The workbench that keeps your best gear alive. An anvil repairs, renames and enchants, for a price in experience, and it is the only place to apply an enchanted book.
Repair & Name
Item name
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Repair Cost:3
Combine gear with its material to repair it
The recipe
Three iron blocks across the top, four ingots below in a T. Thirty-one iron in all.
Combine two of the same item, or an item with its repair material, a diamond tool with diamonds, iron gear with iron ingots. Merging two worn items also grants a small durability bonus, and unlike a grindstone it keeps the enchantments.
It wears out, and it falls
It chips
Roughly one use in four damages the anvil: new, then chipped, then damaged, then gone. Keep a few iron spare to recast one.
It falls
Anvils obey gravity like gravel and hurt anything they land on. Handy as a trap, dangerous if you mine the block beneath one.
Mind the level cost
Each anvil use adds a hidden “prior work” penalty, so repeated edits get pricier until you hit Too Expensive past 40 levels. Combine your enchanted books together first, then apply the merged book once, to keep the bill down. Mending avoids the anvil entirely for everyday repairs.
Quick answers
What is the recipe?
Three iron blocks across the top and four iron ingots, one in the middle and three along the bottom. That is 31 iron in total, so it is a mid-game block.
Why does it say Too Expensive?
Every time you use an anvil on an item the next repair costs more. Past 40 levels in Survival it refuses the job. Combine cheaper books first to keep the count down.
Do anvils break?
Yes. Each use has about a one-in-four chance to chip the anvil. It goes from new to chipped to damaged, then is destroyed. They are consumable.
Anvil or grindstone?
A grindstone repairs for free but strips enchantments. An anvil costs XP but keeps them, and is the only way to apply books and custom names.
What can I repair with?
Either two of the same item, or the item plus its raw material, diamonds for diamond gear, netherite ingots for netherite, planks for a wooden tool.
Is it true they fall?
Yes. Anvils obey gravity like sand and gravel, and a falling anvil hurts anything underneath. Players use them for traps and for quick vertical drops.
An iron block is nine ingots, so the recipe eats thirty one ingots in total. That is a full mining trip early on, and it is the reason most players enchant before they repair: a grindstone costs almost nothing and an anvil costs a chest of iron.
Prior work penalty is what kills a tool
Every anvil use adds to a hidden cost on the item, and once combining would cost more than thirty nine levels the anvil refuses outright. There is no way to reset that, so plan the merges: combine books into one book first, then apply it to the tool once, rather than adding enchantments one at a time.
The anvil itself wears out
Anvils chip with use and eventually break, which is intentional rather than a bug. Keep the iron for a replacement in the same room, and note that a falling anvil damages what it lands on, which is a trap component as much as it is an accident.
Netherite Ingot
Enchanted Book
Furnace
Gravel