Does Silk Touch Work on Bookcases? A Comprehensive Guide
Yes, Silk Touch absolutely works on bookshelves (or bookcases) in Minecraft. When you break a bookshelf with a tool enchanted with Silk Touch, the bookshelf will drop as a complete block, allowing you to move and relocate it without losing any of its components. This is a crucial detail for many builders and players who value the aesthetics and functionality of bookshelves. Without Silk Touch, breaking a bookshelf yields three books, forcing you to re-craft it with six wood planks if you want to rebuild it.
Why is Silk Touch Useful for Bookcases?
The ability to pick up a bookshelf without deconstructing it is incredibly convenient. Here’s why it matters:
- Preservation of Aesthetics: For those meticulously building libraries or enchanting areas, being able to preserve the layout of bookcases as they are placed is incredibly important.
- Time Savings: Avoiding the need to re-craft a bookshelf saves valuable time and resources. You don’t have to worry about gathering wood planks and going through the crafting process.
- Enchantment Table Optimization: Many players strategically place bookshelves around their enchantment tables to maximize enchantment levels. Moving or adjusting these configurations becomes much easier when you can pick up and reposition entire bookshelves.
- Storage and Transport: When dismantling a build or moving bases, you can easily transport bookshelves without worrying about the resource loss.
- Resource Efficiency: Silk touch prevents the resource waste of gathering extra wood to recraft the bookshelves.
How to Obtain Silk Touch for Bookcase Mining?
You can add the Silk Touch enchantment to tools like pickaxes, shovels, axes, and even shears. There are three main ways to do this:
- Enchanting Table: Use an enchanting table along with bookshelves to get the highest enchantments. The higher level enchantment has a chance to yield Silk Touch.
- Anvil: Combine a tool with a Silk Touch enchanted book. Silk Touch books can be obtained through trading with librarian villagers, fishing, or loot chests.
- Game Commands: If you are playing on a server or in a creative world, commands can also apply enchantments.
Once you have a tool with Silk Touch, simply use it to break any bookshelf to obtain it as a whole block.
Frequently Asked Questions About Silk Touch and Bookcases
Here are some additional frequently asked questions to give you a complete understanding of Silk Touch and bookshelves:
1. Do you need bookcases for silk touch?
Yes, bookshelves are crucial for optimizing the enchantment table. You need bookshelves to get higher-level enchantments, and a higher-level enchantment has a better chance of yielding Silk Touch. A minimum of nine bookshelves placed around the enchantment table are generally recommended to get higher level enchantments and Silk Touch.
2. Does silk touch work on any item?
No, Silk Touch does not work on all items. It can only be applied to pickaxes, shovels, axes, and shears. These are the tools that commonly break blocks, allowing them to drop the blocks they mined, as opposed to the raw materials.
3. How many bookshelves for max enchantment?
15 bookshelves are required to maximize the enchantment table. These bookshelves are placed around the enchanting table, following a specific pattern. The ideal position is a square of 15 placed in a 5×5-block outline, with the enchantment table in the middle.
4. Is silk touch 1 worth it?
Yes, Silk Touch I is definitely worth it for specific situations. It allows you to gather blocks like glass, ice, leaf blocks, and of course, bookshelves, that are otherwise destroyed when broken without it. It enables you to maintain and reposition certain blocks without resource loss.
5. Can a silk touch shovel pick up bookshelves?
Yes, any tool with Silk Touch can pick up bookshelves. Whether it’s a pickaxe, shovel, or even an axe, if the tool is enchanted with Silk Touch, it will allow you to pick up bookshelves as a whole block.
6. How many bookcases are needed for a level 50 enchantment?
There are no level 50 enchantments on an enchantment table. The max level of the enchantment table is 30. Each bookshelf adds 2 enchantment levels, so 15 bookshelves will give you a level 30 enchantment.
7. What is the best item to put silk touch on?
While Silk Touch can be useful on various tools, the pickaxe is generally the best tool to place it on. Pickaxes are the most versatile tool in the game for mining. Combining Silk Touch with a pickaxe makes resource gathering far more convenient.
8. Why can’t I put silk touch on my pick?
You cannot put Silk Touch on a pickaxe if it already has Fortune. Fortune and Silk Touch are mutually exclusive enchantments. You can only have one or the other on a single tool.
9. What is the difference between silk touch 1 and 2?
Silk Touch II is not a standard enchantment in vanilla Minecraft. Silk Touch’s level is always Level 1. You can, however, create a tool that functions as if it had a “Silk Touch 2” by combining two Silk Touch books or enchanted tools. This allows you to pick up things such as monster spawners, dragon eggs, and silverfish blocks without triggering adverse effects.
10. Should I use silk touch or mending first?
The order in which you apply Silk Touch and Mending does not matter. They are compatible and can be placed on the same tool. As long as both books are applied before the tool reaches its anvil limit, you can place them in any order you like.
11. Can a librarian have silk touch?
Yes, librarian villagers can trade Silk Touch enchanted books. This is a reliable way of obtaining Silk Touch enchantments. You can also find them as loot in chests, in the fishing minigame, or by enchanting at an enchanting table.
12. Does Fortune work on bookshelves?
No, Fortune does not work on bookshelves. It won’t increase the drop rate of books from a bookshelf when broken. Fortune will only increase the loot of ores and a few other select items.
13. What is the lowest price for silk touch?
The price of Silk Touch from a villager can fluctuate. The cost will be between 5 to 19 emeralds. The price of an enchantment can vary depending on villager traits, however.
14. Can you get mending from an enchantment table?
No, you cannot get Mending from an enchantment table. You have to acquire Mending enchanted books through trading with villagers, fishing, or finding them in loot chests.
15. Is silk Touch better than Fortune 3?
This depends on the player’s goals. Fortune lets you get more resources from ores and increase the drops of certain crops, while Silk Touch allows you to obtain a certain block in its original state, without the block breaking into its raw materials. Silk Touch is typically better for building and moving resources, while Fortune is better for resource gathering. They cater to different needs, but often are not applicable to the same type of materials.