Better Smelters
Tiered standalone furnaces, independent of the UC power system. Upgrading isn't just about speed — higher tiers also burn far less fuel per item, and two tiers have special modes (a fuel-free furnace and a whole-stack batch smelter). See the tier table before you commit to a path.
Furnace tiers at a glance
Three things improve as you climb, not one:
| Furnace | Relative speed | Fuel / item (lower = better) | Special |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Wood | 1× | 1.0 | starter |
| Copper | 1.5× | 1.0 | |
| Iron | 2× | 1.0 | |
| Netherrack | 2× | 0 — no fuel, ever | set-and-forget, never feed it |
| Gold | 3× | 0.8 | |
| Emerald | 5× | 0.6 | |
| Diamond | 10× | 0.4 | |
| Amethyst | 15× | 0.4 | faster branch off Emerald (see below) |
| Netherite | 20× | 0.2 | |
| Blazing | 25× | 0.1 | ~10× less fuel than Iron |
| Nether Star | 10× | 0.01 | smelts a whole input stack in one operation + near-free fuel |
- Speed runs 1× (Oak) → 25× (Blazing).
- Fuel economy is the underrated axis: a Blazing furnace burns roughly 10× less fuel per item than Iron, and the Nether Star ~100× less. At volume that beats raw speed.
- Two special furnaces: the Netherrack furnace needs no fuel at all (only 2× speed, but zero upkeep — great for an always-on smelting line), and the Nether Star furnace batch-smelts an entire input stack at once — the bulk-throughput endgame furnace.
Amethyst vs Diamond — Amethyst wins on paper
Both branch off the Emerald furnace and both upgrade into Netherite, but Amethyst is stat-superior: 15× vs 10× speed at the same 0.4 fuel economy. Go Diamond only if diamonds are cheaper for you than amethyst — otherwise Amethyst is strictly the better path.
Recipes
Most tiers wrap the previous furnace at a vanilla crafting table with 6 material ingots + 1 material block. The Oak Wood and Netherrack furnaces are the exceptions — standalone builds, not upgrades of a prior tier.
Oak Wood Furnace
The wooden starter tier — built from scratch, no vanilla furnace needed.
Netherrack Furnace
A standalone side-grade — wrap a vanilla furnace in netherrack for the no-fuel furnace (never needs feeding; see the tier table).
Copper Furnace
Iron Furnace
Gold Furnace
Emerald Furnace
Amethyst Furnace
Diamond Furnace
Uses Emerald Furnace as base (skips amethyst tier).
Netherite Furnace
Uses a different pattern: M B M / B F B / M B M (M=netherite_scrap, B=netherite_ingot, F=diamond_furnace).
Blazing Furnace
Nether Star Furnace
Uses a cross pattern: _ M _ / M F M / _ M _ (M=nether_star, F=blazing_furnace).
Automatic Item I/O
All smelters have built-in hopper-like behavior that runs every tick. The directions are fixed (relative to the way the furnace faces) and cannot be reconfigured:
| Slot | Source/Destination | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel | Pulled from | Block above |
| Input (ingredients) | Pulled from | Block to the left |
| Output | Pushed to | Block to the right |
"Left" and "right" are relative to the furnace's facing direction (the side with the fire animation). A furnace facing south, for example, pulls input from the east side and pushes output to the west side.
Only vanilla containers count as valid sources/destinations (chests, barrels, hoppers, etc.). Place and orient the furnace before connecting containers — orientation determines which side is which.
Key Points
- Higher tiers improve speed, fuel economy, and (top tiers) special modes — not just speed (see the tier table)
- Not connected to UC power — no generators needed
- Functions as a direct drop-in replacement for vanilla furnaces
- Good parallel investment alongside UC machines; doesn't require the chip/power progression
- Opening the furnace UI requires using the Open button that appears when looking at it — direct right-click/tap does not open it (by design)