time. As they have since been removed with several reworkings of block metadata, they can be considered already fixed.
Gallery[]
Slabs 0-7 in Beta 1.6. There are four seamless stone slabs.
Slabs 0-7 in Beta 1.8. There are two seamless stone slabs.
Slabs 0-7 in 1.4.6. There is one seamless stone slab.
Slabs 0-7 in 1.5. There are no seamless stone slabs.
References[]