How to make a Compass in Minecraft

Time needed: 10 minutes.

To make a compass in Minecraft you will need four iron bars and one redstone dust! These supplies shouldn't be too hard to find, so we'll be giving you the exact details in our guide below.

1. Obtain Iron Ore

   Now we're going to need some iron ore, which can be found pretty much anywhere there's stone to be mined. Both caves and ravines are great places to find the ore. Any space that's opened up which gives you a lot of surface makes it easier to spot specific ores. You also might see it in the side of a mountain. If you can't find it that way, mine your way downwards, and you should eventually find it. It's one of the more common ores you will come across in the game.

2. Make an Iron Ingot

   Now that we have our iron ore, we're going to need to turn it into an iron ingot. This requires the use of a furnace! So, make sure you have one of those, and a fuel of your choice. Place your iron ore at the top and your fuel at the bottom of the furnace. You will need four of these to make the compass!

3. Obtain Redstone Ore

   This is going to be the hardest part of creating a compass. Redstone ore can generally only be found deep down underground in layers 15 - 0. You can check your layer number by enabling coordinates in your game and looking at the Y-coordinate. You can only mine redstone ore with a iron pickaxe or better, so make sure to bring one of those with you!

4. Smelt Redstone Ore into Redstone Dust

   Now that you have your redstone ore, we need to turn it into redstone dust. We only need one, so create or head to your furnace and throw in the ore along with some fuel to create the dust!

5. Create the Compass

   We've got all of the ingredients, now we just need to put them together to make ourselves a compass! Place an iron bar at the top, left, right, and bottom middle of the 3x3 grid. Now, just add the redstone dust in the middle and we'll have ourselves a compass!