Minecraft shelves explained

A shelf is a brand-new block Mojang introduced for Minecraft's fall game drop. It was first released in the Bedrock Edition beta and preview version 1.21.110.20 and will soon be available in Java Edition snapshots. This block has a unique way to store items in it and display them. However, it also has an interesting mechanic when it gets activated by redstone.

Here is everything to know about how shelves work in Minecraft.

How shelves work in Minecraft

Shelf's storage and redstone mechanics

Shelves have an interesting mechanism of storing and retrieving items (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || Mojang Studios)

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The shelf's main function is to hold three stacks of any kind of item. For instance, three stacks of any generic item, each stack containing 64 units, can be stored on a single shelf. Players can aim toward an item, interact with it, and receive it in their hotbar slot that they choose. Similarly, they can place any item in any slot on a shelf by aiming towards it.

When a shelf is powered by a redstone torch, lever, button, or other blocks, it converts into a special connected shelf.

If a shelf has been triggered with a redstone signal, all three items in that shelf will only be placed and retrieved, to and from a hotbar in one go. For example, when players activate a shelf with three items with redstone, and then interact with the block, all three items will appear in the last three slots of their hotbar.

When two shelves are adjacent to one another and are activated, all six objects on those shelves will show up in the last six hotbar slots of a player. Lastly, all nine items from three adjacent shelves will show up in the player's nine hotbar slots when redstone is activated.

This way, shelves can be used to store useful supplies for quick equipping. It can also be used as a decorative block to showcase some items in a base.

How to craft a shelf

Shelf can be crafted using six stripped wood logs (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || Mojang Studios)

Every type of wood in Minecraft can be used to craft the new shelf block. Hence, it is a wood-exclusive block variant. Wood types like oak, spruce, birch, jungle, acacia, dark oak, mangrove, and cherry can be used to craft shelves of various colors.

Players will need six stripped logs, stripped stems, or blocks of stripped bamboo, arranged horizontally in the top and bottom crafting slots on a crafting table to get six shelf blocks. The recipe can be seen in the picture provided above.

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About the author

Akshat has been a Minecraft writer at Sportskeeda for almost three years. He has loved gaming since childhood, and the fact that Need For Speed Most Wanted is still installed on his PC is proof that the flame burns strong even today. This love for the racing franchise spilled over to F1 fandom, leading him to cover the sport as well for the company.

Akshat's articles have accrued over 19 million views so far at Sportskeeda. He prefers both solo and multiplayer titles and is a huge admirer of popular gamers Shroud and Philza. Akshat places huge emphasis on accurate, relevant, and ethical content, and does thorough research using social media, videos, and a multitude of websites before writing an article.

Akshat's other hobbies include cars, mechanical keyboards, psychology, and philosophy. He would recommend indie and Slice of Life games to a gaming skeptic because of their ease of play, compelling storyline, and message.

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Edited by Akshat Kabra