Flint and Steel

This article is about the item in Minecraft. For other uses of flint, see Flint (disambiguation). For other uses of steel, see Steel.

Flint and Steel

Rarity tier	Common
Item description‌[BE only]	Make fire
Durability	JE: 64 BE: 65
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	No

Flint and steel is a tool used to create fire or to ignite certain blocks, structures and mobs.

Obtaining

Generated loot

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	Chance
Java Edition and Bedrock Edition
Flint and Steel	Abandoned Camp	Common chest	1	27.5% { "item": "Flint and Steel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.2747977375984192, "structure": "Abandoned Camp", "container": "Common chest" }
	Nether Fortress	Chest	1	17.9% { "item": "Flint and Steel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.17904394543308721, "structure": "Nether Fortress", "container": "Chest" }
	Ruined Portal	Chest	1	46.4% { "item": "Flint and Steel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.46437576826185156, "structure": "Ruined Portal", "container": "Chest" }

Crafting

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Iron Ingot + Flint

Usage

Igniting

When used on the space above any solid top surface, on any side of any flammable block or any side of any obsidian block within a valid unlit Nether portal frame regardless of if there is a solid top surface available, the flint and steel places a fire there. Using flint and steel on non-flammable surfaces still reduces its durability.

Flint and steel can be used to light unlit campfires, candles and cakes with candles.

Flint and steel can be used to light Nether portals, as any fire existing within an appropriate obsidian frame is instantly replaced with Nether portal blocks that occupy the entirety of the frame. Flint and steel cannot light End portals.

Using flint and steel on TNT ignites it. The explosion damage dealt by TNT ignited with flint and steel in this specific way counts as the player's attack. If the player is sneaking, a fire is instead placed on the side of the TNT the flint and steel was used on.

A flint and steel can be used on a creeper or charged creeper to force it to explode. Explosions initiated in this way cannot be cancelled.

When powered, a dispenser containing flint and steel can place fires or ignite relevant blocks such as TNT or campfires in the space directly in front of it. This reduces the flint and steel's durability. A dispenser containing a flint and steel cannot detonate creepers.

Breaking tool

This feature is exclusive to Bedrock Edition.

The flint and steel is considered as a breaking tool; It loses 2 durability points when it is used to break a block with a value of hardness more than 0.^[1]

Repairing

Combining

Ingredients	Crafting recipe	Notes
Damaged Flint and Steel		The durability of the two flint and steels is added together, plus an extra 5% of durability.

Ingredients	Grinding recipe	Notes
2× Damaged Flint and Steel		The durability of the two flint and steels is added together, plus an extra 5% of durability.

Anvil repair

Ingredients	Anvil recipe
Damaged Flint and Steel	Flint and Steel

A flint and steel can be combined with another flint and steel in an anvil, preserving the enchantments of both.

Enchantments

Flint and steel can receive the following enchantments:

Name	Description	Max level	Method	Weight
Unbreaking	Grants a chance to negate durability consumption.	III	Anvil	5
Mending	Repairs the flint and steel when obtaining experience.	I	Anvil	2
Curse of Vanishing	The flint and steel vanishes on death, not dropping as an item.	I	Anvil	1

Sounds

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Translation key
Flint and Steel	flint_and_steel	Item	item.minecraft.flint_and_steel

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Translation key
Flint and Steel	flint_and_steel	299	Item	item.flint_and_steel.name

Achievements

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Into The Nether	Entered the Nether. [sic]	Enter a Nether portal.	30	Bronze

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	We Need to Go Deeper	Build, light, and enter a Nether Portal	Enter the Nether dimension.

Videos

History

Java Edition

Java Edition Indev
0.31			20100110				Added flint and steel.
							Flint and steel can be used to set fire.
							At this time, flint and steel have no durability, and can be used infinitely.
			20100129-1447				The steel part of the texture has been brightened.
							Flint and steel can be used alongside lava to smelt ores and cook food.[2]
			20100131-2156				Flint and steel now have durability which is 65.
			20100201-0038				Flint and steel can now sometimes be dropped as loot from killing Mob mobs.
20100219							The texture of flint and steel has been changed, due to its new crafting recipe.
							Flint and steel can no longer drop from mobs.
							Flint and steel can now be crafted from an iron ingot and the newly added flint.
							Furnaces have been added to replace the cooking and smelting function of flint and steel.
Java Edition Beta
1.7							Flint and steel, along with fire itself, explosions and redstone are now the only ways to activate TNT.[3]
Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3				Flint and steel can now be enchanted using an enchantment table, but it is only a visual effect, as no enchantments exist yet.
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4				Flint and steel can no longer be enchanted using an enchantment table.
1.3.1			12w21a				The player can now buy 1 flint and steel from farmer villagers for 3 emeralds, making flint and steel renewable.
1.4.2			12w38a				The sound when using flint and steel has been changed.
1.5			13w04a				Dispensers are now able to use flint and steel on the block in front of them.
1.6.1			13w18a				Flint and steel can now be found in the new chests in nether fortresses.
			13w25a				Flint and steel now loses durability when igniting TNT.
1.7.2			13w36a				Flint and steel now has a shapeless crafting recipe. Ingredients Crafting recipe Iron Ingot + Flint
							Using flint and steel on a creeper now causes it to explode.
1.8			14w02a				Villagers no longer sell flint and steel, making it no longer renewable. However, if a villager selling flint and steel already exists in the world, it can be continuously traded with to obtain flint and steel renewably.
1.9			15w43a				The average yield of flint and steel in nether fortress chests has been slightly reduced.
1.13.1			18w30b				The durability of flint and steel has been decreased from 65 to 64 due to the fixing of a bug.[4]
1.14			18w43a				The texture of flint and steel has been changed.
1.16			20w07a				Gravel now can be given by piglins when bartering, making flint and steel renewable again.
			20w16a				Flint and steel can now be found inside ruined portal chests.
26.3			snap1				Flint and steel can now generate as part of abandoned camps in chests.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.4.0							Added flint and steel.
v0.7.0							Flint and steel can now be used to set fire.
v0.7.4							Using flint and steel on a creeper now causes it to explode.
v0.8.0			build 1				Added flint and steel to the Creative inventory.
v0.12.1			build 1				Flint and steel can now be used to activate a nether portal.
							Flint and steel can now be found in nether fortresses.
							Flint and steel can now be enchanted in anvils.
v0.14.0			build 1				Flint and steel can now be used inside dispensers when powered.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The texture of flint and steel has been changed.
1.16.0			beta 1.16.0.51				Flint and steel can now be obtained by bartering with piglins.
							Flint and steel can now be enchanted with Curse of Vanishing through an anvil.
			beta 1.16.0.57				Flint and steel are no longer obtainable from bartering.
							Flint and steel can now be found inside ruined portal chests.
26.40 Experiment Drop 3 of 2026			Preview 26.40.27				Flint and steel can now generate as part of abandoned camps in chests.
26.50			Preview 26.50.22				All features from the "Drop 3 of 2026" experiment have been fully implemented.

Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU1	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added flint and steel.
TU3							Flint and steel, along with fire itself, explosions and redstone are now the only ways to activate TNT.
TU14		1.04					The player can now buy 1 flint and steel from farmer villagers for 3 emeralds.
TU19	CU7	1.12	1.12	1.12			Dispensers are now able to use flint and steel on the block in front of them.
							Flint and steel can now be found in the new chests in nether fortresses.
TU31	CU19	1.22	1.22	1.22	Patch 3		Using flint and steel on a creeper now causes it to explode.
							Villagers no longer sell flint and steel, making it no longer renewable without resetting the Nether. However, if a villager selling flint and steel already exists in the world, it can be continuously traded with to obtain flint and steel renewably.
			1.90				The texture of flint and steel has been changed.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added flint and steel.

Historical sounds

Data history

Texture history

Texture
Edition	since	since	since	since
Java Edition	Indev 0.31 20100110	Indev 0.31 20100129-1447	Indev 20100219	1.14 18w43a
	2010-10-10	2010-01-29	2010-02-19	2018-10-24
Pocket/Bedrock Edition	–	–	v0.4.0	beta 1.10.0.3
			2012-09-06	2019-01-30
Xbox 360 Edition	–	–	TU1	–
			2012-05-12
Xbox One Edition	–	–	CU1	–
			2014-09-05
PS3 Edition	–	–	1.00	–
			2013-12-17
PS4 Edition	–	–	1.00	1.90
			2014-09-04	2019-04-15
PS Vita Edition	–	–	1.00	–
			2014-10-14
Wii U Edition	–	–	Patch 1	–
			2015-12-17
Nintendo Switch Edition	–	–	1.0.1	–
			2017-05-11
New Nintendo 3DS Editon	–	–	0.1.0	–
			2017-09-13

Issues

Issues relating to "Flint and Steel" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• The name "Flint and Steel" may be misleading as there is a lack of steel in the game and is instead crafted with iron.
• In real life, the steel piece is called a fire striker. Before the invention of steel, iron minerals were also used as material for the fire striker, though it was less effective.
• In Adventure mode, flint and steel cannot light fires, nor can it ignite nether portals (unless it has the tag CanPlaceOn:obsidian). However, it can still ignite TNT and creepers.

Gallery

In other media

• 
  Flint and steel on the panorama for Haunts & Harvest
• 
  Flint and Steel as seen in Minecraft Earth
• 
  Flint and steel as seen in Minecraft: Story Mode
• 
  Flint and steel in A Minecraft Movie
• 

References

External links

• "Taking Inventory: Flint and Steel" by Duncan Geere – Minecraft.net, May 17, 2025.