The brush is Minecraft’s archaeology tool. With it you can carefully dust away suspicious sand and suspicious gravel to uncover pottery sherds, armor trims, sniffer eggs and other treasures, and you can brush armadillos for the scutes used to make wolf armor. It is cheap to craft once you have copper. This guide explains how to make a brush in Minecraft, how archaeology works, where to find suspicious blocks, what loot you can find, and tips for brushing without breaking anything.
Quick answer: brush recipe
| Empty | Feather | Empty |
| Empty | Copper ingot | Empty |
| Empty | Stick | Empty |
1 feather, 1 copper ingot and 1 stick make 1 brush. They must be in a vertical column, feather on top. It works in your 2 by 2 inventory grid if you place them in one column there too. The recipe is the same on Java, Bedrock and consoles.
How to get the ingredients
- Feather: chickens drop 0 to 2 feathers. Cats also bring feathers as gifts. See how to breed chickens.
- Copper ingot: mine copper ore with a stone pickaxe or better, smelt the raw copper in a furnace. Copper is very common, especially in dripstone caves. See what copper is used for.
- Stick: 2 planks stacked vertically make 4 sticks. See how to make sticks.
How to use a brush
- Find a suspicious sand or suspicious gravel block. It looks like normal sand or gravel but with a slightly rough texture.
- Hold the brush and hold down the use button on the block.
- Keep brushing. The block shows cracks and the item slowly appears.
- When brushing finishes, the item pops out and the block turns into normal sand or gravel.
Brushing takes a few seconds. If you stop, the progress slowly resets. Never mine a suspicious block with a pickaxe or shovel: it breaks and the hidden item is lost forever. Suspicious sand and gravel also fall if the block below is removed, which destroys them, so do not dig underneath.
Where to find suspicious sand and gravel
| Structure | Block | Best finds |
|---|---|---|
| Desert pyramids | Suspicious sand | Sherds, emeralds, diamonds, gunpowder, TNT |
| Desert wells | Suspicious sand | Sherds, emeralds |
| Warm ocean ruins | Suspicious sand | Sniffer eggs, sherds, gold nuggets |
| Cold ocean ruins | Suspicious gravel | Sherds, emeralds, iron |
| Trail ruins | Suspicious gravel | Most sherd types, armor trims, music disc Relic |
Trail ruins are the richest archaeology sites. They are buried under the ground in taigas, snowy taigas, old growth taigas, old growth birch forests and jungles, often with only a few terracotta or stone brick blocks poking out. Dig carefully around them with a shovel and brush every suspicious gravel block you find.
What you can find with a brush
- Pottery sherds: more than 20 designs, used to craft decorated pots with patterns. See decorated pots and pottery sherds.
- Sniffer eggs: from warm ocean ruins. Hatch them to get sniffers, which dig up ancient seeds for torchflowers and pitcher plants.
- Armor trims: trail ruins hide several rare trim templates.
- Music disc Relic: found in trail ruins as fragments or a disc.
- Common items: emeralds, coal, wheat, gold nuggets, iron nuggets, candles, dyes and more.
Brushing armadillos
Use a brush on an armadillo and it drops an armadillo scute without being hurt. Six scutes craft wolf armor for your tamed wolf. Brushing an armadillo uses a large share of the brush’s durability, so carry a spare brush. See armadillos and scutes.
Brush durability and enchantments
- A brush has 64 durability. Each suspicious block uses one point; each armadillo uses more.
- It can be enchanted with Unbreaking and Mending on an anvil, plus Curse of Vanishing.
- It cannot be enchanted at an enchanting table.
- Repair it by combining two brushes on an anvil or crafting grid. See how to repair tools.
Archaeology tips
- Bring a few brushes, a shovel for normal sand and gravel, and torches.
- In desert pyramids, watch out for the pressure plate TNT trap in the bottom chamber.
- Use a water bucket in ocean ruins so you can create air pockets and see better. Night vision and water breathing help a lot. See water breathing.
- Keep sherds in a chest by design so you can plan decorated pot builds.
- Each suspicious block can only be brushed once.
Brushes in Java vs Bedrock
The recipe, durability, archaeology loot tables and armadillo brushing work the same in both editions. Exact drop chances can differ a little, but every structure in this guide has suspicious blocks in both.
How archaeology works
Archaeology was added in the Trails and Tales update, and it rewards patience. Every suspicious block holds exactly one item chosen from the loot table of the structure it belongs to, so the same structure type always offers the same kinds of finds. When you start brushing, small particles fly off and the block shows stages of cracking as the item rises to the surface. If you change blocks before you finish, the first block slowly returns to its untouched state, but the item is not lost, so you can come back and finish brushing later. The finished block becomes ordinary sand or gravel, which is affected by gravity like normal.
Because each block can only be brushed once, careful excavation is key. Dig the surrounding normal blocks away from the side, not from below, and work from the top of a buried ruin downward. A good habit is to place a torch on any suspicious block you see so you can find it again after clearing the area around it.
FAQ
What do you need to make a brush in Minecraft?
1 feather, 1 copper ingot and 1 stick, placed in a vertical column with the feather on top.
What is a brush used for?
Brushing suspicious sand and gravel to find archaeology loot, and brushing armadillos for scutes.
Where do you find suspicious sand?
In desert pyramids, desert wells and warm ocean ruins. Suspicious gravel is in trail ruins and cold ocean ruins.
Why did my suspicious block break?
You mined it with a tool, or the block under it was removed and it fell. Always use a brush and do not dig underneath.
How much durability does a brush have?
64. Unbreaking and Mending can be added on an anvil.
Checked by the Game Respawned editorial team against the current Java and Bedrock versions. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.