So, How Do You Make Smooth Stone Slabs in Minecraft?
Look, we have all been there. You start a new world, punch some trees, maybe panic a little when the sun goes down, and end up building a panic shack out of dirt or cobblestone. It does the job. It keeps the creepers out. But honestly? It looks pretty rough. Eventually, you want your base to look like something you actually want to live in. That is where texture comes in. One of the cleanest, slickest blocks in the game is the smooth stone slab. It just screams “modern architecture” – or at least, “I didn’t build this five minutes ago.” So let’s try to figure out how do you make smooth stone slabs in Minecraft.
But here’s the thing. It’s not as straightforward as just throwing rocks on a crafting table. There is a specific process. It’s a bit of a grind if you don’t have a good fuel source, but the result is worth it.
The Basic Rundown
To get these slabs, you have to cook your rocks twice. Yeah, twice. It feels a bit redundant, I know. But that’s how the game logic works here. You can’t just craft them from raw cobblestone.
Here is the quick logic flow:
- Cobblestone goes into the furnace -> becomes Stone.
- Stone goes back into the furnace -> becomes Smooth Stone.
- Smooth Stone goes to the crafting table -> becomes Smooth Stone Slabs.
It sounds simple when you list it like that, but let me walk you through the details so you don’t waste coal.
Step 1: Get Your Cobblestone
This is the easy part. You probably have chests full of this stuff if you have been mining for diamonds or iron. Just grab a pickaxe – any pickaxe works, wood, stone, whatever – and start mining stone. When you break regular stone blocks, they drop cobblestone.
You are going to need a lot if you plan on doing a floor or a roof. A stack of 64 cobblestone will eventually yield 64 smooth stone blocks, which can then be crafted into 128 slabs. The math is in your favor for the slabs, at least.
Step 2: The First Smelt
Now you need a furnace. If you don’t have one yet, just arrange eight cobblestones in a square on your crafting table.
Plop the furnace down. Put your cobblestone in the top slot. Put your fuel in the bottom slot.
Fuel can be anything burnable. Coal, charcoal, wood, and a bucket of lava if you are feeling fancy (and dangerous).
- Tip: If you are smelting a massive amount, don’t use wood planks. It burns too fast. Coal or a lava bucket is way more efficient.
Wait for the arrow to fill up. The result in the right slot will be regular Stone. This is the stuff you see naturally underground. Don’t use it yet! We aren’t done.
Step 3: The Second Smelt
This is the part people usually forget. You take that regular Stone you just made, and you put it back into the top slot of the furnace.
Keep the fuel coming. Now, when you smelt regular Stone, it turns into Smooth Stone.
You’ll recognize it immediately. It has that distinct border and a lighter, cleaner gray texture. It doesn’t look like a rough rock anymore; it looks like a manufactured tile.
Step 4: Crafting the Slabs
Now for the final step. Grab your Smooth Stone from the furnace output. Head over to your crafting table.
Place three Smooth Stone blocks in a horizontal row. It can be the bottom row or the middle row; it doesn’t really matter.
Recipe:
- 3 Smooth Stone (Horizontal Row) = 6 Smooth Stone Slabs
And that’s it. You have got yourself some sleek slabs.
Why Figuring Out How to Make Smooth Stone Slabs in Minecraft Matters?
You might be thinking, “Why go through all this trouble for a half-block?”
Honestly, fair question. It takes time and fuel. But purely from a design perspective, smooth stone slabs are a staple for a reason.
1. The Aesthetic
Cobblestone is noisy. It has too many pixels and cracks. It looks messy if you use too much of it. Smooth stone is, well, smooth. It adds a visual break. If you are building a modern house, an industrial factory, or even just outlining a path, that clean border on the smooth stone texture helps define spaces. It stops your build from looking like a grey blob.
2. Blast Furnaces
This isn’t just about pretty floors. You actually need Smooth Stone to craft a Blast Furnace. A Blast Furnace smelts ores twice as fast as a regular furnace. So, if you want to upgrade your smelting setup later, you have to know how to make this stuff anyway.
3. Armor Stands
Same deal here. If you want to show off that diamond armor you worked so hard for, you need an Armor Stand. The crafting recipe requires a Smooth Stone Slab at the base. No slab, no stand.
A Quick Look at Fuel Efficiency
Since you have to smelt everything twice, you are going to burn through fuel fast. It helps to know what burns longest, so you aren’t constantly running back to the forest to chop trees.
| Fuel Type | Items Smelted per Unit | Notes |
| Lava Bucket | 100 | The absolute king. But you lose the bucket if you aren’t careful (actually, you get the empty bucket back now, which is nice). |
| Block of Coal | 80 | Great if you have a ton of coal and want to save inventory space. |
| Dried Kelp Block | 20 | Surprisingly good if you live near an ocean. |
| Coal / Charcoal | 8 | The standard. Reliable. |
| Wood Planks | 1.5 | Only use this in an emergency. It’s wasteful. |
Common Mistakes When Learning How Do You Make Smooth Stone Slabs in Minecraft
Even though the process is simple, I have messed it up plenty of times. Usually, because I am rushing or not paying attention:
- Using Silk Touch: If you have a pickaxe with the Silk Touch enchantment, mining stone gives you Stone directly, not Cobblestone. This actually saves you a step! You can skip the first smelting phase. But if you forget and try to smelt that Stone again, thinking it was Cobblestone… well, you just wasted time. Wait, actually, if you smelt Stone you get Smooth Stone. So Silk Touch is actually a shortcut. The mistake is mining it and thinking you need to smelt it to get Stone… look, just check your inventory before you start cooking rocks.
- Confusing Stone Bricks with Smooth Stone: They sound similar, but they are different. Stone Bricks are crafted from 4 Stone blocks. They look like bricks. Smooth Stone has that flat texture. Don’t craft your Stone into Bricks if you want Slabs.
- Accidentally making pressure plates: The recipe for a stone pressure plate is two stone blocks side-by-side. The slab recipe is three. If you misclick or run out of blocks mid-craft, you might end up with a stack of switches you don’t need.
Building Ideas for Your New Slabs
Okay, you have the slabs. Now what?
I love using them for roofing. Because slabs are technically half-blocks, mobs (like zombies and creepers) cannot spawn on them if they are placed on the bottom half of the block space. This means you can have a moody, dimly lit roof without worrying about waking up to a green explosive surprise in the morning.
Also, try mixing them with different wood types. Spruce wood and smooth stone look incredible together. The dark brown of the spruce contrasts really well with the light grey of the stone:
- Paths: Use them to make stairs that aren’t quite stairs. A gradual slope with slabs feels more natural for garden paths than blocky staircases.
- Kitchen counters: They look like marble or stainless steel tops. Throw an iron trapdoor next to it, and you have a modern kitchen vibe.
- Borders: Use them to line the edge of a pool or a farm. It keeps the water in and looks neat.
Let’s Talk About Automation
If the idea of babysitting a furnace for an hour sounds boring – and it is – you can automate this.
You will need:
- Furnaces.
- Hoppers.
- Chests.
You can set up a “super smelter.” Basically, you put a chest on top of a hopper that feeds into the furnace. Fill that chest with Cobblestone. Then, have another hopper pulling the cooked Stone out of the furnace and feeding it into another furnace.
Wait, that’s tricky. You need to make sure the second furnace also has fuel. It gets complicated with the wiring, but the basic idea is chaining furnaces.
A simpler way? Just build two rows of furnaces. One row turns Cobble to Stone. You grab the Stone, move it to the second row. It’s manual but faster than waiting on one single furnace.
Stone vs. Smooth Stone vs. Cobble
| Block Type | Blast Resistance | Best Use |
| Cobblestone | 6 | Early game walls, castles, cheap filler. |
| Stone | 6 | Natural caves, terraforming, making Stone Bricks. |
| Smooth Stone | 6 | Modern floors, borders, crafting blast furnaces. |
Wait, the blast resistance is roughly the same? Yeah. So a creeper will blow them all up equally. The difference really is just cosmetic and crafting utility.
A Weird Quirk About Minecraft Slabs
One thing that always trips me up is how slabs interact with water. In older versions of Minecraft, water occupied a whole block space. If you put water on a slab, it would float awkwardly above it.
Now, we have “waterlogging.” You can place a water source directly into the same space as a slab. This is huge for building underwater bases or intricate fountains. The smooth stone slab looks great underwater, by the way. It gives a very lab-like or pool-tile feel.
FAQ
Can I find smooth stone slabs in the world naturally?
Yes, occasionally. You can find them in some village houses, specifically the butcher’s house or in some woodland mansions. But it’s way faster to just craft them.
Do villagers trade smooth stone?
Mason villagers (the ones with the stonecutter profession) sometimes trade smooth stone blocks. It’s a good alternative if you have emeralds to burn but no coal.
Can I use a Stonecutter to make smooth stone slabs?
Yes! And honestly, it’s better. If you put a Smooth Stone block into a Stonecutter, you get 2 slabs for 1 block. The crafting table gives you 6 slabs for 3 blocks. The math is the same (1 block = 2 slabs). But the Stonecutter is instant.
Why can’t I craft smooth stone with just 4 cobblestones?
That makes Stone Bricks. The game is picky. Smooth stone requires that “double smelting” process to get that specific texture.
Does the type of pickaxe matter for mining slabs?
You need a pickaxe to get the slab back if you place it wrong. If you punch it with your hand, it breaks and drops nothing. Wood pickaxe or better is fine.
Can I turn slabs back into full blocks?
Sort of. If you place two slabs on top of each other, they make a “double slab,” which looks like a full block. But you can’t uncraft them back into the original Smooth Stone item in the crafting grid.
Is smooth stone the same as polished andesite?
No. They look somewhat similar (both grey), but Polished Andesite has a different texture and crafting recipe (4 Andesite). Smooth Stone has a cleaner border.
Wrapping It Up
So, that is the mystery solved. It is not difficult, just a bit tedious until you get used to the workflow.
Once you figure out how do you make smooth stone slabs in Minecraft, you probably won’t go back to regular cobblestone floors. The clean lines just make everything look more finished. Plus, you need them for Armor Stands, so if you are a collector, you have no choice!
Get your furnaces running, find some coal, and start cooking those rocks. Your base will thank you.
