How to Make a Lever in Minecraft

Co-authored by Hannah Madden

Last Updated: July 1, 2021

In Minecraft, a lever is a switch used in redstone circuitry, usually to turn the circuit on and off. It’s simple to make and simple to use, and you don’t even need a crafting bench to do it. If you’d like to use a lever to make a redstone power source, control lights, or lock something up, you can do it quickly with just cobblestone and a stick.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Making a Lever

1
Gather cobblestone and a stick. Sticks are made from wood, so you'll need that first. These are some of the most common materials in the game, so you are in luck!^{[1]
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- Sticks are made by crafting planks (place one wood at the center of the crafting grid) and then placing 2 planks in the crafting window. One will be at the center and the other in the center-bottom position.
- You can find stone really easily in mines and often near lava sources as well.
2
Place the cobblestone in the crafting grid. Open your crafting table and place the cobblestone in the center-bottom position. You need to leave a space above the stick for the cobblestone.^{[2]
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- It doesn’t matter exactly where you put your cobblestone as long as you leave a spot for the stick above it.
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3
Place the stick in the crafting grid. Make sure it’s on top of the cobblestone block. The lever will be made automatically, so you don’t have to do anything else.^{[3]
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4
Drag the lever into your inventory. The lever should now be showing in the completed item box. Take the lever by left or right-clicking on it and then placing it into your inventory.^{[4]
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- What’s nice about making a lever is that you don’t need a crafting table since it’s only 2 items. You can make levers straight from your inventory whenever you need one.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Placing and Using a Lever

1
Place the lever on the ground, wall, or ceiling. Right click with the lever selected in your inventory in order to place the lever. You will need to place the lever next to redstone, since the lever is used to control the current of the redstone.^{[5]
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- Levers can be placed on the ground, wall, or ceiling. They cannot be placed on snow, ice, or glowstone.
- The orientation of the lever affects which position is considered on and which is considered off, so you may need to adjust the orientation to suit your needs.
2
Activate the lever. Right click the lever to use the “use item/place block” control. This will activate the lever, making it useful to you in its current position.^{[6]
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- You can deactivate the lever by right clicking again.
3
Use the lever by turning it on and off. Click on the lever to switch it on. There are lots of different uses for a lever and much like the rest of Minecraft, you're mainly limited by your imagination. As long as you can find a use for the function of a lever, activating or deactivating a redstone current, then you can find a good use for a lever.^{[7]
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- A lever provides a stable charge. It remains on or off until you actively press it again, unlike buttons, which switch themselves off. Levers are therefore useful when you need the switch to stay on, such as on a minecart track or for a lock you wished to keep locked.
- Levers are usually used for controlling lights in houses or other buildings. You can also use them to control doors from afar.
- Levers can be used in place of redstone, if you're running short (really only good for replacing one redstone). This is also helpful for letting you control the power current as well.
- It is important to remember that mobs can't activate levers unless you have some kind of mod that allows this.

Community Q&A

Question

How do I make the lever work?

Community Answer

Right click the lever when it is in reach, if it is not obstructed from your view, or if it has been outlined.
Question

Where do you get cobblestone?

Belle K.

Top Answerer

You get cobblestone when you use a pickaxe to mine stone. It is found under the grass and dirt or in caves.
Question

How do you eat sticks?

Seasalt25

Top Answerer

You cannot eat sticks in Minecraft without the use of mods on Java edition.