Saddles have been in Minecraft forever, and it’s only now, in version 1.21.6, that they’re getting a crafting recipe—three leather pieces and an iron ingot. Before, you had to raid structures or grind trades to get one, but now snagging a saddle for early-game travel is much easier. Since saddles went so long without a recipe, it’s got people wondering: what other items could use the same treatment? Some items desperately need a crafting option, while others would make life better for builders in survival projects.
1. Chainmail Armor
Chainmail armor is the poster child for uncraftable items. Fans have begged for a crafting recipe forever. You used to be able to craft it with fire blocks, but that’s gone, and it wasn’t practical anyway. Chainmail’s barely better than gold armor, so there’s no reason to chase it when iron armor’s so easy to make.
Using chains to craft it would be too expensive, but iron nuggets would be perfect. Saddles getting a recipe is a step in the right direction, but chainmail still needs some crafting love.
2. Name Tags
Name tags are nice to find in loot, but they’re mostly for aesthetics, like naming mobs to keep them from despawning. It’s rough when you find a mob you want to keep but don’t have a tag on you. Unlike saddles, which are functional, name tags just add a bit of charm.
A recipe with paper, an ink sac, and maybe a chain or rabbit hide (as Reddit user Mlakuss suggested) would work. Rabbit hide’s only use right now is making leather, which isn’t worth it, so this would give it a purpose.
3. Gilded Blackstone
Gilded blackstone only shows up in Nether Bastion Remnants and sometimes drops gold nuggets when mined. But there are safer, faster ways to get gold, so it’s mostly for decoration in gold or Nether-themed builds.
Mining it is risky, and a 10% chance of getting just 2-5 nuggets instead of the block is annoying (unless you’ve got Silk Touch). A recipe with blackstone and gold nuggets would be obvious and fair. If piglins can make it, why can’t we?
4. Frog Lights
Getting frog lights is weirdly complicated—you have to drag frogs to the Nether to eat magma cubes. Most players wouldn’t figure that out without looking it up. Reddit user Rhainnno and others think it’s too much effort for decorative lights, especially since you need different biomes for different colors.
A recipe with magma cream, glow sacs, or glow berries would be simpler. Maybe the new firefly bush could grow variants for each color. Frog lights add nice atmosphere, but they shouldn’t be such a chore.
5. Cobwebs
Cobwebs are great for mob traps, fall damage protection, or spooky builds, but collecting them in bulk is a pain. You need shears or silk touch, and once you clear a structure, you’re off exploring for more.
Since spiders drop string, a recipe with string and maybe a slime ball would work. In Bedrock, you can even turn cobwebs into nine strings. This would mostly help builders without messing up game balance.
6. Tridents
Getting a usable trident means killing drowned or looting trial chambers, which is a slog. Having one non-craftable weapon adds variety, but tridents aren’t so strong that crafting them would ruin things.
A recipe with three diamonds (one for each prong) and prismarine for the base makes sense, since tridents are only a bit better than a diamond sword. By the time you’re farming drowned, you’ve probably got diamonds anyway.
7. Horse Armor
Leather horse armor is craftable, but iron, gold, and diamond versions aren’t. Making them craftable wouldn’t break the game—horses are barely used anyway, especially with the Happy Ghast coming. After the first few days, finding horse armor isn’t exciting anymore.
Crafting it would let you customize your pets and make life a bit easier. No need to wander forever just to make your horse look cool.
8. Sponges
Sponges aren’t renewable unless you’re exploiting glitches, and raiding ocean monuments or killing elder guardians is way too much work for such a random item. They should at least be easier to get, like spawning in coral reefs or dropping from aquatic mobs.
If they get a crafting recipe, coral makes the most sense. Sponges just soak up water for minor convenience, so there’s no need for them to be this hard to find.
9. Enchanted Golden Apples
Enchanted golden apples used to be craftable with eight gold blocks and an apple, but Mojang made them super rare instead. It makes them feel special, sure, but regular golden apples (which you can still craft) kind of suck. Gold’s better spent on piglin trades. Since enchanted ones aren’t renewable, you feel bad using them, so they just sit in chests.
A fan suggested combining regular golden apples with lingering potions, which you can only make after beating the Ender Dragon. That keeps progression intact but makes them less of a hassle later on.
10. Bells
Bells only show up in villages or through pricey trades, but there’s no good reason for them to be so rare. The trades are so bad you’re better off hunting down another village, especially early on.
They’re mostly useful for protecting villagers during raids, but that’s not enough to make them game-changing. I mainly use them for decoration, and it’s a pain to travel thousands of blocks just to finish a build. A crafting recipe with gold ingots, a stick or iron ingot, and maybe a gold nugget for the bell’s tongue would be perfect.
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