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Coal
Miscellaneous

Coal

A common fuel and crafting item mined from coal ore. It is used to make torches and to power furnaces.

Stack Size

64

Durability

N/A

Category

Miscellaneous

Version Added

Alpha

Item ID

coal

Coal at a glance

Coal comes from mining, mob drops, and chest loot, and Miscellaneous is where it sits as an item. 64 Coal fit in a slot, 576 across the hotbar, 3456 in a double chest. It is worth 8 smelts in a furnace, 512 once a full stack burns.

5 recipes in this catalogue start with Coal, so it behaves less like a single item and more like a supply you keep topped up. Of the 13 kinds of generated chest that can hold Coal, small underwater ruin chests are the best bet at about 82% per chest. It sits between Clock and Coast Armor Trim in Miscellaneous, number 24 of 147 there.

Used to craft

From Block of Coal to Torch, 5 recipes use Coal, and 4 of those sit in Utility Blocks. The links below go straight to the recipes that take Coal.

How to obtain

  • Mining
  • Mob drops
  • Chest loot

Cooking

Coal comes out of Coal Ore and Deepslate Coal Ore, and a blast furnace or a furnace will each do it. The blast furnace is quickest at 5 seconds a piece, the furnace slowest at 10. Each Coal hands back 0.1 experience, and 64 Coal make 6.4.

Mobs that drop it

0 to 1 per kill, nothing on plenty of kills, and only Wither Skeleton carries Coal at all. Looting III turns Wither Skeleton into 4 Coal instead of 1, 1 per level.

Fuel value

Coal burns for 80 seconds (1600 ticks), which is 8 items per Coal

Notes

Dropped by wither skeletons. As fuel it smelts 8 items; nine coal craft into a Block of Coal.

Frequently asked questions about Coal

  1. Mining leading to Coal, the way this answer says Coal arrives

    How do you get Coal in Minecraft?

    Coal is obtained through mining, Coal from mob drops, and Coal from chest loot. You never craft Coal; 5 recipes spend it.

  2. Several Coal at once, the way a kill drops them

    Which mobs drop Coal?

    0 to 1 per kill, nothing on plenty of kills, and only Wither Skeleton carries Coal at all. Looting III turns Wither Skeleton into 4 Coal instead of 1, 1 per level.

  3. Coal beside a furnace, which is where its 80 seconds of burning go

    Can Coal be used as fuel?

    Fuel, and a usable amount of it: Coal burns 80 seconds apiece, or 8 items out of a single one. A furnace spends 10 seconds on an item, so 80 seconds of Coal run 8 items back to back.

  4. 64 Coal drawn together, the full slot the answer counts

    How many Coal can you stack?

    64 Coal is the limit per slot, and a full slot in the fuel box smelts 512 items. A full backpack of 36 inventory slots carries 2,304 at once.

  5. A chest beside Coal, the loot this answer lists

    Where do you find Coal in chests?

    Coal is chest loot in small underwater ruin chests (about 82%, 1 to 4 at a time), large underwater ruin chests (about 79%, 1 to 4 at a time), igloo basement chests (about 70%, 1 to 4 at a time), and ancient city chests (about 47%, 6 to 15 at a time). It shows up in 13 kinds of chest in total. Those odds are per chest, and Luck does not move them.

  6. Coal turning into Block of Coal and Campfire, two of the recipes it feeds

    What is Coal used for?

    Coal is a crafting ingredient, and it goes into Block of Coal, Campfire, Fire Charge, Soul Torch, and Torch.

  7. The raw item going into a furnace and coming out as Coal

    How do you cook Coal?

    Coal comes out of Coal Ore and Deepslate Coal Ore, and a blast furnace or a furnace will each do it. The blast furnace is quickest at 5 seconds a piece, the furnace slowest at 10. Each Coal hands back 0.1 experience, and 64 Coal make 6.4.

Building with it

Coal is the first ore most players find, and it smelts eight items per piece. Torches, campfires and furnaces all run on it, and nine coal make a block that stores it compactly and burns even longer, so a good vein sets up a base for a long time.

Related Astroworld Resources

Villager trades for Coal

What villagers ask for Coal on Astroworld Trades

Wither Skeleton drops Coal

The Wither Skeleton page on Astroworld Mobs, where Coal is listed as a drop

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