How to find iron in Minecraft easily

Iron is one of the most useful ores in all of Minecraft. Players have been using and searching for this white ore since the game's beginning. Players can use iron for many things including armor, weapons, anvils, iron golems, and much more.

Iron is commonly found in the underground of the overworld. Iron spawns in veins of 1 to 13. Iron ore can only be dug up with a stone pickaxe or above, if the player tries to mine iron with a wooden pickaxe nothing will drop. Unfortunately, silk touch does not affect iron, and will not turn it into an iron ingot. The only way for players to use iron ore is to smelt it in the furnace into iron ingots for further use.

Here are some of the easiest ways players can find iron in Minecraft.

Places to find Iron in Minecraft

Caves

Iron ore inside of a cave (Image via peppoj.net)

One of the easiest and possibly most common ways players find iron in Minecraft is by exploring caves. Caves are great for finding all sorts of ores as they expose a lot of stone for the players to see. It's an easily accessible resource since the player doesn't have to mine any cobblestone to get to the ores.

Ravines

Ores inside of a ravine (Image via mcpedl)

Ravines are similar to caves, except ravines have even more exposed ores to choose from. Ravines are large slices in the ground that expose iron, diamonds, water, lava, gold, and a variety of other ores. Most of the time the player doesn't have to mine a lot of cobblestones to find a whole stack of iron ore.

Mining

Mining for iron ore (Image via Minecraft)

Minecraft players are famous for creating different kinds of strip mines throughout Minecraft's underground. Strip mines are usually just straight lines that players mine to find ores and collect cobblestones. Since iron generates up to 20 times in each chunk, the player will likely find iron using this technique.

Similar to strip mining, diagonal mining is a method where players dig a diagonal mine instead of a straight mine. This technique has proven to find more ores per minute than regular strip mining.

Iron Golem Farms

After players have searched through caves and mines, they may be running low on natural iron. This is fine, as there are other, more creative methods to obtaining iron than mining.

Players can start iron golem farms which not only supply the player with ample amounts of iron but also XP. To start an iron golem farm players will first need an iron golem, villagers, and a few mobs.

Players should place the mobs near the villagers, but make sure to keep them separated so the mobs can't kill the villagers. This will cause the villagers to panic and spawn an iron golem. The iron golem should spawn away from the mobs and villagers, go through a water canal, into a chamber that automatically kills the iron golem.

This iron golem farm should produce enough XP and iron to keep the player satisfied for a long time. Follow the video above for further instructions.