How to Get Silk Touch in Minecraft
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How to Get Silk Touch in Minecraft
Method 2: Enchanting Table
Tips
The Librarian reset method is usually the most reliable long-term way to get Silk Touch because once you lock the trade, you have permanent access to the book whenever you need a new tool.
It also fits naturally with wider progression systems. If you are still working on your setup, start with how to enchant items in Minecraft so you understand how books, tables, and item application all connect.
Since Silk Touch is often applied through books, this guide also works closely with how to make an Anvil in Minecraft, because the anvil is what lets you move the enchantment onto your final tool.
And because anvils consume levels, it helps to pair this with fast XP farming in Minecraft if you plan to build a full enchanted tool set.
⚡ Quick Answer
Method 1: Librarian Villager (Most Reliable)
Silk Touch is an enchantment you can get from a Librarian villager, an enchanting table, or occasionally from enchanted books through loot and fishing. The most reliable method is resetting a Librarian’s lectern until they offer a Silk Touch book, then applying it to your tool with an Anvil. To use the Anvil efficiently, you’ll also want how to get XP fast in Minecraft.
1
Find or cure a villager and give them a Lectern to make them a Librarian. Place the lectern, then check their first trade — it will be a random enchanted book.
2
If the book isn’t Silk Touch, break the lectern and replace it. This rerolls the Librarian’s trade. Repeat until Silk Touch appears — it typically takes under 20 attempts.
3
Trade with the Librarian to buy the Silk Touch book. Cost is usually 5–64 Emeralds depending on the roll.
4
Open an Anvil, place your pickaxe (or other tool) in the left slot and the Silk Touch book in the right slot. Pay the XP cost to apply the enchantment. If you still need one, follow how to make an Anvil in Minecraft.
1
Surround your enchanting table with 15 Bookshelves at a distance of exactly 1 block to unlock level 30 enchantments.
2
Enchant a book or pickaxe at level 30. Silk Touch can appear from the enchanting table, but it does not show up often — use a book if you want more flexibility, or enchant a cheap tool to cycle rolls faster. For the full setup, see how to enchant items in Minecraft.
3
If you don’t get Silk Touch, enchant a cheap throwaway item (wooden sword, leather armor) to cycle the available options, then try again.
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Silk Touch and Fortune are mutually exclusive — you can’t have both on the same tool. Decide which you need before enchanting.
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Essential uses: mining ice, glass, glowstone, coral, bookshelves and picking up spawners (in some versions with mods).
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Use Silk Touch on a shovel to collect grass blocks and mycelium — otherwise they drop dirt when broken.
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If you lock the Librarian’s trades by trading with them once, their Silk Touch offer becomes permanent — they’ll keep selling it forever.