Minecraft/Silk Touch
Silk Touch: A Blessing or a Curse?
Ah, Silk Touch, the enchantment that lets you collect blocks in their original form instead of their broken-down versions. On paper, it sounds great—after all, who wouldn’t want to pick up glass, ice, or an ender chest without it turning into disappointment? But, like all things in Minecraft, there’s a catch. Or rather, a debate: Is Silk Touch actually a good enchantment, or does it just ruin your newly crafted pickaxe?
🟢 The Case FOR Silk Touch (Why It’s Useful)
Silk Touch is a great enchantment for certain use cases, making it a valuable tool in a miner’s arsenal. Here’s when it shines:
1️⃣ Mining Valuable Blocks Without Fortune Interference
- Want to store your diamond ores as trophies? Silk Touch.
- Need to move copper or gold ore without activating their Fortune-based drops? Silk Touch.
Sometimes, you don’t want random Fortune rolls giving you inconsistent drops. Silk Touch ensures you get exactly one block per ore mined.
2️⃣ Moving Utility Blocks Without Breaking Them
- Ender Chests: Without Silk Touch, breaking an ender chest will leave you with only obsidian instead of the full chest.
- Bee Nests: If you want to relocate a bee nest with the bees still inside, Silk Touch is your best friend.
- Bookshelves: Without Silk Touch, they drop books. But sometimes, you just want the bookshelf.
3️⃣ Collecting Aesthetic Blocks
- Ice and Packed Ice: Breaking them normally just gives you water (unless you're in the Nether).
- Glowstone: Drops glowstone dust when broken, but Silk Touch keeps it as a full block.
- Mushroom Blocks: Those giant mushroom caps? Yeah, they break into nothing if you don’t have Silk Touch.
🔴 The Case AGAINST Silk Touch (Why It Ruins Your Pickaxe)
Silk Touch may sound useful, but in everyday mining, it’s actually a huge burden. Here’s why:
1️⃣ You Can’t Get Extra Drops from Ores
- Mining diamond, lapis, redstone, quartz, emerald, or copper with Silk Touch? Congrats, you just got one ore block instead of multiple drops.
- Fortune III multiplies these drops massively, meaning that Silk Touch literally loses you free resources.
2️⃣ Clutter & Inventory Nightmare
- Instead of neatly stacking coal or redstone dust, you now have stacks of ore blocks that need smelting.
- You’ll need extra space in your inventory, or worse—an entire shulker box just to hold stuff that could be compacted into fewer stacks.
3️⃣ It’s Useless for General Mining
- Why are you breaking cobblestone as stone? You already have a furnace.
- Dirt? Clay? Netherrack? Silk Touch does nothing for these common blocks.
- It’s just an inconvenience unless you specifically need it for a certain task.
🛠️ How to Get Rid of Your "Silk Trash" Pickaxe
If you accidentally enchanted your main pickaxe with Silk Touch instead of Fortune III, don’t panic. Here’s how you can dispose of—or repurpose—it:
1️⃣ Grindstone It (If You Haven’t Combined It Yet)
- If you haven’t added Mending or other enchantments, a grindstone can wipe Silk Touch off and return some XP.
2️⃣ Use It for Dedicated Silk Touch Tasks
- Designate it as a specialized tool for mining ender chests, ice, or ores you want to store.
- Keep a separate Fortune pickaxe for normal mining.
3️⃣ Throw It into Lava (If You’re Feeling Dramatic)
- If you really hate it, yeet it into the Nether’s fiery abyss. It’s what it deserves.
4️⃣ Trade It to Villagers (If You’re Smart)
- Toolsmith villagers buy enchanted tools, meaning you can get some emeralds out of it instead of rage-quitting.
🔄 Verdict: Keep It or Toss It?
- Keep it if you’re an aesthetic builder, ice harvester, or ore collector.
- Toss it (or store it) if you mine frequently and want maximized resources.
Silk Touch isn’t a bad enchantment—it’s just very situational. If you accidentally put it on your main pickaxe instead of Fortune, you will suffer. But as a secondary tool for specific tasks, it’s a must-have.
🔹 Final Tip: Always have both a Silk Touch pickaxe and a Fortune III pickaxe in your inventory. That way, you’ll never regret your mining decisions again. 🚀
Silk Touch: The Automated Miner’s Dilemma
For the average Minecraft player, Silk Touch is a mixed bag—sometimes useful, often frustrating. But what about automated miners? Those who let Baritone or other AI-driven tools do their dirty work? Well, Silk Touch in their hands (or rather, in their code) is an entirely different story.
🦾 The Case for Silk Touch in Automation
If you’re running an automated mining operation, Silk Touch isn’t just an enchantment—it’s a strategic decision.
1️⃣ Glowstone & Melon Efficiency
- Glowstone: Without Silk Touch, mining glowstone gives you 2-4 dust, meaning you’ll need to re-craft them back into full blocks (and potentially lose some in the process).
- Melons: Silk Touch lets you skip the crafting step entirely, avoiding unnecessary resource loss.
2️⃣ The "Stone Economy" Hustle
- When running a massive quarry, Silk Touch is a blessing in disguise—why mine cobblestone when you can mine stone and sell it to Mason villagers?
- Trading stacks of stone to a Mason is a free emerald printing machine (assuming you didn’t crash the villager’s stock).
3️⃣ Quarrying with Baritone
- If you're automating large-scale mining, Silk Touch can reduce inventory clutter.
- Instead of collecting thousands of cobblestone, you get nice, clean stone—which stacks better and is easier to handle.
🔴 The Downside: When Silk Touch Is a "Tool Killer"
Of course, Silk Touch isn’t all sunshine and profits. For every useful case, there’s an equal and opposite pain in the inventory:
- Mining ores? Say goodbye to Fortune’s extra drops. You’re now just hoarding raw ore blocks like a medieval gold hoarder.
- Overusing Silk Touch? Enjoy your rapidly degrading pickaxe while you shovel worthless stone into oblivion.
- Inventory Bloat? Without an auto-smelter, you’ll be drowning in endless stacks of stone and ore blocks.
🛠️ Final Verdict for the Automation Nation
- Keep a Silk Touch pickaxe for specialized tasks (Glowstone, Melons, Mason Trade).
- Use a Fortune III pickaxe for actual mining, unless you love inefficiency.
- If you’re feeling extra silky? Just sell your excess stone to Mason villagers and convert your "unfortunate enchantment" into a steady emerald income.
Silk Touch isn’t useless—it’s just a niche tool for certain operations. And in the hands of an automated miner, it can either be a money-making machine or a frustrating waste of tool durability.
Choose wisely. Or let Baritone choose for you. 🚀
