How do I cause a shovel with Mending to heal itself?

Question

For most of the items, it's fairly obvious how to do this. A pickaxe can be used on blocks that give you experience (coal, redstone, not sure if diamonds do that)... and it will self-heal, supposing it has the Mending enchantment. Swords and axes (and bows) can be used to attack mobs and receive experience that way.

But it looks as if the enchantment works on shovels, shears, and even flint&steel. I can't figure out the mechanism that would allow the enchantment to do anything. Is there some trick to this, or is it just wasted magic?

Vemonus · Accepted Answer

According to the Minecraft Enchanting wikia page:

When an item with the enchantment is held (main hand, offhand, or armor slots), XP orbs collected will repair the item at a rate of 2 durability per XP instead of adding the XP to the player's total. If multiple items have the enchantment, one will be chosen at random for each XP orb collected, and if the chosen item does not need repair, the XP will be added to the player's total as normal, rather than choosing another item to repair.

Thus, it looks like just having your Mending Shovel equipped while gaining EXP orbs will allow it to repair itself.

Jack · Answer

To use mending on a shovel, hold it in your hand or off-hand while getting XP.

How do I cause a shovel with Mending to heal itself?

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