Pickaxe

**Pickaxes** are one of the most commonly used tools in the game, being required to mine all ores, rock, rock-based blocks and metal-based blocks. They allow the player to mine blocks at faster speeds, and the speed increases depending on the material it is made out of.

### Crafting

Pickaxes are crafted using 2 sticks and 3 units of tool material.

3 pieces of Wood Planks + 2 Sticks = Wooden Pickaxe (brown)

3 piece of Stone/Cobblestone + 2 Sticks = Stone Pickaxe (silver)

3 piece of Iron Ingots + 2 Sticks = Iron Pickaxe (white faded into slight grey)

3 pieces of Gold Ingots + 2 Sticks = Golden Pickaxe (yellow with a white shine in the middle)

3 pieces of Diamonds + 2 Sticks = Diamond Pickaxe (turquiose faded into skyblue with a white shine in the middle)

Matching Damaged Pickaxes

The durability of the two pickaxes is added together, plus an extra 5% of the tool type's total durability.

Use Crafting Table to match them

### Trading

In Bedrock Edition, novice-level toolsmith villagers have a 25% chance to sell stone pickaxes for one emerald, Journeyman-level toolsmith villagers have a 25% chance to sell enchanted iron pickaxes for 3 emeralds, and master-level toolsmith villagers always sell enchanted diamond pickaxes for 13 emeralds.

In *Java Edition*, novice-level toolsmith villagers have a 40% chance to sell a stone pickaxe for one emerald, journeyman-level toolsmith villagers have a 40% chance to sell an enchanted iron pickaxe for 7–22 emeralds, and a master-level toolsmith always sells an enchanted diamond pickaxe for 18–35 emeralds.

The enchantments are the same as the ones obtained from an enchantment table at levels 5–19.

## Usage

### Mining

A pickaxe is used to break stone and metal-based materials faster. When a block is broken using a pickaxe, the pickaxe uses 1 durability. For blocks that break instantly, it uses 0 durabilities. Pickaxes have different amounts of uses based on the type:

* Wooden: 59
* Stone: 131
* Iron: 250
* Golden: 32
* Diamond: 1561
* Netherite: 2031

Different qualities of pickaxe are required to successfully harvest certain ores and blocks. For example, while stone can be mined with any pickaxe, gold ore must be mined with an iron, diamond or netherite pickaxe, or else the player harvests no ore. Different pickaxes also mine many materials at different speeds:

#### Speed

The following table shows the time it takes to break each type of block.

* A red background indicates that the block cannot be harvested with that type of pickaxe.
* A yellow background indicates that the block cannot be harvested with that type of pickaxe, but still drops something.
* A green background indicates that the block can be harvested with that type of pickaxe

### Weapon

Hitting a mob with a pickaxe is a stronger attack than using fists. Pickaxes lose 2 durability when used as a weapon.

#### Java Edition

Pickaxes have an attack speed modifier of −2.8, meaning they take about 0.83 seconds to recover. All pickaxes have an attack speed of 1.2 hits per second. They deal different damage based on the type

## Data values

### ID

*Java Edition*:
NameNamespaced IDTranslation key Wooden Pickaxe`wooden_pickaxe item.minecraft.wooden_pickaxe` Stone Pickaxe`stone_pickaxe item.minecraft.stone_pickaxe` Iron Pickaxe`iron_pickaxe item.minecraft.iron_pickaxe` Diamond Pickaxe`diamond_pickaxe item.minecraft.diamond_pickaxe` Golden Pickaxe`golden_pickaxe item.minecraft.golden_pickaxe` Netherite Pickaxe`netherite_pickaxe item.minecraft.netherite_pickaxe`

Please note Netherite Pickaxe is for Bedrock Edition

## Trivia

### Publicity

* Foam stone pickaxes are official *Minecraft* merchandise.
* In the game *Naughty Bear: Panic in Paradise*, the player can buy a diamond pickaxe which, according to the game, is made by "Kick it up a Notch Pickaxes", referring to Notch.
* In mobile game *Go Viral* clicker game, after buying the figurine shelf, there is a model of a diamond pickaxe stuck to a grass block.
* In the game *The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim*, the player can find a pickaxe called the "Notched Pickaxe", evidently an easter egg.
* In the game *Offensive Combat*, a stone pickaxe can be used as a melee weapon with the name of "The Notch Carver".
* In the game *The Binding of Isaac*, an obtainable item named "Notched Axe", also with a drawn 8-bit look, can be used to destroy rocks. The Notched Axe also makes a return in the game's remake, *The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth*.
* In the game *Borderlands 2*, the player can find a secret area hidden away by blocks resembling Minecraft dirt, also once inside the player can fight Creeper and the Mother Creeper to get rare Minecraft-related weapons.
* In the game *Octodad: Dadliest Catch*, the supermarket level has a "Mintcraft" display, an obvious parody of Minecraft, even including toy pickaxes and a creeper head.