My secret for finding diamonds is actually quite simple, but can be risky. You will need all the basic tools for mining; ingredients for picks, food, torches, etc. MAKE SURE you bring a map so you can check your elevation level, because this won't work without a map. When you find your start point on the surface , I would suggest saving. Again, this mining style is risky. It breaks the number one rule, but it almost guarantees diamond. Dig straight down. Choose your spot, and dig down until you hit the elevation Y: 12, which is the most efficient diamond elevation. Start digging a straight one by two tunnel, and keep going. Not only will this give lots of iron, but also Lapis Lazulli, Redstone, gold, and eventually, diamond. Use the "gravel elavator" to get back to the surface when you are done, and then start at a new spot when you are ready!
If you would like to share any methods of your own, please post in the comments below! I hope this helps with your game, and thanks for reading!
This is misleading. Mining methods are efficient/inefficient for mining in general; there are no methods whatsoever (short of mods/external tools and cheats) to increase take or decrease time to mine for a specific resource (ie, diamonds).
It's about on par with the silliness of the whole "diamonds are found near lava" mess.
This is misleading. Mining methods are efficient/inefficient for mining in general; there are no methods whatsoever (short of mods/external tools and cheats) to increase take or decrease time to mine for a specific resource (ie, diamonds).
It's about on par with the silliness of the whole "diamonds are found near lava" mess.
Really? Try comparing mining out an entire chunk (or just below y=16) to branch-mining; the latter will definitely be far better in terms of diamonds found over time and stone mined and sustainability (no way you'll find enough diamonds to replace/repair even Unbreaking III diamond pickaxes by mining out entire chunks; even iron is unsustainable so you'd have to use relatively slow stone tools). Even branch-mining can vary in time/mining efficiency depending on how you dig your tunnels and which layer you mine on (for example, mining at y=11 is sightly better and you are still above lava; spacing your tunnels at least 3 blocks apart (every 4 blocks) is also slightly better since veins are often 2x2 so you may expose the same vein from two sides if there are only two blocks between tunnels; a wider spacing only decreases areal efficiency, i.e. the area your mine covers for a given number of diamonds found, and since worlds are infinite this isn't so important).
Similarly, I could vastly increase my mining efficiency when caving by only mining ores I actually need, and further increase diamond find rate by only exploring deeper layers.
Yes everyone, branch mining may be old; however I am not, so it is new to me. As omodtcat mentioned above, not everyone knows about it. I simply wanted to tell everyone that this is my favorite way of mining. It is not the only way, or the best way, it is my way. Whether or not it is used by many or few, I use it. Whether you wish to use it or not because it is "bad or good," is your decision. Minecraft forum is a place to share ideas and your gaming habits. Lets not forget that Minecraft and Minecraft Forum alike are meant to be, "fun."
How does a map tell you your level? Are you using a mod?
Pressing F3 will tell you your level.
Or just dig down to bedrock and count up.
Any level from 6 to 12 is equally good for diamonds.
Digging stairs is not much less efficiant, and a lot safer, than digging straight down.
Or stand on the border between two blocks and dig out one at a time, bring a bucket of water in case you release lava.
You can view your elevation by looking at the number after the letter Y. The number tells you how far you can go before you hit the limit.
If digging straight down is a little too risky, take out the brick in front of you, step into the hole, and take out the other brick. That limits the risk of falling into a pit of lava.
You could always make a simple stairway down to diamond layers which are Y: 5-12. It doesn't take much time and it's much safer. Also, mining 3-4 blocks high with making sure that each level being mined is within the 5-12 range will result in more diamonds than only 2 blocks high. I strongly suggest strip/branch mining with a minimum of a 1x3 shaft. I've many times found diamonds on the top layer which I only saw because I mined 3-4 blocks high while branching. Tunnels should have 2 blocks between them. 3 blocks will work although it creates opportunity to miss diamonds, with an increasing chance to miss diamonds the more blocks there are between the tunnels.
You could always make a simple stairway down to diamond layers which are Y: 5-12. It doesn't take much time and it's much safer. Also, mining 3-4 blocks high with making sure that each level being mined is within the 5-12 range will result in more diamonds than only 2 blocks high. I strongly suggest strip/branch mining with a minimum of a 1x3 shaft. I've many times found diamonds on the top layer which I only saw because I mined 3-4 blocks high while branching. Tunnels should have 2 blocks between them. 3 blocks will work although it creates opportunity to miss diamonds, with an increasing chance to miss diamonds the more blocks there are between the tunnels.
-Dooz
In terms of mining efficiency (diamond ore mined / total blocks mined) nothing beats a 1x2 tunnel spaced every 4 blocks (23 between tunnels) or more and entirely within y=5-12 (meaning that the ceiling should be no higher than 12) since you expose the most blocks (directly or indirectly) and any veins that are missed are only one block wide; and not like you NEED to find every single diamond ore in the area; an entire Minecraft world has literally trillions of diamond ore,(which is often said to be one of the rarest items/blocks in the game...). Note that I said "or more"; a wider spacing, up to around 6-7 blocks, will also increase overall ore yield since coal veins can be up to 5-6 blocks wide.
True, you get less from the same area but as mentioned above you have an unlimited area, and chunks aren't that big either; 1024 chunks (1 region) covers 512x512 blocks and contains about 1,600 diamond ore, with Fortune III that is 3,500 diamonds - 100 full sets of diamond gear (including hoes)! Now consider one of my worlds, about 50,000 chunks in size (equivalent to a square 3,578 blocks on a side) - it contains about 155,000 diamond ore, 340,000 diamonds with Fortune (minus the piddling 5,500 diamond ore - only 3.5 percent of the total - that I've mined from it while caving; similarly, it contains millions each of coal and iron ore - again making the 760,000 of both together I've mined piddling as well, never mind that I've only used a fraction of all the resources I've mined, in over 3,850 in-game days).
NB: this is using the diamond abundance (about 3.1 per chunk) the Wiki gives for older versions; ores are more common in recent versions, particularly in 1.8; an analysis I once made found about 20% more diamond ore (3.7 per chunk).
In other words, a 1x2 tunnel will expose 6 blocks for every 2 mined (not counting the blocks in front, as those are mined out) while a 1x4 tunnel exposes 10 blocks, which is less than twice as many (10 / 6) so you will be mining less diamond out of the total blocks mined and spending more time mining instead of doing other things.
Put another way, based on the concentration of diamond ore, which is effectively spread out over 12 layers due to less ore in the upper/lower parts of its range, a 1x2 tunnel will expose veins across 4 layers, meaning you'll get about a third of the ore in the area, or about 1 ore per chunk, for 128 blocks worth of tunnel mined out (as you need four tunnels spaced 4 blacks apart to cover a chunk and each chunk is 16x16 blocks, hence 1 x 2 x 4 x 16). This enables you to find about 50 diamond ore with an Unbreaking III diamond pickaxe, well in excess of the 3 needed to repair/replace it, multiply by 2.2 if you use Fortune III.
You can view your elevation by looking at the number after the letter Y. The number tells you how far you can go before you hit the limit.
If digging straight down is a little too risky, take out the brick in front of you, step into the hole, and take out the other brick. That limits the risk of falling into a pit of lava.
There are no numbers on maps in vanilla Minecraft.
So, you must be using a mod and telling people to use the map to tell their depth is useless unless you tell them what mod to use to get the numbers. Besides it's easy enough to find your depth without a modded map.
And there is no need to step back and forth when digging a two block wide shaft.
As I wrote in the post you quoted, you can just stand on the border between two blocks.
And you forget to mention the usefulness of a water bucket in case the second block has lava behind it.
In terms of mining efficiency (diamond ore mined / total blocks mined) nothing beats a 1x2 tunnel spaced every 4 blocks (23 between tunnels) or more and entirely within y=5-12 (meaning that the ceiling should be no higher than 12) since you expose the most blocks (directly or indirectly) and any veins that are missed are only one block wide; and not like you NEED to find every single diamond ore in the area; an entire Minecraft world has literally trillions of diamond ore,(which is often said to be one of the rarest items/blocks in the game...). Note that I said "or more"; a wider spacing, up to around 6-7 blocks, will also increase overall ore yield since coal veins can be up to 5-6 blocks wide.
True, you get less from the same area but as mentioned above you have an unlimited area, and chunks aren't that big either; 1024 chunks (1 region) covers 512x512 blocks and contains about 1,600 diamond ore, with Fortune III that is 3,500 diamonds - 100 full sets of diamond gear (including hoes)! Now consider one of my worlds, about 50,000 chunks in size (equivalent to a square 3,578 blocks on a side) - it contains about 155,000 diamond ore, 340,000 diamonds with Fortune (minus the piddling 5,500 diamond ore - only 3.5 percent of the total - that I've mined from it while caving; similarly, it contains millions each of coal and iron ore - again making the 760,000 of both together I've mined piddling as well, never mind that I've only used a fraction of all the resources I've mined, in over 3,850 in-game days).
NB: this is using the diamond abundance (about 3.1 per chunk) the Wiki gives for older versions; ores are more common in recent versions, particularly in 1.8; an analysis I once made found about 20% more diamond ore (3.7 per chunk).
In other words, a 1x2 tunnel will expose 6 blocks for every 2 mined (not counting the blocks in front, as those are mined out) while a 1x4 tunnel exposes 10 blocks, which is less than twice as many (10 / 6) so you will be mining less diamond out of the total blocks mined and spending more time mining instead of doing other things.
Put another way, based on the concentration of diamond ore, which is effectively spread out over 12 layers due to less ore in the upper/lower parts of its range, a 1x2 tunnel will expose veins across 4 layers, meaning you'll get about a third of the ore in the area, or about 1 ore per chunk, for 128 blocks worth of tunnel mined out (as you need four tunnels spaced 4 blacks apart to cover a chunk and each chunk is 16x16 blocks, hence 1 x 2 x 4 x 16). This enables you to find about 50 diamond ore with an Unbreaking III diamond pickaxe, well in excess of the 3 needed to repair/replace it, multiply by 2.2 if you use Fortune III.
I don't think you are looking at the full picture. What's important is not (diamond ore mined / total blocks mined) it's (diamond ore mined / total time spent mining). One will get more diamonds per unit time by making a 1x3 tunnel than by making a 1x2 tunnel, thus it is more effective. Throwing out lots of numbers and saying how you have an essentially infinite space and saying how many of certain items can be made may look cool, but it's not practical when related to people mining for relatively small amounts of time and relatively small amounts of space.
I don't think you are looking at the full picture. What's important is not (diamond ore mined / total blocks mined) it's (diamond ore mined / total time spent mining). One will get more diamonds per unit time by making a 1x3 tunnel than by making a 1x2 tunnel, thus it is more effective. Throwing out lots of numbers and saying how you have an essentially infinite space and saying how many of certain items can be made may look cool, but it's not practical when related to people mining for relatively small amounts of time and relatively small amounts of space.
Really? What do you base your data on? Mine is simple - say it takes 1 second to mine a block; a 1x2 tunnel that is 100 blocks long will expose 600 blocks, taking 200 seconds to mine out; a 1x3 tunnel will expose 800 blocks while taking 300 seconds to mine out; the number of blocks exposed is directly related to the chance of finding ores; yes, the 1x3 tunnel exposes 33% more blocks but takes 50% longer to mine; overall you find 88.8% as many diamonds per unit time ((800 / 600) / (300 / 200)). Also, with a 1x2 tunnel you don't even need to move your pickaxe; just aim at the middle of two blocks and walk forward.
To take advantage of the full range of diamond, you just do this at 5, 8, 11, which will cover the whole y=5-12 range. Note that 1x3 tunnels would require a spacing such as 5, 9, 13 (with poor efficiency in the uppermost tunnel as y=14 has only 50% as many diamonds and y=15 only 10%, relative to y=5-12), or only two tunnels at e.g. 6, 10), so this method is also better for maximizing efficiency over the entire range:
Incidentally, I have some hard numbers on my method's mining efficiency (just one layer of tunnels); I found 85 diamond ore in about 5,200 blocks of 1x2 tunnel (10,400 blocks mined), which means I found one ore per 122 blocks mined, which agrees with my estimates provided above.
MY FAST AND EASY DIAMOND HUNTING:
My secret for finding diamonds is actually quite simple, but can be risky. You will need all the basic tools for mining; ingredients for picks, food, torches, etc. MAKE SURE you bring a map so you can check your elevation level, because this won't work without a map. When you find your start point on the surface , I would suggest saving. Again, this mining style is risky. It breaks the number one rule, but it almost guarantees diamond. Dig straight down. Choose your spot, and dig down until you hit the elevation Y: 12, which is the most efficient diamond elevation. Start digging a straight one by two tunnel, and keep going. Not only will this give lots of iron, but also Lapis Lazulli, Redstone, gold, and eventually, diamond. Use the "gravel elavator" to get back to the surface when you are done, and then start at a new spot when you are ready!
If you would like to share any methods of your own, please post in the comments below! I hope this helps with your game, and thanks for reading!
~Coal
Haters gonna' hate, Potatoes gonna potate'
Urm this "Branch Mining" has been around for a couple years already. It's not new.
- C.C.
How does a map tell you your level? Are you using a mod?
Pressing F3 will tell you your level.
Or just dig down to bedrock and count up.
Any level from 6 to 12 is equally good for diamonds.
Digging stairs is not much less efficiant, and a lot safer, than digging straight down.
Or stand on the border between two blocks and dig out one at a time, bring a bucket of water in case you release lava.
Just testing.
Yeah this has been around for awhile but I don't think many people actually know about this.
This is misleading. Mining methods are efficient/inefficient for mining in general; there are no methods whatsoever (short of mods/external tools and cheats) to increase take or decrease time to mine for a specific resource (ie, diamonds).
It's about on par with the silliness of the whole "diamonds are found near lava" mess.
Really? Try comparing mining out an entire chunk (or just below y=16) to branch-mining; the latter will definitely be far better in terms of diamonds found over time and stone mined and sustainability (no way you'll find enough diamonds to replace/repair even Unbreaking III diamond pickaxes by mining out entire chunks; even iron is unsustainable so you'd have to use relatively slow stone tools). Even branch-mining can vary in time/mining efficiency depending on how you dig your tunnels and which layer you mine on (for example, mining at y=11 is sightly better and you are still above lava; spacing your tunnels at least 3 blocks apart (every 4 blocks) is also slightly better since veins are often 2x2 so you may expose the same vein from two sides if there are only two blocks between tunnels; a wider spacing only decreases areal efficiency, i.e. the area your mine covers for a given number of diamonds found, and since worlds are infinite this isn't so important).
Similarly, I could vastly increase my mining efficiency when caving by only mining ores I actually need, and further increase diamond find rate by only exploring deeper layers.
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
Yes everyone, branch mining may be old; however I am not, so it is new to me. As omodtcat mentioned above, not everyone knows about it. I simply wanted to tell everyone that this is my favorite way of mining. It is not the only way, or the best way, it is my way. Whether or not it is used by many or few, I use it. Whether you wish to use it or not because it is "bad or good," is your decision. Minecraft forum is a place to share ideas and your gaming habits. Lets not forget that Minecraft and Minecraft Forum alike are meant to be, "fun."
~Coal
Haters gonna' hate, Potatoes gonna potate'
Not sure if I've done this before, but if I haven't would try sometime. :3
| Dragon Cave | ",courier,monospace">- SoManyPosts
You can view your elevation by looking at the number after the letter Y. The number tells you how far you can go before you hit the limit.
If digging straight down is a little too risky, take out the brick in front of you, step into the hole, and take out the other brick. That limits the risk of falling into a pit of lava.
Haters gonna' hate, Potatoes gonna potate'
You could always make a simple stairway down to diamond layers which are Y: 5-12. It doesn't take much time and it's much safer. Also, mining 3-4 blocks high with making sure that each level being mined is within the 5-12 range will result in more diamonds than only 2 blocks high. I strongly suggest strip/branch mining with a minimum of a 1x3 shaft. I've many times found diamonds on the top layer which I only saw because I mined 3-4 blocks high while branching. Tunnels should have 2 blocks between them. 3 blocks will work although it creates opportunity to miss diamonds, with an increasing chance to miss diamonds the more blocks there are between the tunnels.
-Dooz
You could just make a regular mine at Y:12
Or just go deep into a cave, as this saves durability on your pickaxe, but can be dangerous due to mobs.
Yeah that's true but you would have to have a good reaction time just in case a mob attacks.
In terms of mining efficiency (diamond ore mined / total blocks mined) nothing beats a 1x2 tunnel spaced every 4 blocks (23 between tunnels) or more and entirely within y=5-12 (meaning that the ceiling should be no higher than 12) since you expose the most blocks (directly or indirectly) and any veins that are missed are only one block wide; and not like you NEED to find every single diamond ore in the area; an entire Minecraft world has literally trillions of diamond ore,(which is often said to be one of the rarest items/blocks in the game...). Note that I said "or more"; a wider spacing, up to around 6-7 blocks, will also increase overall ore yield since coal veins can be up to 5-6 blocks wide.
True, you get less from the same area but as mentioned above you have an unlimited area, and chunks aren't that big either; 1024 chunks (1 region) covers 512x512 blocks and contains about 1,600 diamond ore, with Fortune III that is 3,500 diamonds - 100 full sets of diamond gear (including hoes)! Now consider one of my worlds, about 50,000 chunks in size (equivalent to a square 3,578 blocks on a side) - it contains about 155,000 diamond ore, 340,000 diamonds with Fortune (minus the piddling 5,500 diamond ore - only 3.5 percent of the total - that I've mined from it while caving; similarly, it contains millions each of coal and iron ore - again making the 760,000 of both together I've mined piddling as well, never mind that I've only used a fraction of all the resources I've mined, in over 3,850 in-game days).
NB: this is using the diamond abundance (about 3.1 per chunk) the Wiki gives for older versions; ores are more common in recent versions, particularly in 1.8; an analysis I once made found about 20% more diamond ore (3.7 per chunk).
In other words, a 1x2 tunnel will expose 6 blocks for every 2 mined (not counting the blocks in front, as those are mined out) while a 1x4 tunnel exposes 10 blocks, which is less than twice as many (10 / 6) so you will be mining less diamond out of the total blocks mined and spending more time mining instead of doing other things.
Put another way, based on the concentration of diamond ore, which is effectively spread out over 12 layers due to less ore in the upper/lower parts of its range, a 1x2 tunnel will expose veins across 4 layers, meaning you'll get about a third of the ore in the area, or about 1 ore per chunk, for 128 blocks worth of tunnel mined out (as you need four tunnels spaced 4 blacks apart to cover a chunk and each chunk is 16x16 blocks, hence 1 x 2 x 4 x 16). This enables you to find about 50 diamond ore with an Unbreaking III diamond pickaxe, well in excess of the 3 needed to repair/replace it, multiply by 2.2 if you use Fortune III.
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
There are no numbers on maps in vanilla Minecraft.
So, you must be using a mod and telling people to use the map to tell their depth is useless unless you tell them what mod to use to get the numbers. Besides it's easy enough to find your depth without a modded map.
And there is no need to step back and forth when digging a two block wide shaft.
As I wrote in the post you quoted, you can just stand on the border between two blocks.
And you forget to mention the usefulness of a water bucket in case the second block has lava behind it.
Just testing.
I've always found this to be a great , easy and SAFE way to mine as well.
When im on a Survival server, i will build a ladder shaft within my property all the way down to Y:8
then, i start a 3x3 Hallway, and then.. start the 1x2 shafts off of that hallway.
As i progress, i'll start makeing a railway/cart system the further away from my land i get
i can usahlly mine for months on a server before someone finds the shaft and tries to use it to greif my base.
and, i use the rail system to get around the world privatly for several months before someone starts greifing it
I've done this method on SEVERAL servers and it works wonders. I find a CRAP ton of diamonds, and sell them
at there admin shop, or player mall.. or auction, which the server has
SO, ya.. i highly recommend this method. things for introducing new players to MC to this idea.
Checking your elevation with a map is what I do, because I am on Xbox 360 edition.
~Coal
Haters gonna' hate, Potatoes gonna potate'
This helps allot but Ive done this for years now
I don't think you are looking at the full picture. What's important is not (diamond ore mined / total blocks mined) it's (diamond ore mined / total time spent mining). One will get more diamonds per unit time by making a 1x3 tunnel than by making a 1x2 tunnel, thus it is more effective. Throwing out lots of numbers and saying how you have an essentially infinite space and saying how many of certain items can be made may look cool, but it's not practical when related to people mining for relatively small amounts of time and relatively small amounts of space.
I just tried this technique right now....and I found emerald right when I began digging right....OH MY GO--AIRHORNS--EXPLOSIONS--
Really? What do you base your data on? Mine is simple - say it takes 1 second to mine a block; a 1x2 tunnel that is 100 blocks long will expose 600 blocks, taking 200 seconds to mine out; a 1x3 tunnel will expose 800 blocks while taking 300 seconds to mine out; the number of blocks exposed is directly related to the chance of finding ores; yes, the 1x3 tunnel exposes 33% more blocks but takes 50% longer to mine; overall you find 88.8% as many diamonds per unit time ((800 / 600) / (300 / 200)). Also, with a 1x2 tunnel you don't even need to move your pickaxe; just aim at the middle of two blocks and walk forward.
To take advantage of the full range of diamond, you just do this at 5, 8, 11, which will cover the whole y=5-12 range. Note that 1x3 tunnels would require a spacing such as 5, 9, 13 (with poor efficiency in the uppermost tunnel as y=14 has only 50% as many diamonds and y=15 only 10%, relative to y=5-12), or only two tunnels at e.g. 6, 10), so this method is also better for maximizing efficiency over the entire range:
Incidentally, I have some hard numbers on my method's mining efficiency (just one layer of tunnels); I found 85 diamond ore in about 5,200 blocks of 1x2 tunnel (10,400 blocks mined), which means I found one ore per 122 blocks mined, which agrees with my estimates provided above.
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?