I've got some TNT and a way to set it off, but I'm scared I might destroy precious minerals like diamonds, redstone or gold. Is there a way to set it off, but in a safe way? I know water stops it but then the TNT wouldn't do anything.
Minecraft TNT Mining
minecraft-java-edition
Related Solutions
Unfortunately on a server where there are no rules against griefing and everything is destroyable, there is no foolproof way to "trap" enemy players.
- Any redstone contraption can easily be avoided, as it requires stepping on a pressure plate which can be seen by anyone looking for them.
Traps in pitch black can easily be avoided by small investments in torches by an opposing player.
Any wall can be tunneled through.
Aside from triggering redstone traps, the environment won't "update" in response to a player, thus any crafty player can avoid all traps with a little resources.
The best way to keep your stuff secure is to hide it. The best way to do this is to use a servers /home and /sethome commands. Simply go deep into the wilderness. Dig deep into the ground and ideally try to find a naturally occurring lava source. Replace the blocks above you and put your chest inside the lava source and /sethome. Even players using x-ray tools will only see the natural lava source (torches are a dead giveaway of a base) and won't be able to see the chest.
TL;DR: Bases can not be secure, and hiding is difficult from x-raying players. Put a chest in lava and walk away.
You can put a single bucket of water into a dispenser. When a dispenser "dispenses" an empty bucket, it actually "picks up" a source block in front of it. By putting a single water bucket in a dispenser, when it's activated once it dispenses the water and when it's activated again it removes the water.
You can use this to make a button- or other restone device-triggered "off switch" for a portal. This is a complete reference design:
The trench behind the portal is what keeps the water from flowing everywhere:
To turn it back on, you can build a dispenser with Fire Charges directly against the frame. The Fire Charge goes through the frame, lighting it. The only problem with this is that it consumes a resource that has to be occasionally replenished. Thanks to Resorath for the tip and the video that demonstrates the technique:
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Best Answer
If by a safe way you mean one where the TNT wouldn't destroy valuable resources, then no.
TNT is somewhat impractical for mining, because only about 30%-ish of the destroyed resources actually drop as items (wiki). So if you don't want to risk destroying diamonds and such, don't use TNT — at least when you're deep enough for the resources to occur.