How to Make a Bell in Minecraft: 3 Ways to Get One

You cannot craft a bell in unmodified vanilla Minecraft. In Survival, you can get one by mining a bell in a village, buying one from an eligible smith villager, or finding one in a ruined portal chest. Mining a village bell is usually the quickest option; trading lets you leave the village bell in place.

A bell marks a village meeting point and acts as an alarm. When rung in a village, it sends nearby villagers toward their homes and makes nearby raiders glow. It does not summon villagers. Minecraft’s official bell overview confirms that bells are not craftable, generate in villages, and require a pickaxe to mine.

Can You Craft a Bell in Minecraft?

No. The crafting table has no bell recipe, so combining iron, gold, or other materials will not make one in a normal Survival world. The three methods below are ways to obtain an existing bell. If you are playing a modded world or using a data pack, its custom recipes may work differently.

Method 1: Mine a Bell from a Village

Villages generate bells near their central meeting area, although the bell may be partly hidden by buildings or terrain. Search the main paths and open square first. A bell can be broken and collected, but use a pickaxe: mining it with another tool or your hand destroys the block instead of dropping it.

1. Find a village bell. Check the central paths and structures rather than searching every house first.
2. Mine it with a pickaxe. Equip any pickaxe, aim at the bell, and hold the mine control until it breaks. Collect the dropped bell and place it at your base.

This is the most direct Survival method when you have found a village. Remember that taking its bell removes the village’s meeting point and alarm, so you can use the trade method if you want the original village to keep it.

Method 2: Trade with a Smith Villager

If you do not want to remove a village bell, look for an armorer, toolsmith, or weaponsmith. Minecraft’s official overview lists all three professions as possible bell traders. In standard trade tables, a bell offer costs 36 emeralds and becomes available at the Apprentice level; the chance of seeing that offer varies by edition, so not every eligible villager will necessarily stock one. The bell trade reference summarizes the offer details.

3. Find a smith villager. Use the workstation table to identify the profession. If the village has none, an unemployed villager can take a job when it claims an available workstation.
4. Unlock and check the trade. Trade other listed goods to raise the villager’s level until it reaches Apprentice, then inspect the offers. If the bell is listed, pay 36 emeralds. If it is absent, try another eligible smith; the offer is not guaranteed.

Do not wait for a Master-level villager: the bell offer is associated with the Apprentice tier in the standard trade table. Java and Bedrock can differ in offer odds, and experimental trade settings may change a world’s trade pool. The villager’s trade screen is the final check for your save.

Method 3: Search Ruined Portal Chests

Ruined portals can generate with a loot chest nearby. Their chest tables include a bell as a rare possible item, so this method is best when you are already exploring for portal loot rather than when you need a bell quickly. A chest is not guaranteed to contain a bell, and the exact odds can depend on edition and loot rolls. See the ruined portal loot reference for the current table details.

5. Open the portal chest. Search ruined portal structures you encounter and check the chest contents. If it does not contain a bell, continue exploring or use one of the more dependable methods above.

Which Method Should You Use?

For a quick bell in Survival, mine one from a village with a pickaxe. To preserve the village’s own bell, trade with an Apprentice-level armorer, toolsmith, or weaponsmith and bring 36 emeralds if the offer appears. Treat ruined portal chests as a bonus while exploring because the bell is rare. None of these steps involves crafting a bell at a crafting table.