How to Fix an Enchanted or Regular Bow in Minecraft

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A quick guide to repairing any bow in Minecraft to reset its durability

Written by Hannah Dillon

Last Updated: September 5, 2025 Fact Checked

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Repairing a Bow

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Do you have bows you need to fix in Minecraft? When you use a bow and arrow, it loses durability over time. You can use the crafting slots in your Inventory, an Anvil, or a Grindstone to repair it easily. Keep in mind that you must use an Anvil if you want to repair an enchanted bow; this will save any added enchantments. This wikiHow will show you how to repair any bow in Minecraft Survival and Creative mode.

Fixing a Bow in Minecraft

You can use an Anvil, Crafting Table, or Grindstone to repair a bow.
Place two bows in the Anvil, then add the newly repaired bow to your inventory.
You must use an Anvil if you don't want to lose any bow enchantments.

Section 1 of 2:

Repairing a Bow

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Interact with an Anvil. If you don't have an Anvil handy, you can craft one using 3 Iron Blocks and 4 Iron Ingots.^{[1]
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- Alternatively, you can use your Inventory's crafting grid, a Crafting Table, or a Grindstone to repair a bow, but this will remove any enchantments. However, you can always get another enchantment with enchanting books.
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Place two bows in the Anvil. Though it may seem counterproductive, you must use an item of the same type to repair it. If you have two bows with low Durability, they can be used to repair one to like-new condition.
- Bows can be crafted at a Crafting Table with 3 Strings and 3 Sticks.
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Place the repaired bow in your inventory. You'll see the repaired bow on the right side of the menu. Placing it in your inventory will confirm the repair.^{[2]
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- You can now use your repaired bow.

Section 2 of 2:

Frequently Asked Questions

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Can I repair a bow with enchantments? Yes, you can repair a bow that has enchantments. To do this, you must place the enchanted bow in the Anvil with another bow. The second bow doesn't have to be enchanted. When you use the Anvil to combine the two bows, the durability of the bows will be added together, plus an extra 5%.^{[3]
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- If your bow's durability is still low, you can repeat this process with new bows until your enchanted bow is fully repaired.
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Why does it say "Too Expensive!" when trying to repair my bow? If you've repaired or enchanted your bow a lot, you will eventually reach a cap when trying to repair the bow in the Anvil. This cap only exists in Survival mode, not in Creative.^{[4]
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Research source} To get around this error, you can do one of the following:
- Enable cheats, then switch to Creative mode to repair your bow. You can then switch back to Survival mode using cheats.
- Remove the enchantments with a Grindstone, then re-enchant your bow. Avoid enchanting the bow too much, or you'll eventually reach this roadblock again.
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Can I put a Mending enchantment on my bow? Yes, you can put the Mending enchantment on a Minecraft bow. However, Mending (which repairs the bow when getting experience) is not compatible with the Infinity enchantment (which stops the bow from consuming regular arrows). If you have the Infinity enchantment, it's better to choose Unbreaking (which gives a chance to negate lost durability) to help with your bow's durability.^{[5]
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