Can a Silk Touch Shovel Pick Up Bookshelves?
The short answer is: no, a silk touch shovel cannot pick up bookshelves. While the Silk Touch enchantment is incredibly versatile in Minecraft, allowing you to obtain blocks as they are rather than their usual drops, its application is tool-specific. Bookshelves require a Silk Touch pickaxe or a Silk Touch axe to be harvested without breaking into three separate books. A shovel, even one imbued with Silk Touch, will not be able to retrieve bookshelves intact.
Understanding Silk Touch
The Silk Touch enchantment is a valuable tool for any Minecraft player who wants to relocate blocks without losing them. Normally, breaking certain blocks results in a raw material drop. For example, mining ore blocks yields ore items, and bookshelves yield books. However, with Silk Touch, the block itself is dropped, allowing you to reposition decorative items, resource blocks, and more with ease.
How Silk Touch Works
Silk Touch can be added to certain tools via an enchanting table, anvil, or using game commands. Once applied, any eligible block mined with that tool will drop as the block itself. This is particularly useful for:
- Relocating decorative blocks like glass, ice, and bookshelves.
- Gathering resources like ore blocks to be smelted later, which saves inventory space.
- Preserving unique blocks such as spawners, bee nests, and coral.
Why a Shovel Won’t Work on Bookshelves
The mechanics of Minecraft dictate that specific tools are effective on specific types of blocks. Shovels are primarily designed for loose materials like dirt, sand, and gravel. While a shovel with Silk Touch can pick up grass blocks, mycelium, podzol, and other dirt variants, it cannot handle the structure of bookshelves. The game is coded to only allow pickaxes and axes with the Silk Touch enchantment to collect bookshelves whole.
The tool-block relationship is a key concept to grasp in Minecraft. Pickaxes, axes, shovels, and hoes all have their defined purposes, and even with enchantments like Silk Touch, those core limitations still apply. Trying to pick up a bookshelf with a shovel will result in the books being released rather than retaining the whole block.
Related Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here are 15 frequently asked questions to further clarify the uses of Silk Touch and its applications:
1. Which Tools Can Be Enchanted with Silk Touch?
You can apply the Silk Touch enchantment to four types of tools: pickaxes, shovels, axes, and shears. However, their effectiveness differs depending on the block.
2. What Can a Silk Touch Shovel Pick Up?
A Silk Touch shovel is useful for collecting blocks like:
- Grass blocks
- Mycelium
- Podzol
- Dirt variants
- Snow
- Packed ice
3. Can a Silk Touch Pickaxe Pick Up Bookshelves?
Yes, a Silk Touch pickaxe can pick up bookshelves. This is one of the primary uses of the enchantment. It allows you to relocate bookshelves without having to craft them from scratch.
4. Can a Silk Touch Axe Pick Up Bookshelves?
Yes, a Silk Touch axe can also pick up bookshelves. This makes axes versatile for wood harvesting and bookshelf relocation.
5. Can Silk Touch Be Combined With Other Enchantments?
Yes, you can combine Silk Touch with other compatible enchantments. Most enchantments, like Efficiency, Unbreaking, and Mending, can be added alongside Silk Touch on the same tool. However, Fortune and Silk Touch are mutually exclusive.
6. How Many Bookshelves Do You Need for Max Enchanting Level?
You need 15 bookshelves surrounding an enchanting table to achieve the maximum level of enchantment, which is level 30.
7. Can a Silk Touch Pickaxe Pick Up Spawners?
No, a Silk Touch pickaxe cannot pick up monster spawners. Spawners will break into experience points when mined, even with a Silk Touch pickaxe.
8. Can a Silk Touch Pickaxe Pick Up Coral?
To collect dead coral blocks, a Silk Touch pickaxe is required. To collect living coral, a Silk Touch pickaxe is also needed.
9. What Blocks Does Silk Touch NOT Work On?
Silk Touch does not work on blocks such as:
- Grass
- Fern
- Vines
- Tall Grass
- Sea Grass
- Flowers
- Saplings
- Crops
These items will not drop their block variants even with Silk Touch.
10. Can You Get a Bee Nest with a Silk Touch Shovel?
No, you cannot use a silk touch shovel to obtain a bee nest. You will need either a silk touch pickaxe or a silk touch axe to harvest the bee nest intact, along with any bees inside.
11. Can You Pick Up Turtle Eggs with a Silk Touch Shovel?
While a Silk Touch tool is required to obtain turtle eggs as items, a silk touch shovel will not work, you will need a silk touch pickaxe, axe, or hoe to get the whole egg item, instead of it breaking when mined.
12. Can You Pick Up Ender Chests With Silk Touch?
Yes, a Silk Touch tool, pickaxe or axe, is the only way to pick up an Ender Chest intact. Without Silk Touch, Ender Chests drop as obsidian blocks and an Ender Eye.
13. What Is the Best Use for Silk Touch?
The best uses for Silk Touch include:
- Collecting glass blocks, ice blocks, and bookshelves without breaking them.
- Obtaining ore blocks for later smelting.
- Gathering bee nests and coral for decorative purposes.
- Preserving blocks such as mycelium, podzol, and grass blocks.
14. What is the difference between Silk Touch I and Silk Touch II?
There is no Silk Touch II in the game. The highest level for Silk Touch is Silk Touch I. You might confuse it with a different effect achieved by combining two items with Silk Touch I in the Anvil, but this just keeps the enchantment instead of upgrading it.
15. Should I Prioritize Silk Touch or Mending?
It often depends on the situation, but Mending is generally considered better, as it allows you to repair your tool by gaining experience points, which can be extremely useful in the long term. Silk Touch is more situational, primarily used for collecting specific blocks. You can use both enchantments together, so you don’t have to choose just one.
Conclusion
While the Silk Touch enchantment significantly enhances the usefulness of tools in Minecraft, it’s crucial to understand its limitations. A Silk Touch shovel, while handy for gathering specific ground blocks, will not work on bookshelves. For that, you’ll need a Silk Touch pickaxe or axe. Understanding these nuances will help you maximize your resources and build more effectively in the Minecraft world.