If you're a fan of Redstone contraptions, the addition of Chiseled bookshelves should be no surprise, as the Minecraft Live of October 2022 became a Redstoner's dream birthday gift with limitless new puzzles and RPG creations opened up with the addition of this new book-triggered redstonning! Eventually we came to find this wouldn't be the only new Redstone addition that would eventually hit the Trails and Tales full update of Minecraft 1.20 (with the calibrated Skulk sensor being the other).
Chiseled bookshelves fit perfectly into any massive library, or fantasy kingdom castle, producing a unique redstone signal dependent on the book slot that a book is placed in! Using a redstone comparator, players can harness the power of the bookshelves (and receive an achievement for it too!) to rig up a moving bookcase library, or secret lever bookcase, or even a unique puzzle involving books and the unique writing inside them! This update adds a plethora of new tales to come, in the Minecraft Trails and Tales update!
Minecraft Chiseled Bookshelf Redstone Signal
As described by the Minecraft wiki, the redstone signal produced by the Chiseled bookshelves is exactly proportional to whichever books are currently placed within the slots on the shelves. This means that placing a book on the upper left slot will produce a redstone signal of 1, then the middle top slot will produce 2, then the upper right slot will produce a signal of 3. The lower left slot produces an output of 4, and so on.
The key detail that the Minecraft wiki does forget to mention though, is that in order to actually harness this redstone signal players are required to attach a redstone comparator to the chiseled bookshelf and then connect any further redstone wiring to the redstone comparator. After doing so, this causes the bookshelf to function closer to a toggle-able switch rather than a button, (the more expected outcome) which in turn means you'll need to place a book in the first slot to "turn off" traps that require the last slot to "activate" them.
Minecraft Chiseled Bookshelf Storage
One of the coolest additions of the chiseled bookshelf is it's practical usage of adding books in a survival playthrough rather than storing them directly in chests. Most multiplayer Minecraft servers have dump-chests full of enchanted books, with a completely unorganized collection of enchantments and power levels, but using Chiseled bookshelves can entirely fix that for your entire party! Creating a small-scale library alongside your enchanting room will allow seamless transition of book-enchanting and sliding them into the appropriate bookshelf!
No more sifting through hundreds of items or through your squad's unorganized dump-chests looking for randomly enchanted books found throughout Nether travels or fishing trips. Dedicate a single bookshelf to fishing, and call it a night! It's that easy! Not only does this serve a massively functional purpose but it will look amazing in any Minecraft home, no matter the size or scale of the creation. With Chiseled bookshelves only requiring planks and slabs to craft them, you're not giving up any important materials for this endeavor either!
Minecraft Bookshelf Scrapbooking
Remember in Minecraft, the age old item called the Book and Quill? Well this item still exists today in Minecraft, and while it's not exactly incredibly functional, it's a great way to keep track of your Minecraft days, write a Minecraft agenda, and sometimes even keep a diary about real life....in Minecraft. Sometimes if you're feeling inspired you could sit down and create something fantastical as well; write a magical story, and sign it into a Book and Quill within Minecraft. Store it on a Chiseled Bookshelf for someone else on your Minecraft server to read and enjoy.
Hyped about the Minecraft 1.20 Update?
- Minecraft 1.20 Update: What to know about Camels!
- Minecraft 1.20 Everything to know about the Sniffer!
- The Cherry Grove in the Minecraft 1.20 Update
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