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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteIn vanilla Minecraft, use a grindstone to remove enchantments. It removes every non-curse enchantment from the item at once, destroys those enchantments instead of returning them, and leaves Curse of Binding and Curse of Vanishing intact. Java and Bedrock follow the same core rule.
How to remove enchantments with a grindstone
- Place a grindstone.
- Interact with it: right-click on mouse and keyboard, or use your platform’s normal Use control.
- Put the enchanted item in either input slot.
- Take the result from the output slot.
There is no separate Confirm, Remove, or Disenchant button. The result appears in the grindstone interface after the item is placed correctly.
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This works in both Java Edition and Bedrock Edition. Removing enchantments does not require experience or an anvil payment. The grindstone may return a small amount of experience based on the enchantments it removes; that is reimbursement, not a cost.
What the grindstone removes—and what it does not
| Item enchantment | Result |
|---|---|
| Ordinary, non-curse enchantments | All are removed together and destroyed. |
| Curse of Binding | Remains on the item. |
| Curse of Vanishing | Remains on the item. |
A grindstone has no checklist for selecting individual enchantments. If a sword has several useful enchantments and one unwanted enchantment, vanilla survival cannot remove only the unwanted one. Processing the sword removes all of its removable enchantments.
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A cursed item can therefore still display an enchantment after grinding. That is expected: grindstones do not remove curses.
Curse of Binding and Curse of Vanishing
Curse of Binding is not a grindstone workaround for stuck armor. On worn armor, it remains until the armor breaks, the player dies, or the item is removed through another allowed game-state method.
Curse of Vanishing is also not cleansed or transferred. Its normal effect remains: the item disappears when its holder dies.
Enchanted books
Putting an enchanted book into a grindstone produces a normal, unenchanted book. The enchantment is destroyed; it is not recovered as an enchanted book, scroll, or other item.
Vanilla Minecraft has no survival operation that extracts an enchantment from an item and transfers it to a book. If preserving the enchantment matters, do not grind the item.
Repairing items in a grindstone
Combining two compatible items in the two input slots repairs them and creates a new item, but the result still loses all removable, non-curse enchantments. Repairing this way is therefore not a method to keep enchantments while fixing durability.
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A grindstone also removes the item’s accumulated prior-work penalty—the hidden anvil-work cost that affects later anvil operations and can contribute to the Too Expensive! result. This benefit does not preserve the item’s enchantments.
Why an anvil or enchanting table will not help
- Anvil: An anvil combines items, applies compatible enchanted books, repairs, and renames items. It does not subtract enchantments.
- Enchanting table: An enchanting table creates or changes enchantments on a suitable item; it is not a disenchanting tool. Enchanting a replacement item does not strip an existing one.
- Grindstone: The vanilla survival option for removing non-curse enchantments, but it is all-or-nothing.
See the enchanting mechanics reference for the enchanting-table distinction.
Commands and replacement workarounds
Commands require the appropriate cheats or permissions. Neither edition’s /enchant command removes enchantments; it adds or upgrades them. See the command reference.
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Java Edition
For a simple replacement, replace the item in the main hand with a new unenchanted item:
/item replace entity @s weapon.mainhand with minecraft:diamond_swordThis creates a plain diamond sword in the executor’s main hand. It does not preserve the original item’s durability, custom name, lore, trim, attributes, or other item data. The same pattern can target weapon.offhand, armor.head, armor.chest, armor.legs, or armor.feet. The relevant command is documented in the Java item command reference.
Java item data changed to components beginning with Java Edition 1.20.5. Old tutorials that directly edit the former tag/Enchantments NBT structure may be outdated or fail in component-based versions. More advanced /data solutions must match the exact Java version’s item-data format; a replacement command is safer only when losing the original item data is acceptable.
Bedrock Edition
A basic Bedrock workaround removes one matching sword and gives a new plain sword:
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/give @s diamond_sword 1 0The first command removes one matching diamond sword from the executor’s inventory. The second gives an unenchanted replacement. This is not in-place disenchanting: the original item’s durability, custom name, lore, trim, attributes, and other data are discarded unless deliberately recreated.
Bedrock has no simple vanilla command for removing just one enchantment from the currently held item. For selective or data-preserving changes, use an add-on, script, or external editor rather than treating /enchant as a removal command.
Choosing the right method
- Want a normal unenchanted item and do not need its enchantments? Use a grindstone.
- Want to keep some enchantments? Do not use a grindstone; vanilla survival cannot selectively remove one.
- Want to remove a curse? A grindstone will not do it. Binding and Vanishing remain.
- Want to preserve durability, names, lore, or other data? Avoid simple command replacement and use a version-appropriate data-editing method or an add-on.
- Want the enchantment on a book? Vanilla survival cannot extract it from the item.
Common misconceptions
- “Anvils remove enchantments.” They do not; they preserve or add compatible enchantments.
- “I can click off one enchantment.” Not in vanilla Java or Bedrock. Grindstones remove all non-curse enchantments together.
- “The enchantments go into a book.” They are destroyed. Only some experience may be returned.
- “The grindstone removes curses.” Curse of Binding and Curse of Vanishing remain.
- “The item stays exactly the same.” Grindstones remove removable enchantments and reset prior anvil work; replacement commands can discard much more item data.
Grindstones are available in both editions, and the current vanilla operation remains grindstone-based. The important version qualification applies mainly to advanced Java commands: tutorials written before Java 1.20.5 may use obsolete item-data syntax.
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