Redstone Ore - Minecraft Block Guide | Properties, Recipe & Uses (2025)

What is Redstone Ore in Minecraft?

Redstone ore is a mineral block found deep underground. It looks like a stone block with reddish specks embedded in it. A special feature is that it will temporarily light up and glow when you hit it or walk on it. Its main purpose is to be the only source of redstone dust, which is one of the most important resources in the game. Redstone dust is the key to all redstone engineering, allowing players to build everything from simple automatic doors to incredibly complex computers. Redstone ore is also a great source of experience points, making it a valuable find for any miner.

How to get Redstone Ore in Minecraft

The only way to get redstone dust from this block is by mining it. Redstone ore generates naturally in veins deep underground, usually from Y level 15 down to the bottom of the world. To mine it, you must use an iron pickaxe or better. If you use a weaker pickaxe, the block will break and you will get nothing. When you mine the block, it will drop four to five pieces of redstone dust. It is highly recommended to use a pickaxe with the Fortune enchantment. A Fortune III pickaxe can make the ore drop up to 20 pieces of redstone dust from a single block. If you mine redstone ore with a Silk Touch pickaxe, it will drop the ore block itself.

How to use Redstone Ore in Minecraft

The main use for redstone ore is to get redstone dust. Redstone dust is the foundation of all redstone circuits. You can place it on the ground to create redstone wire, which can transmit power from a source like a lever or a redstone torch to a component like a piston or a lamp. Redstone dust is also a key crafting ingredient for many redstone components, including redstone torches, repeaters, comparators, and pistons. If you collect the redstone ore block with Silk Touch, you can use it as a decorative block. Because it lights up when you walk on it, you can use it to create interactive floors or secret switches.

How to craft Redstone Ore in Minecraft

No recipes for this block.

What can Redstone Ore make in Minecraft

Redstone Dust

Stone Axe

Stone Hoe

Stone Pickaxe

Stone Shovel

Stone Sword

My Story

How This All Started

So basically, I was playing Minecraft one night after a long day doing deliveries, and I was trying to remember what drops what and how to craft certain things. Every website I went to was either dead slow, missing loads of stuff, or just looked terrible. I thought "bloody hell, surely I can do better than this?"

By the way, this My Story section is something new I've only just started adding things here! Most of the site was actually built before I ever wrote this part. Now that the website is live, I'm running into problems galore! So if things look a bit rough or unfinished, bear with me I'm updating and adding as I go.

That was probably a mistake.

A half finished story, oh well. I'll keep adding more as I go!

Learning the Hard Way

I knew absolutely nothing about making websites. Like, properly nothing. I didn't even know what PHP was. But I'm stubborn as anything, so I just started watching YouTube tutorials and reading random stuff online while I was on my breaks.

Turns out building a database is harder than it looks. Who knew? I've probably broken this thing more times than I've fixed it. My laptop has definitely been sworn at more than it deserves.

The worst part is when you spend hours trying to figure out why something doesn't work, and it turns out you missed a semicolon. Or when everything works fine on your computer but looks like complete rubbish on someone else's. Fun times.

The Reality of It

Look, I'm not gonna lie this has been a right pain sometimes. I work full time doing deliveries, so most of this gets done late at night when I should probably be sleeping. I've had way too many energy drinks and definitely not enough sleep.

The database has corrupted itself more times than I care to remember. I've had images that wouldn't load for no reason. CSS that worked yesterday but decided to have a tantrum today. The usual web development nightmare stuff.

But every time I get something working properly, it feels brilliant. Like when I finally got all the block images showing up correctly, or when the search actually started finding things. Small wins, but they keep me going.

What I Actually Want to Build

Here's the thing I want this to be your go to place for everything Minecraft. Not just blocks and items, but proper guides, build tutorials, maybe even schematics you can download. Server info, community stuff, the lot.

I know it doesn't look like much right now, and there's loads missing. But I'm working on it. It takes time when you're learning as you go and doing it around a full time job. But I'd rather take my time and do it properly than rush it and end up with something rubbish.

The plan is to make it the kind of site I actually want to use fast, easy to navigate, with everything you need in one place. No endless ads, no broken links, just useful stuff presented in a way that doesn't make you want to throw your computer out the window.

Why I Keep Going

Honestly? Because every time someone uses this site or gives me feedback, it reminds me why I started. I love Minecraft, I love building things (both in game and apparently websites), and I love the community.

Plus, I've learned loads doing this. Sure, I've wanted to give up more times than I can count, but seeing it slowly come together is pretty satisfying. And if it helps other people find what they're looking for without having to trawl through ten different outdated websites, then that's worth it.

So yeah, bear with me while I figure this all out. It's going to take a while, but it'll get there eventually. Thanks for checking it out, and if you spot anything broken or have suggestions, let me know. I'm still learning, but I'm determined to make this work.