Silk Touch is one of the most useful enchantments in Minecraft. It makes blocks drop themselves instead of their normal drops, which means you can carry glass, ice, ore blocks, grass, bookshelves and many other blocks that would otherwise break into nothing. It is also one of the first enchantments many builders look for. This guide explains how to get Silk Touch in Minecraft, what it does, what it works on and how to use it well.
Quick answer
- Enchanting table: Silk Touch can appear on a pickaxe, axe, shovel or hoe at the table.
- Librarian villagers: they can sell a Silk Touch enchanted book.
- Loot and fishing: Silk Touch books can appear in chests and as fishing treasure.
- Anvil: use it to put a Silk Touch book onto your tool.
What Silk Touch does
With Silk Touch, a block drops itself when you break it, not its usual items. For example:
- Stone drops stone, not cobblestone.
- Grass blocks drop grass blocks, not dirt.
- Glass and glass panes drop themselves, not nothing.
- Ice and packed ice drop ice items and do not turn into water.
- Ores like coal, iron or diamond drop the ore block itself.
- Bookshelves drop bookshelves, not books.
- Leaves, bamboo shoots, sea lanterns, glowstone and more drop as blocks.
It does not work on spawners; those cannot be picked up in survival. Silk Touch also does not work on a sword.
Method 1: Enchanting table
Put a pickaxe, axe, shovel or hoe in an enchanting table with lapis, and Silk Touch can appear as one of the enchantments, along with others. Which options you see depends on the table level and your seed. If you do not get it, enchant a cheap book to reroll, and try again. See how to enchant in Minecraft for the full process.
A table roll can give Silk Touch alongside Efficiency or Unbreaking, which is a nice bonus. It will never give both Silk Touch and Fortune on the same item.
Method 2: Librarian villager trades
- Find or breed a villager and give it a lectern to become a librarian. See how to breed villagers and how to make a lectern.
- Check its trades. If it offers a Silk Touch book, buy it with emeralds.
- If it does not, break and replace the lectern before you have traded with it to reroll the offers.
This is the most reliable way to get a clean Silk Touch book with no other enchantments, which keeps anvil costs low.
Method 3: Fishing
Fishing can bring up enchanted books and enchanted tools as treasure. Silk Touch is one of the possible results. It is random, so it is better as a bonus than a plan. See how to fish in Minecraft and use Luck of the Sea to improve your treasure chance.
Method 4: Loot chests
Enchanted books can be found in dungeons, mineshafts, strongholds, ancient cities, bastions and other structures. Explore and check every chest. See how to find an ancient city.
Putting a Silk Touch book on a tool
- Place the tool in the left slot of an anvil.
- Place the Silk Touch book in the right slot.
- Take the result and pay the experience cost.
If your tool has Fortune, it cannot take Silk Touch. They conflict, so make a separate tool for each.
Best uses for Silk Touch
- Building: collect glass, ice, grass blocks, stone, deepslate and bookshelves for your builds. See how to make glass.
- Ores: collect ore blocks to move them or to use as decoration.
- Moving crops: bring grass and mycelium blocks to a new base.
- Farms: collect coral and sea lanterns without breaking them.
- Enchanting rooms: reclaim bookshelves intact when you move.
Silk Touch vs Fortune
| Enchantment | Best for |
|---|---|
| Silk Touch | Collecting blocks exactly as they are |
| Fortune | More drops from ores like diamonds, lapis and redstone |
Many players keep two pickaxes. Use Fortune III for diamond and lapis. Use Silk Touch for glass, ice and decorative blocks.
Common problems
- Silk Touch will not apply: the tool has Fortune, or it is the wrong tool type.
- Ice melted anyway: check the tool actually has Silk Touch and is a pickaxe.
- The spawner dropped nothing: spawners cannot be picked up in survival, even with Silk Touch.
What Silk Touch cannot do
Silk Touch is powerful, but it has limits. It cannot pick up spawners, it cannot collect budding amethyst, and it does not make a block drop itself if the block is not meant to be an item, such as water or fire. It also does not work on blocks that are protected on servers, such as claimed land. Some blocks, like cobweb, drop themselves with shears or a sword anyway, so you only need Silk Touch where a tool would otherwise break the block into something else.
How to plan your enchanting for Silk Touch
If you are using an enchanting table, you can improve your odds by using the highest level you can afford, because higher levels offer more possible enchantments per roll. Enchant a pickaxe first, since a Silk Touch pickaxe is the most useful of the group. Hold the other tools until you have a Silk Touch book from a villager, so that you do not waste lapis and levels on rolls you do not want. If a roll gives you Fortune and you wanted Silk Touch, grind the tool at a grindstone and try again.
Silk Touch recipes for building
- Glass houses: collect stained glass and glass panes in bulk instead of crafting.
- Grass paths: pick up grass blocks to extend a lawn.
- Ice roads: collect packed ice or blue ice for fast boat roads.
- Ore displays: collect diamond, emerald and lapis ore blocks for a trophy wall.
- Stone terraces: collect smooth stone, deepslate and tuff without smelting.
Silk Touch in farms and mining
Many players keep a Silk Touch pickaxe in a shulker box for builds and a Fortune pickaxe in their hotbar for ores. A separate Silk Touch axe is handy for leaves and bookshelves, and a Silk Touch shovel collects grass paths, mycelium and clay. Use a Silk Touch hoe to harvest moss and leaves quickly. Having one tool of each kind makes big building projects far less tedious.
FAQ
How do you get Silk Touch in Minecraft?
From an enchanting table roll on a tool, from a librarian villager’s enchanted book, from fishing, or from loot chests.
Can Silk Touch go on a sword?
No. It works on pickaxes, axes, shovels and hoes.
Can you use Silk Touch with Fortune?
No. They are incompatible.
Can Silk Touch pick up a spawner?
No. Spawners cannot be picked up in survival.
What is the best way to get a clean Silk Touch book?
Trade with a librarian villager.
Checked by the Game Respawned editorial team against the current Java and Bedrock versions. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.