Survival in Minecraft is pretty dependent on enchantments. Strengthening armor, buffing status resistance, and making weapons deal more damage are just a few of their uses. However, there are times when enchantments get in the way. In these situations, you’ll need to know how to disenchant to get your gear to do exactly what you’d like it to.
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What is Disenchanting in Minecraft
Disenchanting is the process of removing an enchantment from an item or piece of gear using a Grindstone. This will only remove enchantments— any curses items placed into a Grindstone will remain cursed.
How to Remove Enchantments in Minecraft
Removing enchantments is an easy process! Unlike enchanting, it does not use up experience points, only requiring a Grindstone and an item you want to disenchant. Place the item you’d like to disenchant in the top left box in the Grindstone.
An unenchanted version of the item will appear on the right side of the Grindstone. Drag it to your inventory to obtain the unenchanted item.
You can also disenchant two of the same item at once., which will create one item with the combined durability of both. They can have different enchantments but must be the same material and object.
How to Craft a Grindstone
To craft a Grindstone, you’ll need one stone slab, two sticks, and two wooden planks. In a crafting table’s 3×3 grid, place the stone slab in the center box of the top row. Place one stick in each of the boxes to the left and right of the stone slab, with one wooden plank going into each box directly beneath the sticks.
Now you have a fully functional Grindstone!
Crafting Wooden Planks
Start by chopping down a tree to get its logs. Placing one log into a crafting grid will give you four wooden planks
Crafting Sticks
Crafting sticks requires two wooden planks. In a crafting grid, place one wooden plank in the lower box and the second wooden plank in the box above it. This will give you four sticks.
Crafting a Stone Slab
Stone can be acquired directly by mining it with a Silk Touch pickaxe. If you don’t have one of these, you’ll need to start by smelting three cobblestone.
Once the cobblestone is smelted into stone, open up your crafting table. In the center row, fill each box with one stone block. This recipe creates six stone slabs.
When Should You Remove Enchantments in Minecraft
There are several different scenarios for disenchanting items. The first of these occurs when you first start enchanting items with an Enchanting Table, while the latter two come later on in the game. Just keep in mind that old enchantments cannot be brought back after they’ve been removed. You will have to re-enchant the gear to get those back.
Re-Rolling Enchantments using an Enchantment Table
When you first start enchanting weapons on an Enchantment Table, you can get a glimpse of what enchantments will be placed on your weapon. However, you’ll be unable to tell exactly what you will be given.
In the image above, I knew that my Trident would have Unbreaking III, but I didn’t realize that’s the only enchantment it would get.
I wanted to get at least a second enchantment alongside Unbreaking. To get another try at enchanting it, I placed the newly enchanted Trident into the Grindstone to disenchant it.
I then placed it back into the Enchanting Table to try enchanting it again. This time, I was very successful and gained both Unbreaking III and Loyalty III.
Disenchanting Loot to Use for Repairs
As you progress through the game, enchanted loot can fill up your storeroom as mobs drop enchanted bows, weapons, and armor. If you already have maxed-out gear, the best way to use up these extra enchanted items is by disenchanting them and using them to repair your gear with an anvil. If you don’t have one yet, an anvil can be created using three blocks of iron and four iron ingots. To craft a block of iron, fill a crafting table’s grid with iron ingots.
To craft the anvil, fill the top row of the crafting table with the iron blocks. Then place one iron ingot in the center box of the middle row, and fill the bottom row with the remaining iron ingots.
To repair your items, place the item you’d like to repair in the first box of the anvil’s interface. Then place the item you’d like to repair with in the second box. You’ll get the first item back with the combined durability of both items and all of its enchantments. This will cost a few experience levels.
Removing Conflicting Enchantments
Some enchantments cannot be used together. One of the most prominent examples of this is the sword Enchantment Sharpness, which cannot be combined with Smite.
In these instances, you’ll need to decide which enchantment you want most. If you use an enchanting table and get Sharpness when you want Smite, you’ll need to use the Grindstone to reroll your enchantments.
