Pickaxe

"Pickaxes, or picks, are probably the tool that people use the most in Minecraft. You’ll need one to mine stone and ores, as well as to break objects like furnaces, anvils, and iron bars. It’s often the first tool that people make in the game, out of two sticks and three bits of wood. Don’t pretend the recipe isn’t burnt into your brain."

- Duncan Geere

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.

Unit repair
A pickaxe can be repaired in an anvil by adding units of the tiers' repair material, with each repair material restoring 25% of the pickaxe's maximum durability, rounded down.

Trading
$$, 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.

$$, 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.

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 if barehanded. Pickaxes use 2 durabilities when used as a weapon.

Java Edition
Pickaxes have an attack speed modifier of &minus;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:

Bedrock Editions
$$, pickaxes always attack instantly and do the following damage:

Enchantments
A pickaxe can receive the following enchantments:

Fuel
Wooden pickaxes can be used as a fuel in furnaces, smelting 1 item per pickaxe.

Data values
Pickaxes have an item data field to determine durability and use five different IDs

ID
Pickaxes use their ID to determine their grade.

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 |Vlogger 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.