To unenchant in Minecraft, place your enchanted item in a Grindstone and collect the clean version from the output slot, this is the standard method that removes all non-curse enchantments while returning a small amount of experience. The Grindstone permanently destroys the enchantments rather than storing them, so use it when you want to strip an item back to its base form without losing the item itself, just as you might need to unkick a player in Minecraft to restore server harmony after a mistaken removal.
How To Unenchant In Minecraft With a Grindstone
The Grindstone is the primary tool for unenchanting in Minecraft, and it’s the most reliable way to clear unwanted enchantments from weapons, tools, or armor. Unlike other methods, the Grindstone does not require a sacrificial item or an enchantment table, just place your enchanted gear into the machine and take out the unenchanted result. This is especially useful when you want to re-enchant an item with different perks, as the Grindstone clears the slate while giving back a bit of experience for your trouble. Once your gear is clean, you can make an enchanting table in Minecraft to apply powerful new enchantments from scratch. If you drop that gear while managing your inventory, knowing the item despawn time in Minecraft can help you recover it before it disappears.
How to Craft a Grindstone
To craft a Grindstone, you’ll need two sticks, one stone slab, and two wooden planks of any type. Arrange them in a 3x3 crafting grid with the sticks in the top-left and top-right corners, the stone slab in the top-center slot, and the two planks in the middle-left and middle-right positions. This recipe is simple and uses materials you likely already have, making it easy to set up your own unenchanting station early in the game.
Where Else to Find a Grindstone
If you don’t want to craft one, Grindstones also generate naturally inside village weaponsmith buildings. Look for the blacksmith-style structure in a village, the Grindstone sits on the ground near the crafting area, and you can simply break it with a pickaxe to collect it. This is a handy shortcut if you’re near a village and need to unenchant an item without spending resources on crafting.
Steps to Remove an Enchantment
- Right-click the Grindstone to open its interface.
- Place your enchanted item into one of the two input slots on the left side.
- Look at the output slot on the right, the unenchanted version of the item will appear there.
- Drag the clean item from the output slot into your inventory to complete the process.
That’s all it takes. The Grindstone handles the rest, stripping away all non-curse enchantments in a single operation.
What Happens to the Enchantment?
When you unenchant an item with a Grindstone, the enchantments are permanently destroyed, they are not transferred to a book or any other item. Instead, you receive a small amount of experience points based on the level and number of enchantments removed. This makes the Grindstone a good way to reclaim some XP from gear you no longer need, while also freeing the item for fresh enchantments later.
The Curse Exception: Binding and Vanishing
There’s one important limitation: a Grindstone cannot remove the Curse of Binding or Curse of Vanishing. If you place a cursed item into the Grindstone, the curse remains on the output item even after all other enchantments are stripped away. Curse of Binding also locks the item to your armor or inventory slot until you die or the item breaks, so you can’t simply unenchant your way out of that particular problem.
Alternative: The Crafting Table Repair Method
If you need to remove enchantments and restore durability at the same time, you can combine items in a crafting table. Place your enchanted item in a crafting grid alongside another identical item of the same type, for example, two enchanted iron swords together. This removes all enchantments from the resulting item and also repairs its durability, combining the two items into one. This method works even for cursed items, making it a useful fallback when the Grindstone won’t do the job.
