Furnace Fuel Calculator - Burn Times and What to Burn

Every fuel in the game with its exact burn time, how many items it smelts, and how much you need for the job in front of you.

How many items are you smelting?

One item takes 200 ticks, or ten seconds, in an ordinary furnace. A blast furnace and a smoker halve that, but they burn the fuel twice as fast, so the amount of fuel is the same either way.

The short answer

For 64 items you need 8 coal, or 1 blocks of coal, or 1 lava bucket, or 43 planks.

Every fuel

Fuel	Burns for	Smelts	For 64
Lava Bucket	16.7 min	100	1
Coal Block	13.3 min	80	1
Dried Kelp Block	3.3 min	20.0	4
Blaze Rod	2.0 min	12	6
Coal	1.3 min	8	8
Charcoal	1.3 min	8	8
Any boats	1.0 min	6	11
Any hanging signs	40s	4	16
Bamboo Mosaic	15s	1.5	43
Bamboo Mosaic Stairs	15s	1.5	43
Note Block	15s	1.5	43
Bookshelf	15s	1.5	43
Chiseled Bookshelf	15s	1.5	43
Lectern	15s	1.5	43
Jukebox	15s	1.5	43
Chest	15s	1.5	43
Trapped Chest	15s	1.5	43
Crafting Table	15s	1.5	43
Daylight Detector	15s	1.5	43
Bow	15s	1.5	43
Fishing Rod	15s	1.5	43
Ladder	15s	1.5	43
Crossbow	15s	1.5	43
Loom	15s	1.5	43
Barrel	15s	1.5	43
Cartography Table	15s	1.5	43
Fletching Table	15s	1.5	43
Smithing Table	15s	1.5	43
Composter	15s	1.5	43
Mangrove Roots	15s	1.5	43
Any logs	15s	1.5	43
Any bamboo blocks	15s	1.5	43
Any planks	15s	1.5	43
Any wooden stairs	15s	1.5	43
Any wooden trapdoors	15s	1.5	43
Any wooden pressure plates	15s	1.5	43
Any wooden shelves	15s	1.5	43
Any wooden fences	15s	1.5	43
Any fence gates	15s	1.5	43
Any banners	15s	1.5	43
Wooden Shovel	10s	1	64
Wooden Sword	10s	1	64
Wooden Spear	10s	1	64
Wooden Hoe	10s	1	64
Wooden Axe	10s	1	64
Wooden Pickaxe	10s	1	64
Any signs	10s	1	64
Any wooden doors	10s	1	64
Bamboo Mosaic Slab	7.5s	0.8	86
Any wooden slabs	7.5s	0.8	86
Stick	5s	0.5	128
Bowl	5s	0.5	128
Dead Bush	5s	0.5	128
Short Dry Grass	5s	0.5	128
Tall Dry Grass	5s	0.5	128
Azalea	5s	0.5	128
Flowering Azalea	5s	0.5	128
Leaf Litter	5s	0.5	128
Any wool	5s	0.5	128
Any wooden buttons	5s	0.5	128
Any saplings	5s	0.5	128
Any wool carpets	3.35s	0.3	192
Bamboo	2.5s	0.3	256
Scaffolding	2.5s	0.3	256

A row that starts with Any covers a whole family: every plank burns the same, so there is no point listing sixty of them. Burn time left over at the end of a job is wasted, which is why a stack of items divides more neatly by coal than by lava.

Fuel, in items rather than ticks

A furnace spends ten seconds on each item. A fuel is worth whatever it can cover: coal handles eight items, a block of coal handles eighty, and a lava bucket handles a hundred. Anything left over when the job ends is simply wasted.

That waste is the whole reason to think about fuel at all. Smelting a single stack of 64 with lava throws away more than a third of the bucket. Eight coal covers it exactly. For big jobs the block of coal wins, because it is nine coal packed into one slot and burns for the full eighty items.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best fuel in Minecraft?

A block of coal, for almost every job. It smelts 80 items, stacks to 64, and is made from coal you already have. A lava bucket smelts 100 but does not stack, so a furnace array eats inventory slots. Dried kelp blocks are the renewable answer at 20 items each, and blaze rods at 12 are worth using if you have spares.

How many items does one coal smelt?

Eight. Coal and charcoal both burn for 1600 ticks, and one item takes 200 ticks, so a single coal covers eight items and a full stack of 64 coal covers 512. That is why a stack of ore and eight coal is such a common pairing.

Does a blast furnace use less fuel?

No. It smelts twice as fast but burns fuel twice as fast too, so the total fuel for a given number of items is identical. What you save is time, not coal.

Can I burn wooden tools and boats?

Yes, and it is a genuinely good use for junk wooden gear. Most wooden items burn for 200 ticks, which is exactly one item smelted, and boats burn longer. The table above lists every family the game accepts.

Browse more Minecraft tools:

Browse All Tools

Related tools

FuelBurns forSmeltsFor 64

Lava Bucket

16.7 min

100

1

Coal Block

13.3 min

80

1

Dried Kelp Block

3.3 min

20.0

4

Blaze Rod

2.0 min

12

6

Coal

1.3 min

8

8

Charcoal

1.3 min

8

8

Any boats

1.0 min

6

11

Any hanging signs

40s

4

16

Bamboo Mosaic

15s

1.5

43

Bamboo Mosaic Stairs

15s

1.5

43

Note Block

15s

1.5

43

Bookshelf

15s

1.5

43

Chiseled Bookshelf

15s

1.5

43

Lectern

15s

1.5

43

Jukebox

15s

1.5

43

Chest

15s

1.5

43

Trapped Chest

15s

1.5

43

Crafting Table

15s

1.5

43

Daylight Detector

15s

1.5

43

Bow

15s

1.5

43

Fishing Rod

15s

1.5

43

Ladder

15s

1.5

43

Crossbow

15s

1.5

43

Loom

15s

1.5

43

Barrel

15s

1.5

43

Cartography Table

15s

1.5

43

Fletching Table

15s

1.5

43

Smithing Table

15s

1.5

43

Composter

15s

1.5

43

Mangrove Roots

15s

1.5

43

Any logs

15s

1.5

43

Any bamboo blocks

15s

1.5

43

Any planks

15s

1.5

43

Any wooden stairs

15s

1.5

43

Any wooden trapdoors

15s

1.5

43

Any wooden pressure plates

15s

1.5

43

Any wooden shelves

15s

1.5

43

Any wooden fences

15s

1.5

43

Any fence gates

15s

1.5

43

Any banners

15s

1.5

43

Wooden Shovel

10s

1

64

Wooden Sword

10s

1

64

Wooden Spear

10s

1

64

Wooden Hoe

10s

1

64

Wooden Axe

10s

1

64

Wooden Pickaxe

10s

1

64

Any signs

10s

1

64

Any wooden doors

10s

1

64

Bamboo Mosaic Slab

7.5s

0.8

86

Any wooden slabs

7.5s

0.8

86

Stick

5s

0.5

128

Bowl

5s

0.5

128

Dead Bush

5s

0.5

128

Short Dry Grass

5s

0.5

128

Tall Dry Grass

5s

0.5

128

Azalea

5s

0.5

128

Flowering Azalea

5s

0.5

128

Leaf Litter

5s

0.5

128

Any wool

5s

0.5

128

Any wooden buttons

5s

0.5

128

Any saplings

5s

0.5

128

Any wool carpets

3.35s

0.3

192

Bamboo

2.5s

0.3

256

Scaffolding

2.5s

0.3

256