How to make string farm in Minecraft

A string farm in Minecraft is one of the simplest farms that a player can make. String can be used to make useful gear like bows, crossbows, or fishing rods, doubles as furnace fuel, or even turned into wool blocks to dye and be used in different decorative builds. While general mob farms and even spider spawner farms could be considered string farms, there's a much more efficient design that is available.

This string farm takes advantage of a duplication bug to work, which makes it incredibly fast. Everything you need to know about making this duplication-based string farm in Minecraft can be found in detail below.

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How to make a string farm in Minecraft using string duplication

Materials

The materials used in this string farm (Image via Mojang)

This string farm in Minecraft is incredibly cheap. It uses up less than half a stack of full solid blocks. By far the most expensive parts of the farm are the four hoppers used, which use a significant amount of iron for the early game. Additionally, tripwire hooks, shears, and buckets, all of which are needed to make the farm, also cost iron.

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1) Create the collection area

The farm's simple collection system (Image via Mojang)

The first thing you'll need to do to make a string farm in Minecraft is create the collection area. Dig out a four-by-two hole in the ground and place four double chests within it. Then dig out another four blocks and place the Minecraft hopper leading into these chests.

A strange quirk of this farm, since it technically uses a glitch to run, is that some parts of it might depend on which direction the farm is facing. Several reports suggest the hoppers must be placed facing south for the farm to work.

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2) Build walls

The farm's basic outlining walls (Image via Mojang)

The next step to building a string farm in Minecraft is to add in the walls of the farm. Place blocks diagonal to the hoppers. This should leave the four blocks next to the hoppers inside the farm. Then build back inwards diagonally so that the next row of blocks inside the farm is only two long instead of four. Finally, add a back wall to everything, and build the wall up another block high.

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3) Place glass over the chests

The glass over the chests (Image via Mojang)

Next, add in four glass blocks above the double chests of the Minecraft farm. This will stop the water that will eventually power the farm from spilling out everywhere. The glass won't stop you from accessing the chests, which is what makes it useful. Any blocks that block water and allow you to open the chests could be used here instead of glass, as well.

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4) Add the farm's innards

The trapdoors, lever, and water placed into the farm (Image via Mojang)

The next step in building a string farm in Minecraft is to place four temporary blocks, in a 2x2 pattern, against the back wall of the farm. For reference, these blocks should cover the four center blocks of the farm. Break the inner two of these temporary blocks and use the remaining ones to add two trapdoors. These are essential to the glitch that powers the farm.

Break the remaining two temporary blocks and place one of them on top of the right trapdoor. Then, place a lever on the side of the block so that it's above the other trapdoor, which will cause both of them to be powered by the lever's Minecraft redstone signal output. Next, place a water source block underneath each trapdoor.

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5) Place tripwire hooks and string

The tripwire hooks and string added in (Image via Mojang)

The final step to actually constructing the farm is to place a tripwire hook on each side of the four-block gap you left with the walls. Then, place two pieces of string to connect these tripwires. These bits of string are what the farm will end up replicating by taking advantage of the previously mentioned Minecraft duplication glitch.

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6) Activate the farm

The string farm spitting out string (Image via Mojang)

The final thing you'll need to do is actually activate the string farm in Minecraft. You can do this by shearing the leftmost piece of string and then hitting the lever. This should close the Minecraft trapdoors, slightly changing the flow of water.

This will cause the game to think that the string is being broken, which is why it drops in item form, when in reality it doesn't. This causes a ton of string to pop out and fall into the collection system.