How to Make a Torch in Minecraft Alpha

Approach a tree and hold down the left mouse button to gather wood. If you have an axe in your inventory, equip it using your mouse's scroll wheel to gather wood at a faster rate.

Press "I" to open your inventory and drag your wood blocks from the inventory space to the crafting grid in the upper right corner of the window. Click and drag the resulting wood planks from the output box to your inventory.

Drag the crafted wood planks from your inventory to the crafting grid, placing one or more wood planks in the first and third boxes of the grid. Click and drag the resulting sticks from the output box to your inventory.

Use your scroll wheel to equip your mining pick and locate a coal deposit. Coal deposits are gray blocks with black spots, and are most often found underground in caves or dungeons. Face the coal deposit and hold down your left mouse button to destroy the block and extract the coal.

Press "I" to open your inventory window. Drag at least one piece of coal to the first square of the crafting grid and drag at least one stick to the third square of the grid to craft torches. Click and drag the torches from the output box to your inventory. You will receive four torches for each piece of coal and stick combination in your crafting grid.

Use your scroll wheel to equip torches and right click on any exposed surface to place a torch.