Piston Wiki Guide

This Minecraft tutorial explains how to craft a piston with screenshots and step-by-step instructions.

In Minecraft, pistons are one of the many mechanisms that you can make.

Let’s explore how to make a piston.

Where to find a Piston in Creative Mode

Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac)

Here is where you can find a piston in the Creative Inventory menu:

Platform	Version(s)	Creative Menu Location
Java Edition (PC/Mac)	1.8 – 1.19	Redstone
Java Edition (PC/Mac)	1.19.3 – 1.20	Redstone Blocks

• Platform is the platform that applies.
• Version(s) is the Minecraft version numbers where the item can be found in the menu location listed (we have tested and confirmed this version number).
• Creative Menu Location is the location of the item in the Creative Inventory menu.

Required Materials to make a Piston

In Minecraft, these are the materials you can use to craft a piston:

1 Iron Ingot
3 Oak Planks
3 Spruce Planks
3 Birch Planks
3 Jungle Planks
3 Acacia Planks
3 Dark Oak Planks
3 Mangrove Planks
3 Bamboo Planks
3 Crimson Planks
3 Warped Planks
3 Cherry Planks
1 Redstone Dust
4 Cobblestones

TIP: You can use any type of wood planks! You don’t have to gather them all.

How to craft a Piston in Survival Mode

1. Open the Crafting Menu

First, open your crafting table so that you have the 3×3 crafting grid that looks like this:

2. Add Items to make a Piston

In the crafting menu, you should see a crafting area that is made up of a 3×3 crafting grid. To make a piston, place 3 wood planks, 4 cobblestones, 1 iron ingot, and 1 redstone dust in the 3×3 crafting grid.

When crafting with wood planks, you can use any kind of wood planks, such as oak, spruce, birch, jungle, acacia, dark oak, mangrove, bamboo, crimson, warped or cherry planks. In our example, we are using oak planks.

When making a piston, it is important that the wood planks, cobblestones, iron ingot, and redstone dust are placed in the exact pattern as the image below. In the first row, there should be 3 wood planks. In the second row, there should be 1 cobblestone in the first box, 1 iron ingot in the second box, and 1 cobblestone in the third box. In the third row, there should be 1 cobblestone in the first box, 1 redstone dust in the second box, and 1 cobblestone in the third box. This is the Minecraft crafting recipe for a piston.

Now that you have filled the crafting area with the correct pattern, the piston will appear in the box to the right.

3. Move the Piston to Inventory

Once you have crafted a piston, you need to move the new item to your inventory.

Congratulations, you have made a piston in Minecraft!

Item ID and Name

Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac)

In Minecraft, a piston has the following Name, ID and DataValue:

Item	Description (Minecraft ID Name)	Data Value	Stack Size	Platform	Version(s)
	Piston (minecraft:piston)	0	64	Java	1.8 – 1.12
	Piston (minecraft:piston)		64	Java	1.13 – 1.20

• Description is what the item is called and (Minecraft ID Name) is the string value that is used in game commands.
• Data Value (or damage value) identifies the variation of the block if more than one type exists for the Minecraft ID.
• Stack Size is the maximum stack size for this item. While some items in Minecraft are stackable up to 64, other items can only be stacked up to 16 or 1. (NOTE: These stack sizes are for vanilla Minecraft only. If you are running a mod, some mods may change the stack size for an item.)
• Platform is the platform that applies.
• Version(s) is the Minecraft version numbers that the Minecraft ID and Name are valid for.

Block States for Piston

Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac)

In Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac), the block states for Piston are:

• Block State is the internal name for the block state.
• Value is the value for the block state.
• Default indicates that it is the default, if omitted.
• Required indicates that it must be included in command to properly identify this item/block.
• Example shows how to format the block state to be used in the /fill, /setblock, /clone, or /testforblock command.

Give Command for Piston

Give Command in Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac)

In Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac) 1.13, 1.14, 1.15, 1.16, 1.17, 1.18, 1.19 and 1.20, the /give command for Piston is:

/give @p piston 1

In Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac) 1.8, 1.9, 1.10, 1.11 and 1.12, the /give command for Piston is:

/give @p piston 1 0

Things to Make with Pistons

You can use pistons to make items in Minecraft such as:

How to make a Sticky Piston

Things to Do with Pistons

Here are some activities that you can do with pistons in Minecraft:

Build an Automatic Farm using an Observer
Build a Flying Machine using an Observer
How to make a Dragon Egg