String is a very useful item that is often used in different crafting recipes in Minecraft.
Unlike most materials you can’t just find it randomly in the wild and harvest it. Instead you will have to farm it through fighting mobs.
Before you can try farming any string, you will need to have at least a sword equipped to help you during the fights.
Here’s how to make string in Minecraft and loot it, too.
Finding String
String can sometimes be found as loot in certain structures.
A jungle temple, for example, will have string as part of its construction. This string is always used as part of a tripwire hook mechanism, which can be harvested to disable it.
In most other structures it can be found as loot in chests. It can be found in the same jungle temples as well as desert pyramids.
In other structures, you can harvest string if you find cobwebs.
Structures like mineshafts, strongholds, and villages can have naturally spawning cobwebs as part of their design. Destroying these with water, a sword, or a piston, will drop string.
Shears can be used on the cobwebs, but this won’t get you any string.
Farming String
The easiest way to get string is by farming it from mobs, mainly spiders.
Spiders are neutral mobs that spawn in the dark. They attack players during the night or in dark areas, but outside of that are passive until attacked first.
This is important to keep in mind.
Farming spiders for string at night can be dangerous. Not only because the spider will immediately attack you, but because you will also need to avoid zombies and skeletons. At night these mobs can overwhelm and kill you.
Spiders, just like creepers, don’t burn in daylight. Instead, it turns them passive.
You will still have to fight them to kill them, because they will attack once attacked first.
A spider can drop up to two pieces of string when they die, but that can be increased with the looting enchantment.
On an occasion a spider can also drop a spider eye, used for crafting a fermented spider eye.
Other Ways to Get String
String can be either farmed by killing spiders or from certain structures, but luckily there’s another way to get it.
Fishing is one additional way to get string.
It is more common to get string when you just start fishing, because string is considered to be a trash-type fishing loot. If you enchant your fishing rod to get better loot, the chances of getting string decrease.
One other way of getting it is through cats.
Cats can drop string upon death, but a very interesting mechanic is that cats can actually bring you string as a gift!
When you wake up from a bed there’s a 70% chance a cat will present you with a gift. There can be many items it can give you, string being one of them.
Crafting With String
String is very useful in crafting and you will likely be making many things with it once you have it.
From crafting bows and fishing rods, to scaffolding and candles. String is needed in many recipes and it is good to farm it and keep a stock of it for whenever you need it.
