One of the most frustrating elements of Minecraft is the tool degradation system. The more you use an item, the more it degrades, until eventually it breaks. There are ways to make this process take longer, such as using Minecraft enchantments to improve the durability of your items, but you can also repair your tools. Here’s how.
By placing two items of the same type and material on the crafting grid or grindstone, you can retrieve one of that item with improved durability. The new item’s durability will equal the sum of the two old items’ durability, plus 5% of the item’s maximum uses, up to the maximum durability of the item. Repairing can help to conserve your inventory space: If you have two almost-broken pickaxes and combine them to get a new pickaxe with better durability, you also save a space in your inventory.
However, if the original items were enchanted, you will lose the enchantments by following this process. Therefore, you can combine an item you don’t want with one that you do to remove any “wrong” enchantments the item has. This is also handy if you just want to remove enchantments altogether.
You can also use an anvil to repair items in two different ways. These methods cost XP, but the anvil will preserve or enhance the enchantments on your items. Add two items of the same type–for example, axes–into the anvil. The one with the lowest durability should go in the first slot, and the second item’s durability will be added to it alongside some or all of the second item’s enchantments.
You can also repair things by covering the damage with a material. Add the item you want to repair into the first slot, and add the corresponding material into the second slot, such as diamonds. Each material item will restore 25% of the item’s durability.
To do this, you need the material that matches the type used to make the tool. Wooden items need planks; leather items need leather; stone items need cobblestone, cobbled deepslate, or blackstone; iron items need iron ingot; gold items need gold ingot; diamond items need diamond; turtle shells need scutes; elytra need phantom membrances; and netherite items need netherite ingot.
Now that you know how to fix your breaking items, check out our Minecraft guides hub for more helpful tips.
