Is there any way to destroy items other than finding lava to throw it into? them 500 tree saplings are getting in my way. I've started digging up patches of dirt to throw trash into which i then wall off again, but it seems tedious (and i wonder if critters will then spawn down there and moan into my ear forever on after.)
Just drop it and walk away. Mob-dropped items disappear after around a quarter of a day-night cycle, as do items dropped on player death. Player discards may last longer, but certainly not more than a full day.
Incidentally, mobs despawn in about the same time, so hostiles won't moan in your walls forever.
Is there any way to find locate iron or diamonds other than blindly digging through thousands (literally!) of stone blocks to clutter your inventory with? (not to mention that it takes out your original few iron/diamond picks in the process).
Diamonds are placed between levels 1 and 16, counting from the lowest level possible. Magma lakes are placed between levels 1 and 10. So digging minimal-dimension straight corridors separated by three blocks on level 10 and level 14 is probably the most efficient way to find them. You'll find lots of iron too, so just use iron picks and shovels.
There are youtube videos that explain this better. Search on
minecraft diamonds.
Either take along some chests for the
spoil, or just abandon it and let it despawn.
There's visualizer programs. I especially like one called
Minecraft X-ray. It can see through walls, and can be set to highlight certain types of blocks, like iron, diamond, clay, or pumpkins.