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A fletching table is crafted with four planks and two flint. Its important job is not player crafting: it is the workstation that turns an unemployed villager into a fletcher. Fletchers buy materials such as sticks, flint, string, feathers and tripwire hooks, then sell arrows, bows, crossbows, enchanted weapons and tipped arrows.

The recipe is the same in Java and Bedrock, but trade probabilities and tipped-arrow selections differ by edition. The table also has a few secondary block mechanics, including limited furnace-fuel value and a bass note-block sound.

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What a fletching table is

The fletching table is a job-site block for the fletcher profession. Place an unclaimed table where an unemployed villager can acquire it, and that villager can become a fletcher. Fletcher villagers specialize in ranged-combat supplies: they purchase several easily farmed materials and offer arrows, bows, crossbows and their enchanted or tipped variants in return.

Although its texture suggests a workbench for making arrows, the block is not a player crafting station. In normal survival play, right-clicking it does not open a crafting screen and does not produce arrows, bows or tipped arrows directly.

Fletching table recipe

Ingredients

  • Two flint
  • Four wooden planks of any accepted plank type

The current recipe accepts planks from the regular wood families rather than requiring one specific wood species. The finished block stacks to 64 and is renewable in normal gameplay.

Crafting-grid arrangement

Use a crafting table and place the ingredients in this three-by-three pattern:

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Top row Flint Flint
Middle row Plank Plank
Bottom row Plank Plank

The two flint occupy the first two slots of the top row. The four planks fill the first two slots of each of the lower rows. Take the fletching table from the result slot.

Where to find one and where to place it

Fletching tables can generate naturally in fletcher houses in villages. Crafting one is usually faster when you are establishing a trading hall or need a workstation away from a village.

Place the block close enough for an unemployed villager to claim it as a job site. The table must be unclaimed; an already assigned workstation will not become available simply because another villager is nearby. Leave a practical path to the block so the villager can work at it and restock trades.

What the table actually does

It assigns the fletcher profession

The central function is villager employment. An unemployed villager that can acquire an unclaimed fletching table changes to the fletcher profession. Once assigned, the villager exposes the fletcher trade list as it gains experience through trading.

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It does not craft arrows for players

There is currently no normal right-click interface for the fletching table. You cannot insert flint, sticks or feathers into it to obtain arrows, and it does not replace the player crafting grid for bows or crossbows. Arrow crafting remains a separate player recipe; the table’s direct gameplay role is employment and trading.

Secondary block mechanics

  • Furnace fuel: one fletching table smelts 1.5 items in the cited fuel mechanics.
  • Note blocks: placing a note block directly above the table produces a bass sound when the note is played.
  • Block properties: the block is listed as renewable and stackable to 64. Exact technical presentation can vary between editions and versions.

How to make a fletcher villager

  1. Craft the workstation. Make a fletching table with two flint and four planks.
  2. Choose an unemployed villager. Bring the villager to the area where you want the profession assigned, then remove competing, unclaimed job-site blocks if necessary.
  3. Place the table. Set it where the villager can reach and claim it. A successful claim changes the villager’s profession to fletcher.
  4. Check the profession before trading. Open the villager’s trading screen and verify that the offers are fletcher offers. Do this before spending resources on a trade plan.
  5. Trade to level the villager. Completing available offers advances the villager from novice through apprentice, journeyman, expert and master.
  6. Keep the workstation accessible. Villagers can restock up to two times per day when they can work at their station, so blocking the table can prevent replenishment even if the villager still displays the fletcher profession.

Trading with a villager also makes the profession and its offer progression persistent. Plan the workstation position before you build a compact trading area, because moving the table later can cause another villager to claim it.

Fletcher trades by villager level

The following are the listed base offers. Demand, reputation, curing and other game systems can change the number shown in an individual trading screen, so treat these as the underlying trade values rather than a guaranteed final price.

Level Fletcher buys Fletcher sells
Novice 32 sticks for 1 emerald
10 gravel plus 1 emerald for 10 flint
1 emerald for 16 arrows
Apprentice 26 flint for 1 emerald 2 emeralds for a bow
Journeyman 14 string for 1 emerald 3 emeralds for a crossbow
Expert 24 feathers for 1 emerald 7–21 emeralds for an enchanted bow
Master 8 tripwire hooks for 1 emerald 8–22 emeralds for an enchanted crossbow
2 emeralds plus 5 arrows for 5 tipped arrows

What each offer means in practice

The stick trade is a common early emerald source because sticks are easy to produce from logs. Flint, string, feathers and tripwire hooks provide additional material-to-emerald routes as you unlock higher levels. On the buying side, the novice arrow offer gives 16 ordinary arrows for one emerald; later levels add bows and crossbows, including enchanted versions.

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The enchanted-bow price ranges from 7 to 21 emeralds, while the enchanted-crossbow range is 8 to 22 emeralds. These ranges are not arbitrary discounts: the trade table uses a base emerald cost plus the randomly selected enchantment level. An enchanted bow has a two-emerald base plus an enchantment level from 5 through 19; an enchanted crossbow has a three-emerald base plus that same 5-through-19 level range.

The master tipped-arrow offer exchanges two emeralds and five arrows for five tipped arrows. The effect is selected according to the edition-specific pool described below, so the result is not necessarily the potion effect you would choose manually.

Java and Bedrock trade differences

The recipe and workstation function are shared, but offer probabilities are not identical. These percentages describe the chance that the listed offer appears in the villager’s generated trade set at novice level.

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Axis Java Edition Bedrock Edition
Novice stick-for-emerald offer 67% 100%
Novice emerald-for-16-arrows offer 67% 50%
Novice gravel-and-emerald-for-flint offer 67% 50%
Tipped-arrow selection Selected from brewable potion effects, including extended and strengthened variants Selected from a defined 15-effect pool

Bedrock’s 15-effect tipped-arrow pool

The Bedrock list contains Night Vision, Invisibility, Leaping, Fire Resistance, Swiftness, Slowness, Water Breathing, Healing, Harming, Poison, Regeneration, Strength, Weakness, Turtle Master and Decay (Level 2).

How Java’s selection differs

Java selects the tipped-arrow type from brewable potion effects and can include extended-duration and strengthened variants where those potion forms exist. Consequently, a tipped-arrow trade that is available on one edition is not evidence that the identical effect, duration or strength will appear on the other.

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Building a reliable fletcher trading setup

Start with the trades you need

If your immediate goal is arrows or emerald income, check the novice offers first. A fletcher that exposes the 32-stick purchase can turn a wood supply into emeralds, while the 16-arrow sale gives a simple ranged-ammunition source. If the desired novice offer is absent, do not spend materials leveling that villager merely hoping a different novice offer will appear later; establish the profession and inspect the actual list before committing.

Provide a restock route

Keep the fletching table in a position the assigned villager can reach during its work period. A decorative block, fence or cramped workstation layout can leave the profession visible while preventing restocking. The documented limit is up to two restocks per day when the villager can work at the station.

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Use multiple fletchers for different outputs

One fletcher may expose arrows while another offers a bow or crossbow. Separating villagers and their tables makes it easier to identify which workstation belongs to which trader and avoids accidental reassignment when several unclaimed tables are placed together.

Troubleshooting a table that is not working

The villager remains unemployed

  • Confirm the villager can reach the table and that the table is not already claimed.
  • Remove nearby unclaimed job-site blocks temporarily so another profession does not win the claim.
  • Check that you selected an unemployed villager rather than expecting an already employed villager to switch automatically.

The villager became a different profession

Another workstation was likely claimed first. Break the unintended workstation, wait for the villager to lose that job, and place the fletching table again where the intended villager can acquire it.

Trades will not restock

Restore a clear route to the fletching table and leave it in the villager’s working area. A profession label alone does not guarantee that the villager can access its station to replenish offers.

The table appears useless when right-clicked

That behavior is expected. The block has no normal player-facing crafting screen; use it as a workstation for a fletcher instead of looking for an arrow recipe inside the block.

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Key takeaways

  • Craft it with four planks and two flint; the recipe is the same in Java and Bedrock.
  • Place an unclaimed table near an unemployed villager to create a fletcher.
  • Fletchers buy sticks, flint, string, feathers and tripwire hooks, and sell arrows, bows, crossbows, enchanted weapons and tipped arrows.
  • Trade probabilities and tipped-arrow pools differ between Java and Bedrock, so use the table for your edition rather than assuming the other edition’s list applies.
  • The block itself does not open a normal crafting interface for players.

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