Even though exploring takes up most of your time in Minecraft, it can also be quite easy to get lost in the vast biomes. For that reason, you should always have a Compass handy. Not only will a Compass quickly point you back to the spawn point, but it can also be incredibly helpful when plotting out a map, giving you the opportunity to always know where things are in your world. So, here is a detailed guide that will allow you to create your own useful Compass:
Table of Contents
What you’ll need for crafting a Compass
- 4 Iron Ingots
- 1 Redstone Dust
How to obtain Iron Ore and make Iron Ingot
Before you can make Iron Ingot, you must first obtain Iron Ore. This Ore can be found nearly anywhere there’s stone to be mined, such as caves, ravines, and even on the side of mountains.
After you’ve acquired Iron Ore, you can make Iron Ingot using a Furnace, by following these simple steps:
- Open the Furnace.
- In the bottom square, add some fuel. This can be coal, charcoal, wood, or anything else you have that burns.
- In the top square, place Iron Ore.
- Finally, move the crafted Iron Ingot into your Inventory.
How to obtain Redstone Ore and make Redstone Dust
This is the more difficult part of making a Compass. Redstone can usually only be found deep underground, in layers 15-0. Remember that you can check your layer number by enabling coordinates in the game, and looking at the Y-coordinate.
Keep in mind that Redstone Ore can only be mined with an iron pickaxe or better, so come prepared.
After you’ve managed to obtain some Redstone Ore, you can smelt it into Redstone Dust using a Furnace. Here’s how:
- Open the Furnace.
- In the bottom square, add some fuel. This can be coal, charcoal, wood, or anything else you have that burns.
- In the top square, place Redstone Ore.
- Finally, move the crafted Redstone Dust into your Inventory.
How to make a Compass
Once you’ve gathered the necessary ingredients, the next step would be to finally make your Compass. You can do this by following the steps below:
- Open the Crafting Table.
- Place the Redstone Dust into the center square of the grid.
- Place the four Iron Ingots in the surrounding squares: middle square of the first row, first and third squares of the second row, and the middle square of the third row.
- Finally, simply drag the resulting Compass into the Inventory.
As you can see, a Compass can be made quite easily, even though some of the ingredients might be more difficult to obtain. After completion, the Compass will be quite a useful tool for finding your way around and getting the lay of the land.