Sandstone

Sandstone is a solid block commonly found in deserts and beaches underneath sand.

Red sandstone is a related block, associated with red sand.

Obtaining

Breaking

Sandstone can be mined with any pickaxe. If mined without a pickaxe, the block drops nothing.

Block	Sandstone Chiseled Sandstone Cut Sandstone Red Sandstone Chiseled Red Sandstone Cut Red Sandstone	Smooth Sandstone Smooth Red Sandstone
Hardness	0.8	2
Tool
Breaking time^[A]
Default	4	10
Wooden	0.6	1.5
Stone	0.3	0.75
Iron	0.2	0.5
Diamond	0.15	0.4
Netherite	0.15	0.35
Golden	0.1	0.25

↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Natural generation

Regular sandstone generates in deserts and beaches, compressed underneath multiple blocks of sand. Regular sandstone generates at noise cave entrances in desert and beach biomes, and red sandstone generates at noise cave entrances in badlands biomes.

If a village generates some buildings inside of a badlands biome, any floating platform surrounding village buildings generate with red sandstone below red sand.

Many structures that generate in deserts are made of sandstone. Desert wells are made of normal sandstone, desert villages made of normal, cut, and smooth sandstone, and desert pyramids are made of normal, cut, and chiseled sandstone. Additionally, warm underwater ruins are made predominantly of sandstone variants. All of these structures use sandstone blocks, slabs, stairs, and walls. No naturally generated structures are made of red sandstone.

Crafting

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Sandstone or Red Sandstone	Sand or Red Sand
Cut Sandstone or Cut Red Sandstone	Sandstone or Red Sandstone	44
Chiseled Sandstone or Chiseled Red Sandstone	Sandstone Slab or Red Sandstone Slab

Stonecutting

Name	Ingredients	Cutting recipe
Cut Sandstone or Cut Red Sandstone	Sandstone or Red Sandstone
Chiseled Sandstone or Chiseled Red Sandstone	Sandstone or Red Sandstone

Smelting

Name	Ingredients	Smelting recipe
Smooth Sandstone	Sandstone + Any fuel	0.1
Smooth Red Sandstone	Red Sandstone + Any fuel	0.1

Usage

Unlike sand, sandstone is never affected by gravity.

Crafting ingredient

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Dune Armor Trim Smithing Template	Diamond + Dune Armor Trim Smithing Template + Sandstone	2
Red Sandstone Stairs or Smooth Red Sandstone Stairs	Red Sandstone or Smooth Red Sandstone	44
Red Sandstone Wall	Red Sandstone	6
Sandstone Slab or Red Sandstone Slab	Sandstone or Chiseled Sandstone or Red Sandstone or Chiseled Red Sandstone	6666
Sandstone Stairs or Smooth Sandstone Stairs	Sandstone or Smooth Sandstone	44
Sandstone Wall	Sandstone	6
Smithing Template	Diamond + Matching Smithing Template + Sandstone	22222222222222222
Smooth Red Sandstone Slab or Cut Red Sandstone Slab	Smooth Red Sandstone or Cut Red Sandstone	66
Smooth Sandstone Slab or Cut Sandstone Slab	Smooth Sandstone or Cut Sandstone	66

Stonecutting

Name	Ingredients	Cutting recipe
Sandstone Slab or Sandstone Stairs or Sandstone Wall or Cut Sandstone or Cut Sandstone Slab or Chiseled Sandstone	Sandstone	22
Cut Sandstone Slab	Cut Sandstone	2
Smooth Sandstone Slab or Smooth Sandstone Stairs	Smooth Sandstone	2
Red Sandstone Slab or Red Sandstone Stairs or Red Sandstone Wall or Cut Red Sandstone or Cut Red Sandstone Slab or Chiseled Red Sandstone	Red Sandstone	22
Cut Red Sandstone Slab	Cut Red Sandstone	2
Smooth Red Sandstone Slab or Smooth Red Sandstone Stairs	Smooth Red Sandstone	2

Note blocks

All types of sandstone can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass drum" sounds.

Sounds

Java Edition:

Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	`block.stone.break`	`subtitles.block.generic.break`	1.0	0.8	16
Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	`block.stone.place`	`subtitles.block.generic.place`	1.0	0.8	16
Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	`block.stone.hit`	`subtitles.block.generic.hit`	0.25	0.5	16
None^{[sound 1]}	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	`block.stone.fall`	None^{[sound 1]}	0.5	0.75	16
Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	`block.stone.step`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.15	1.0	16

↑ ^a ^b MC-177082

Bedrock Edition:

Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
Blocks	Once the block has broken	`dig.stone`	1.0	0.8-1.0
Blocks	When the block is placed	`dig.stone`	1.0	0.8-1.0
Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	`hit.stone`	0.37	0.5
Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	`fall.stone`	0.4	1.0
Players	Walking on the block	`step.stone`	0.3	1.0
Players	Jumping from the block	`jump.stone`	0.12	1.0
Players	Falling on the block without fall damage	`land.stone`	0.22	1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Translation key
Sandstone	`sandstone`	Block & Item	`mineable/pickaxe`	`block.minecraft.sandstone`
Cut Sandstone	`cut_sandstone`	Block & Item	`mineable/pickaxe`	`block.minecraft.cut_sandstone`
Chiseled Sandstone	`chiseled_sandstone`	Block & Item	`mineable/pickaxe`	`block.minecraft.chiseled_sandstone`
Smooth Sandstone	`smooth_sandstone`	Block & Item	`mineable/pickaxe`	`block.minecraft.smooth_sandstone`
Red Sandstone	`red_sandstone`	Block & Item	`mineable/pickaxe`	`block.minecraft.red_sandstone`
Cut Red Sandstone	`cut_red_sandstone`	Block & Item	`mineable/pickaxe`	`block.minecraft.cut_red_sandstone`
Chiseled Red Sandstone	`chiseled_red_sandstone`	Block & Item	`mineable/pickaxe`	`block.minecraft.chiseled_red_sandstone`
Smooth Red Sandstone	`smooth_red_sandstone`	Block & Item	`mineable/pickaxe`	`block.minecraft.smooth_red_sandstone`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID^{[i 1]}	Translation key
Sandstone	`sandstone`	`24`	Block & Giveable Item^{[i 2]}	Identical^{[i 3]}	`tile.sandstone.default.name` `tile.sandstone.chiseled.name` `tile.sandstone.cut.name` `tile.sandstone.smooth.name`
Red Sandstone	`red_sandstone`	`179`	Block & Giveable Item^{[i 2]}	Identical^{[i 3]}	`tile.red_sandstone.default.name` `tile.red_sandstone.chiseled.name` `tile.red_sandstone.cut.name` `tile.red_sandstone.smooth.name`

↑ ID of block's direct item form, which is used in savegame files and addons.
↑ ^a ^b Available with /give command.
↑ ^a ^b The block's direct item form has the same id as the block.

Block states

In Bedrock Edition, sandstone and red sandstone use the following block states:

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Metadata Bits	Default value	Allowed values	Values for Metadata Bits	Description
sand_stone_type	`0x1` `0x2`	`default`	`default`	`0`	Sandstone
			`heiroglyphs`	`1`	Chiseled Sandstone
			`cut`	`2`	Cut Sandstone
			`smooth`	`3`	Smooth Sandstone

Video

Embedded media: //www.youtube.com/embed/hTnaJFMLPUo?

History

Java Edition Beta
1.2					Added sandstone.
1.3					Sandstone is now found below three blocks of naturally generated sand.
1.3					Added the ability to craft sandstone slabs from sandstone.
Java Edition
1.2.1		release			Two textures have been added to the `terrain.png` file and might have been used as decorative sandstone variants. However, these textures do not appear in the game, at the moment.
1.2.4		release			The textures added in 1.2.1 have been changed, and Mojang have actually added sandstone with these textures,^[1] using the same in-game name as regular sandstone.
1.2.4		release			The texture of normal sandstone has been changed.
1.3.1		12w19a			Distinct names (chiseled sandstone and smooth sandstone) have been given to the variants of sandstone. Before this update, chiseled sandstone was often referred to as hieroglyphic sandstone or decorative sandstone.
		12w19a			Prior to this snapshot the sandstone variants used the same tooltip as normal sandstone "Sandstone".
		12w21a			Added desert temples, which use all three variants of sandstone as building materials.
		12w21a			Added sandstone stairs.
		12w21b			Added a crafting recipe for sandstone stairs, which uses sandstone.
1.5		13w04a			Added the block which would later be called smooth sandstone, as an unobtainable variant of the sandstone double slab.
1.8		14w20a			Sandstone now generates at the entrances of caves.
		14w29a			Smooth sandstone can no longer be crafted into itself.^[2]
		August 5, 2014			Dinnerbone tweets a screenshot containing red sandstone.
		14w32a			Added red sandstone as a solution to MC-55228.
					Red sandstone now generates in mesa caves, instead of sandstone.
					Added the block which would later be called smooth red sandstone, as an unobtainable variant of the red sandstone double slab.
1.10		16w20a			Sandstone no longer generates at the entrances of caves; the sand is now left unsupported in these locations.
1.10		16w20a			Red sandstone no longer generates naturally, as it generated only at the entrances of caves.
1.13		17w47a			"Smooth Sandstone" and "Smooth Red Sandstone" have been renamed to "Cut Sandstone" and "Cut Red Sandstone".
		17w47a			Added item forms for the smooth double slab sandstone and red sandstone, now officially named "Smooth Sandstone" and "Smooth Red Sandstone". These can be obtained in the Creative inventory.
		18w09a			Sandstone now generates in underwater ruins.
1.14		18w43a			Smooth and smooth red sandstone can now be obtained by smelting sandstone and red sandstone, respectively.
		18w43a			The textures of all sandstone blocks have been changed.
		18w44a			The textures of all sandstone blockshave been changed, once again.
		18w47a			The top textures of all sandstone blocks have been changed.
		18w47a			The textures of red sandstone have been changed, once again.
		18w50a			The top textures of all sandstone blocks have been changed, once again.
		19w05a			Both types of sandstone have become renewable, due to wandering traders selling sand and red sand.
1.18		?			Sandstone and red sandstone now generate at the entrance to caves again.^[verify]
1.20 (Experimental)		23w04a			Sandstone can now be used to craft smithing templates.
Pocket Edition Alpha
Pre-release					Added regular sandstone.
v0.6.0					Added chiseled and smooth sandstone.
v0.6.0					Sandstone is now crafted in the stonecutter.
v0.7.3					Sandstone stairs have been made craftable.
v0.8.0		build 2			The texture of regular sandstone has been changed.
v0.9.0		build 2			Sandstone and cut sandstone now generates in desert villages.
v0.11.0		build 1			Sandstone now generates in desert wells.
v0.13.0		build 1			Sandstone is no longer crafted in the stonecutter.
v0.13.0		build 1			Sandstone, cut sandstone and chiseled sandstone now generate in desert temples.
v0.14.0		build 1			Added red sandstone.
Bedrock Edition
1.4.0		beta 1.2.20.1			Sandstone, cut sandstone and chiseled sandstone now generate in warm underwater ruins.
1.9.0		beta 1.9.0.0			"Smooth Sandstone" and "Smooth Red Sandstone" have been renamed to "Cut Sandstone" and "Cut Red Sandstone".
					Sandstone and red sandstone can now be used to craft sandstone and red sandstone walls.
					Cut sandstone and cut red sandstone can now be used to craft cut sandstone and cut red sandstone slabs.
					Added smooth sandstone and smooth red sandstone. These are obtainable by smelting regular sandstone or red sandstone, and can be crafted into smooth sandstone or smooth red sandstone slabs and stairs.
					Added smooth sandstone and smooth red sandstone to the Creative inventory.^[verify]
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The textures of all sandstone blocks have been changed.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			Smooth sandstone now generates in the new desert villages.
1.11.0		beta 1.11.0.1			Red sandstone can now generate as supporting floating platforms under red sand, if the village building generated in a badlands biome.
1.11.0		beta 1.11.0.4			Red sandstone is now sold by wandering traders.
1.16.0		beta 1.16.0.57			Trading has been changed; wandering traders no longer sell red sandstone.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	^[verify] Added sandstone.
TU1		1.0			Added the variants of sandstone. They drop the original sandstone upon breaking.
TU14		1.04			Added crafting recipes for smooth and chiseled sandstone.
					Smooth and chiseled sandstone now drop themselves.
					Smooth and chiseled sandstone can now be obtained in the Creative inventory. Prior to this update only regular sandstone was obtainable in Creative.
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		Added red sandstone and its variants.
		1.88			The old blocks of "Smooth Sandstone" and "Smooth Red Sandstone" have been renamed to "Cut Sandstone" and "Cut Red Sandstone".^[verify]^{[more information needed]}
		1.88			Added the new blocks of smooth sandstone and smooth red sandstone. They are obtainable both in the Creative inventory and in Survival.
		1.90			The textures of all sandstone blocks have been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added sandstone and its variants.
0.1.0					Added red sandstone and its variants.

The first screenshot of red sandstone as tweeted by Nathan Adams.

Data history

Java Edition
1.13		17w47a			The different `type` block states for both the `sandstone` and `red_sandstone` IDs have been split up into their own IDs.
1.13		17w47a			Prior to The Flattening, these blocks' numeral IDs were 24, 43, 179 and 180.^{[more information needed]}

Issues

Issues relating to "Sandstone" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

Chiseled sandstone has the symbol of a Creeper on it, but with 1 block less height than the actual creeper's face.
Chiseled red sandstone has the symbol of a wither on it. The idea of the wither appearing on chiseled red sandstone was suggested by Reddit user ULiopleurodon.^[3]