How to Make Smooth Stone in Minecraft (Double-Smelt Recipe)

Short answer: to make Smooth Stone in Minecraft, smelt regular Stone in a furnace. The catch — and what trips up almost every new player — is that you have to smelt twice: first cobblestone into stone, then stone into smooth stone. Smelting cobblestone gives you regular stone (the spotted grey block). Smelting that stone in a furnace again gives you the clean, uniform smooth stone with no specks.

Smooth Stone was added in update 1.14 as a separate recipe, and it's used to craft Blast Furnaces, Smooth Stone Slabs, and as a clean decoration block. This guide covers the exact double-smelt workflow, fuel choices, and every common use of smooth stone.

Quick Answer Table

Question	Answer
How to make smooth stone?	Smelt Stone (not cobblestone) in a furnace
Full process	Cobblestone → smelt → Stone → smelt → Smooth Stone
Crafting recipe?	None — only furnace smelting works
Fuel	Any (coal, charcoal, wood, lava bucket, blaze rods)
Time per smelt	10 seconds per item (standard furnace)
XP per smelt	0.1 XP per stone smelted
Used to craft	Blast Furnace, Smooth Stone Slabs
Common mistake	Smelting cobblestone gives Stone, NOT Smooth Stone

The Double-Smelt Workflow

Step 1: Mine cobblestone

Mine stone blocks with any pickaxe (wood or better). They drop as cobblestone, not stone — that's the standard Minecraft behavior. You don't need Silk Touch for this recipe.

Step 2: Smelt cobblestone into stone

Open a Furnace. Place cobblestone in the top slot. Add fuel in the bottom slot. Each cobblestone smelts into one Stone (the regular grey block with darker specks). Each smelt takes 10 seconds. Coal smelts 8 items per piece.

Step 3: Smelt stone into smooth stone

This is the step most players miss. Put the Stone (not cobblestone) back into the furnace's top slot. Add fuel. Smelt again. The result: Smooth Stone — uniform grey with no specks, much cleaner-looking.

For 64 smooth stones, you need: 64 cobblestone → 64 stone (16 coal worth of fuel) → 64 smooth stone (another 16 coal). Total: 32 coal for a full stack.

Smooth Stone vs Stone vs Cobblestone

Three blocks that look similar but are mechanically distinct:

Cobblestone — what drops from mining stone with a pickaxe. Used for many basic recipes (Furnaces, Pickaxes, Stairs).
Stone — the smelted version of cobblestone. Cleaner look, used in advanced recipes (Stonecutter, Brewing Stand frame).
Smooth Stone — the smelted version of stone. The cleanest, used for Blast Furnaces and slabs.

You can't get smooth stone from cobblestone in one step. The double-smelt is required because Mojang wanted players to make a real investment in the cleaner block.

Best Uses of Smooth Stone

1. Blast Furnace

The most common reason to make smooth stone. Blast Furnace recipe: 5 Iron Ingots + 1 regular Furnace + 3 Smooth Stone on a crafting table. Blast Furnaces smelt iron, gold, and metal items twice as fast as regular furnaces, but only handle ores and metal tools.

2. Smooth Stone Slabs

Recipe: 3 Smooth Stone in a horizontal row on a crafting table = 6 Smooth Stone Slabs. These slabs are popular for clean modern builds — they have a brushed-metal appearance and pair well with quartz or iron.

3. Decoration

Smooth stone's clean look makes it perfect for:

Modern minimalist builds
Workshop/industrial bases (paired with iron blocks)
Sterile lab aesthetics
Floor tiles in large buildings
Clean walls without mortar lines

4. Armorer trade currency

Apprentice-level Armorer villagers buy smooth stone — usually around 1 emerald per 24 stones (varies by villager). Useful early-game emerald source if you have a stone generator.

How to Make Smooth Stone at Scale

If you need a lot (typical project requires 64+), here's the efficient setup:

The super smelter approach

Build a row of 4–8 Furnaces side by side
Place a chest above each (for input) and below each (for output) — use hoppers between
Use a single chest above all furnaces to drip in cobblestone
Use a single chest to feed fuel (typically coal or blaze rods)
Run cobblestone through to get Stone, then re-run Stone to get Smooth Stone

The cobblestone generator

Combine flowing water and lava to create infinite cobblestone. Mine it with an Efficiency pickaxe and feed into the super smelter. Many survival players have a single super smelter system that produces 1+ stacks of smooth stone per minute.

Common Questions

Why is my smelt giving me Stone instead of Smooth Stone?

You're smelting Cobblestone — that gives you Stone. Smelt the resulting Stone again to get Smooth Stone. This is the most common mistake new players make.

Can I craft Smooth Stone instead of smelting it?

No. Smooth Stone is furnace-only. There's no shaped or shapeless crafting recipe.

Can I use a Blast Furnace to make Smooth Stone faster?

No. Blast Furnaces only smelt metal items (ores, ingots, metal tools). They can't smelt stone. Use regular Furnaces for stone smelting.

Does Silk Touch help with smooth stone?

No, Silk Touch is unrelated. To get stone (instead of cobblestone) from mining, yes — Silk Touch helps. But that just saves the first smelting step. You still need to smelt the stone once to get Smooth Stone.

What's the difference between Smooth Stone Slab and Stone Slab?

Different blocks. Stone Slabs are made from regular Stone; they look like cobblestone slabs. Smooth Stone Slabs are made from Smooth Stone; they have a clean banded look. Distinctly different aesthetics.

Is Polished Stone the same as Smooth Stone?

Polished Stone is not a vanilla block — you might be thinking of Polished Andesite, Polished Diorite, or Polished Granite. Smooth Stone is specifically the double-smelted version of regular stone.

Does smelting stone give XP?

Yes — 0.1 XP per stone smelted (so 6.4 XP per stack of 64). Stack-smelting a super smelter can give meaningful XP for a Mending-enchanted item nearby.

Putting It All Together

The workflow for a smooth stone supply:

Build or find a cobblestone source (mine stone, build a cobblestone generator).
Set up a regular Furnace (or multiple).
Smelt cobblestone into Stone using any fuel.
Smelt the resulting Stone into Smooth Stone (the second smelt is the key step).
Use Smooth Stone for: Blast Furnaces, smooth stone slabs, clean decoration.

For more "How to Make X" guides, see our companion recipes: How to Make a Beacon, How to Make a Cake, How to Make Concrete, How to Make a Map, How to Make Paper, and How to Make Glass.

If you're planning a circular smooth-stone floor or wall, our Minecraft circle generator blueprints the exact block layout. And if you want your super smelter running 24/7 on a multiplayer server, see our best Minecraft server hosting comparison.

That's everything you need to know about Smooth Stone in Minecraft. Two smelts, one clean block. Happy building!