Bedrock mining

Hiya everyone, just thought I'd share my method of mining, be it for iron, or diamonds I've found this mining method very effective for all around use.
Prepare for pictures!

For this method to work you need plenty of wood and dirt



Next you'll want to begin your mining base, I did into the side of a hill downward like this.



From there you usually find iron or coal and of course stone. I found iron this time which will prove useful later on.



Since I have no coal on hand, I'll be using charcoal, so to make it I need a furnace for this, it takes 8 stone and needs to be aligned like so in the picture.



To make charcoal you need 1 log[the ones you haven't crafted into planks] and smelt it down, 1 plank = 1 and a half smelts, 1 log = 1 and a half smelts, and a stick = half a smelt. Charcoal and coal do 8 smelts as well.



Now, after the log is smelted down you'll get the charcoal, but only 1? Not enough!



Now, charcoal can make torches, so prepare to begin lighting up your mining base. I added a door for extra security and a little roof to where my steps are.



Now, for the fun part, you'll need plenty of dirt and a few pickaxes for this step. Start digging down 3 blocks, then dig 2 blocks in front of you into the wall and then 3 blocks down and keep repeating, no need for ladders as the dirt will be used for this later. Make sure to ONLY DIG DOWN 3 and NEVER be in the hole while you're digging which is why I dig 2 in front then 3 down instead of digging straight down, so if I fall and die I can drop down into the holes straight to my spot of death without the hassle of ladders or excess crafting.To get back up out of these holes just fill in the spots with 2 dirt and jump up the last part, shouldn't take too much dirt to do this step, though it's best to have a decent amount.



Now, you can't see if but I've hit the bedrock level now, and this is where I'll start digging around for ores, pretty much you'll wanna be above the bedrock by one block and still watch out for lava, but digging a room like the one shown is a good method for getting ores without the hassle of mobs, or lava[usually]. Man made mines, are usually better for finding ore as you can control how to shape it compared to natural caves, but it's still good to use natural caves as they lead to early iron ores and coal at the start.



This method has it flaws, which I am still working out but it does make it easy for diamond hunting as you are on the levels for diamonds, not to mention lots of cobblestone for other projects as well.

Hope this helps some people and thanks for reading

-Kehal

I just cut down three tress, and mine to bedrock. Find almost every resource in 1 day.

cool post...we all love diamonds!

Thanks for contributing, this is a fairly simple method of getting to Bedrock, so I would probably recommend this to the newer players of Minecraft.

It's good to members contributing helpful posts like this, keep it up everyone .

-Blizzlock

I did something like this once... i though ahh screw it take nothing but a few tools and basically mined straight down, i was lucky enough not to hit lava or any tunnels ^__^ i wouldnt recommend it if you have stuff worth loosing n_n

Might also be beneficial to know that diamond appears most frequantly at levels 10-15. Also, mining in a fashion of a one by two hole gives the best blocks mined to blocks viewed ratio. Hope it helps!