To get stone bricks in Minecraft, you need to either craft them from regular stone or find them pre-made inside certain generated structures. The most reliable method is to smelt cobblestone into stone, mine that stone with a Silk Touch pickaxe, and then arrange four stone blocks in a 2x2 crafting grid to produce four stone bricks.
How to get stone bricks in Minecraft by crafting
The crafting route is the most direct and dependable way to secure a steady supply of stone bricks. Start by mining cobblestone with any pickaxe, this is the most common block you'll encounter underground. Next, place that cobblestone into a furnace and smelt it. The furnace will turn each cobblestone into one smooth stone block. Once you have your smooth stone, you need to mine it, but here's the key: use a pickaxe enchanted with Silk Touch. A regular pickaxe will drop cobblestone again, which defeats the purpose. With Silk Touch, the block itself drops, giving you the smooth stone you need. Finally, open your crafting table and place four of these stone blocks into a 2x2 square. This recipe yields four stone bricks every time, making it an efficient way to build up a large inventory.
Where to find stone bricks naturally in structures
If you'd rather skip the crafting step, you can scavenge stone bricks directly from the world. These structures are your best bet, and each one offers a different experience.
Strongholds
Strongholds are the most abundant source of naturally generated stone bricks. These underground fortresses are filled with brick floors, walls, and ceilings. To locate one, you'll need to throw an Eye of Ender into the air and follow it as it floats toward the nearest stronghold. Once you're inside, you can mine the bricks with a pickaxe to collect them, though be prepared for silverfish to pop out of some blocks, they hide inside and will swarm you if you break the wrong one.
Woodland Mansions
Woodland Mansions are massive, maze-like structures that generate in roofed forests. They contain a variety of rooms, some of which are built with stone bricks as part of the architecture. These mansions are rare and dangerous, filled with hostile mobs like vindicators and evokers, so bring good armor and weapons. Still, the sheer amount of stone bricks you can harvest from the walls and pillars makes it worth the risk if you happen to find one.
Village Libraries
In plains villages, you'll sometimes spot a library building. These small structures feature bookshelves and often incorporate stone bricks into their design, particularly around the base or as support pillars. While the quantity is much smaller than what you'd get from a stronghold, village libraries are a quick and safe way to grab a handful of bricks early in the game, especially if you're already trading with the villagers there.
Crafting stone brick variants for your builds
Once you have a stockpile of stone bricks, you can turn them into different architectural pieces. Place stone bricks in a crafting table to make stone brick slabs, stairs, or walls. For example, putting six bricks in two horizontal rows gives you a set of stairs, while three bricks across the bottom row and three across the middle row create walls. If you have a stonecutter, you can use it as a faster alternative, just place the stone bricks in the input slot and select the variant you want from the list. This is especially useful for large builds where you need dozens of slabs or stairs, since the stonecutter uses one brick per block and lets you choose exactly what you need without guessing at recipes.
Tips for gathering stone efficiently
If you're planning a big project, you'll want to gather stone in bulk. The biggest mistake players make is mining cobblestone and then smelting it one piece at a time. Instead, use a Silk Touch pickaxe to mine stone directly from the ground. This skips the smelting step entirely, giving you smooth stone instantly. For even faster production, set up a super-smelter, a redstone contraption that automatically feeds cobblestone into multiple furnaces and collects the output. You can build one with hoppers, chests, and a few comparators, and it will churn out stacks of stone while you focus on other tasks. This method is ideal for late-game players who need thousands of bricks for a castle or a city, and it turns a tedious chore into a hands-off process.
