Talk:Pickaxe

Gold Pixaxe - Useless?
Is there any reason to ever make a gold pickaxe? Its durability is nearly half that of a wood one, and there are a good many blocks that it can't mine at all. All of the blocks that can't be mined with a gold pickaxe (with one exception, obsidian, which is diamond only) can be mined with an iron pickaxe. I just found this odd and was wondering if there's an explanation. Superfield 19:07, 9 February 2011 (UTC)


 * All gold tools are remarkably less useful. As of a recent update, though, they do perform their respective actions faster than even their diamond counterparts. Overall, gold is better just used as a decoration. Also, gold pickaxes can't mine on equal level with a iron, or even stone for that matter. It can only mine smooth stone, cobblestone, and coal. -Lucien 19:20, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Only useful on servers which have a plugin that sets tools as infinite durability, or when inventory editing, giving yourself stacked golden pickaxes... Calinou 16:45, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Just fyi: The time it takes to dig for the 3 gold divided by the number of uses equals about 94 seconds per broken block! So crafting the gold tools takes effectively more time than destroying obsidian by hand (50 s) (if you don't happen to have tons of useless gold lying around anyway). They might also come in handy where the digging has to be really quick and preparation time doesnt matter, like breaking into an enemy base or digging right below a lava lake.Pystro 23:56, 31 May 2011 (UTC)

I have to say that Gold tools/Armor has irony written all over it. Well...isn't gold supposed to be hard? Well, yeah, I heard of some Gold Bricks being fragile in real life banks. But still, If you have Mo' Creatures Mod, They will come handy in killing Werewolves, as they can only be hurt if Gold Tools are smashed rapidly on their furry skulls.BlockBarracade 20:35, 18 August 2011 (UTC)
 * No. Gold is not hard.  Gold is extremey soft. 176.11.40.225 11:54, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

The table on this page conflicts with the "gold" article, which states that gold is the fastest mining tool. Can someone who knows for definite what this fact should be correct the requisite page?

Why still a stub?
Hm, could someone tell me how to expand that page? For me it's not that stubby ;) /vote for un-stubbing. -- Vholu 21:07, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

It's no longer a stub ;) Calinou 16:46, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Pickaxes Required?
"Pickaxes are the only technically required wood tools in the game. This is because they can mine stone; a much better tool building material. Therefore, you really only ever need to have 1 wood pickaxe." In my opinion, this statement is untrue. You need not have a pickaxe — you could find a nice cave and block it off with dirt. Dirt doesn't require a pickaxe to mine.
 * That sentence is probably trying to state that, because stone is better than wood and both can be found very easily, you're better off making one wood pickaxe, exhausting it by collecting stone, then only using stone(or better) tools from there on out. Alphap 00:08, 19 February 2011 (UTC)
 * By finding a dungeon near the surface with enough metal in the chests, one can start with a metal pickaxe instead of a wooden one. Shark 05:43, 16 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Or, TNT (Which can be obtained with only a fist) can destroy blocks while turning them into harvestable blocks... that or creeper explosions. Darkid 19:19, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
 * ^ second that. I have successfully used creepers to get both cobblestone AND coal, skipping the need for a wood pickaxe altogether. More convoluted than necessary? Probably. More interesting? certainly. 116.102.19.7 06:23, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Ice
does anyone know the speed of pickaxes breaking ice? Ecreme 18:22, 5 March 2011 (UTC)

Gold Pickaxes
Could the "gold" column be moved to the left of the wood one? In order of, say, ability to sucessfully mine things/durability.

Red/Gray/"*" marking
Whatever these meant is gone... this means we have a wonderfully colored chart which is useless. Could someone figure out what they mean? Darkid 20:56, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Look above the table to see the meaning of those. Shark 05:43, 16 March 2011 (UTC)
 * The explanation is wrong... -- TheKax 14:29, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

Obsidian pickaxe?
Apparently, it's possible to make Obsidian pickaxes by smelting blocks of obsidian in a furnace to get obsidian ingots, then to used to craft obsidian pickaxes (which are tougher than diamond pickaxes).

I think this deserves mention in the pickaxe article. TofuMan 11:12, 29 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I think your trollery deserves it's own troll page for being a troll. No you can't. Darkid 11:15, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

Well excuuuse me for being wrong, but I'm new to Minecraft and I saw it happen in a video on YouTube. It was only afterwards that I was told it must have been a hack, though there was no mention of a hack in the comments I read. How the heck is that trolling? TofuMan 04:54, 2 April 2011 (UTC)

It isn't trolling, but it is definitely idiotic. –The preceding unsigned comment was added by DinoFight (Talk . Please sign your posts with !

I Have Seen Mods that let you do this but it's not in minecraft f'real.

A big correction I made
I don't know who said it or why, but someone had pit under the Speed and Durability chart "Obsidian and Redstone take a long time to harvest because the game does not recognize them as harvestable. This is probably a bug."

Whoever wrote that is wrong and stupid. I deleted it. –The preceding unsigned comment was added by DinoFight (Talk . Please sign your posts with !

Iron block, Glowstone
It is possible to sucessfully extact an iron block using a stone pickaxe. I just did recently. Also, you don't need to take 7.5 seconds to mine Glowstone by hand. By hand, i take about 1.5 second... C ali nou - talk × contribs » 18:27, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

1.9 Prerelease 6 values?
Apparently in 1.9pre6 the mining speed of redstone and obsidian has been sped up. Can someone get the exact values? I have also noticed that Stone Bricks are not included in the table, is it possible that that could be updated?


 * Yeah, the same goes for mob spawners. Jeb changed the values so higher quality picks mine them faster. That table definitely needs an update, but I don't know the exact values. If anyone has obtained the unobfuscated source code of 1.0 or later, they should help out :)

Not required!?!?
how are pickaxes not required to advance further in the game, if the game is called MINEcraft? I don't get it, especially if you were to go to the Nether, which cause you would need a diamond pick, to mine obsidian, and make that into a portal... Someone please change it, it's been there forvever. 184.190.209.208 02:34, 15 November 2011 (UTC)GuyStupois
 * One could find a bucket in a dungeon, then make a nether portal mold. With the bucket fill the mold with lava and turn it into obsidian with water. Also then kill some blazes and endermen with a wooden or iron sword. Activate a end portal, kill the ender dragon and win the game. All this can be done without a pickaxe.--BTH 06:50, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Pickaxe Not Needed to move further into the game?
I noticed that it says that a pickaxe is not required to move on in the game. In fact, the pickaxe is the most needed part of the game. For example, if you found a diamond ore and mined it without a pickaxe then the diamond ore block would be absolutly a waste, due to nothing coming out. There is a rare chance that you might be able to achieve an endgame status without a pickaxe, but you would need an incredible seed. Lets look through an advancement through minecraft without a pickaxe:

FURNACE: The first important item you need a pickaxe to create is a furnace. Perhaps if you found an NPC village with one, you might not need it.

NETHER: To go to the nether, you will need either obsidian (requires diamond pickaxe) or mold it (requires bucket, which requires iron) To get this iron, you might be lucky enough to find it in a ravine, but it is unlikely you would survive long enough to find it. You would also need a flint and steel. This is possible, but it would be difficult to do this if you are not on peaceful.

REDSTONE/LAPIS/IRON/DIAMOND/GOLD: All of these materials require a pickaxe or a lucky seed and a ravine.

GLOWSTONE/NETHERRACK: These useful nether items require a pick.

ENCHANTER: Enchanters are amazing but you cannot make one without obsidian, which requires a diamond pick.

POTIONS: You cannot create potions without cobblestone, which requires a pick.

END: You could technically go to the End without ever creating a pick but it would take a while to mine your way into the fortress (not to mention to prepare for the End)

I have seen the post about how pickaxes are not required to play the game. That is true, if you just want to live in a wooden house and farm. To move on in the game, you require either incredible luck or pickaxes. Even then, you still cannot access all of the game's features. I would not think that the possibility incredible luck would allow you to state that a pickaxe is "Not required to go further in the game." Can I state that "It is not required to walk. Everything you could possibly need or want might fall from the sky and land right next to you." In fact, the pickaxe is the ONLY required tool. All other tools only speed up the process.


 * They don't say that you can experience Minecraft fully without a pickaxe, they say it is still possible to beat it without one, like, a challenge. As for your comments, I would like to remind you that cobblestone, most of the ores, glowstone, netherrack and so on can still be collected without a pickaxe using TNT.


 * The above comment is correct. But to whoever started this section WTH? The section above this has the same topic and you went and created another one. Lol are you high? Or just blind?
 * BTW sign with four of these ~  --BTH 07:08, 23 November 2011 (UTC)


 * You don't necessarily need a pickaxe in order to obtain obsidian. You can mold it with water and lava, and you only need to find 3 iron bars to get that bucket. So the most likely way of not using a pickaxe is to spawn near an NPC Village where you can use one of the houses as shelter, the furnances for smelting, and just go exploring for items. Also, if you kill enough creepers to make some amount of TNT, you can mine using that. "Anything is possible...in Minecraft!" lol had to say it. - Asterick6 23:51, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Faster when further away?
Has any body else noticed that the transition from one block to another is faster when both blocks are at the edge of your reach? I know this is an odd place to ask this, but I found this trick useful when digging a quarry.

Speed when mining
Today I read a lot of code, and this is what I found out (sorry if not too clear):

Base strenght against blocks: Default is 1 Sword is 1.5, 15 against webs

Axe is efficient on pumpkin, lantern, and blocks with material wood. Picks are efficient on ice, rails, and blocks with material rock or iron. Shovel is efficient on grass, dirt, sand, gravel, snow, snow block, clay, farmland, slow sand and mycelium. Efficient is 2 for wooden tool, 4 for stone, 6 for iron, 8 for diamond and 12 for gold

Shears is 15 against webs and leaves, 5 against wool

Final strenght against block: if can harvest block and has efficiency, base+1+enchantment^2; if has potion, *(1 +or- (potionlevel+1)/5); if is diving, /5, and if is off ground, /5 (to a total of /25 if swimming inside water)

Final time needed: if can harvest block, 30*block hardness/strength against block, if not, 100*block hardness

You need a delay of 5 between blocks Block    ,Hardness Stone    ,1.5 Grass    ,0.6 Dirt     ,0.5 Cobble   ,2 Planks   ,2 Sand     ,0.5 Gravel   ,0.6 Gold Ore ,3 Iron Ore ,3 Coal Ore ,3 Wood     ,2 Leaves   ,0.2 Sponge   ,0.6 Glass    ,0.3 Lapis Ore ,3 LapisBlock,3 Dispenser ,3.5 Sandstone ,0.8 Note Block,0.8 Bed      ,0.2 Rail     ,0.7 Web      ,4 Wool     ,0.8 Gold Block,3 Iron Block,5 Slabs    ,2 Brick    ,2 Bookshelf ,1.5 MossyCobbl,2 Obsidian ,50 Spawner  ,5 Chest    ,2.5 DiamondOre,3 DiamondBlo,5 Workbench ,2.5 Farmland ,0.6 Furnace  ,3.5 Sign     ,1 Wood Door ,3 Ladder   ,0.4 Rail     ,0.7 Lever    ,0.5 PressurePl,0.5 Iron Door ,5 RedstoneOr,5 GlowRedsOr,3 Button   ,0.5 Snow     ,0.1 Ice      ,0.5 Snow Block,0.2 Cactus   ,0.4 Clay     ,0.6 Jukebox  ,2 Fence    ,2 Pumpkin  ,1 Netherrack,0.4 Slow Sand ,0.5 Glowstone ,0.3 Lantern  ,1 Cake     ,0.5 Hatch    ,3 Silverfish,0.75 StoneBrick,1.5 Mush Block,0.2 Iron Bar ,5 Glass Pane,0.3 Melon    ,1 Vine     ,0.2 Fence Gate,2 Mycelium ,0.6 NetherBric,2 NetherFenc,2 EnchantTab,5 PotionStan,0.5 Cauldron ,2 End Stone ,3 Ender Egg ,3 Piston   ,0.5 However I'm not sure on what is the unit on the final time.

All data from MCP 201.21.65.90 15:11, 19 December 2011 (UTC)Lebossle

the weak pickaxe
A wooden pickaxe cant mine iron but it can get stone witch can get iron.

From Yilante: yeah, I tend to use-up my wooden, then iron, etc.; here's something I submitted, use the information if you like, in the main wiki information Page.

"A rule of thumb for when to use the second-highest, Iron pick, to mine greater than-it ores, is "DGR" ("digger") : or "DiGoRe," that is to use at least Iron for mining Diamond, Gold, and /or Redstone. Diamond picks will even (slowly) mine Obsidian."

Digger is easy to remember for me, since before I can mine, I often have to dig, first (if only a hidey-hole for the night, in Survival), and so I consider myself a digger before miner, even if I use the pick more, and so in #2 slot, while shovel in #3. I also only use Iron for Ores that have to have an Iron Pick to mine, them: so mine last almost-forever. I burn the cobblestone, but I get lots-extra of that, most-often from mining the edges around the same "DGR," but also Lapis (so all but Coal and Obsidian) Ores. I even save on using a Diamond pickaxe (Diamonds can be hard to find, sometimes), by making at least 10 Iron Buckets, filling them with Lava Spring Blocks from a pond or deep lake (like even in the Nether, if only I could live that long), and make a "frame" using a non-flammable block, an extra-frame for the Water-pouring (the 11th Bucket), which I do with each Lava layer, and "cast" my Nether portal(s). Makes my Diamond Picks always last longer than anything else (until suddenly-lost, of course). -Yilante, May 9th, 2012 (using 1.2.5).

I could swear I edited-in Emerald, for the "E," in "DiGoRE," also alphabetically, again: "DEGR," ah well Wiki edits that stay the same seem to be Random. Yilante 10 /19 /2012 12:33 pm 98.248.218.170 19:34, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

Block 97
According to the 1.1 source, block 97 (silverfish) is made of the same material as clay. This suggests that it can be broken fastest with a shovel, and would explain why all pickaxes take just as long as breaking it by hand. Can anyone test this in-game? -- Orthotope 08:12, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

Mining times
The chart of how long it takes to time is WAAAAY outdated. Even since 1.0, bricks, nether bricks, iron doors, furnaces, dispensers, etc, do NOT take 3 seconds on all tiers, they all have proper speeds now. It needs major going-through. Funky3000 01:04, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

XBOX Update
I heard about MC through XBOX360 and I have recently started playing the original version for PC/Mac. Will there be an update to transfer game saves from PC/Mac to XBOX360 and vice versa?

No. Never. That is near impossible and MC xbox is developed by a different team anyway. Plus the versions don't match. Enjoy new worlds. Each new world is new adventure that can be played new ways with new buildings. Enjoy it. ~Martian712

Mining Ice
In some recent snapshots you can mine ice if the tool you are using has a silk touch enchantment. Is this still in the most recent snapshot? Bluswimmer 12:20, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

Mining times table
The Mining times table made me cringe. Firstly, minecraft only updates once per tick(0.05 seconds), therefore all mining times should be rounded up to the nearest 0.05 second interval. Secondly, obsidian takes 9.4 seconds to mine with a diamond pickaxe, not 10 seconds. Thirdly, why was the tool that was the fastest unhighlighted? Im restoring the old table(before July 7).Terzake 14:36, 21 July 2012 (UTC)


 * It really didn't take much effort to correct the table. As you mention, numbers just needed to be rounded up, and in one case corrected. The version you reverted to was missing a number of blocks and was less well formatted. As for highlighting the fastest tool, I don't see any point to it. It's always gold if it can harvest the block, otherwise diamond. -- Orthotope 08:33, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

Pickaxe attack power?
I know that pickaxes aren't as strong as swords on the attack power, but I do know that they're stronger than your fists. How much damage does each pickaxe do? BrawlerJesse 00:50, 16 April 2013 (UTC)BrawlerJesse


 * Two points (one full heart) less than a sword of the same material. See Damage. -- Orthotope 02:36, 16 April 2013 (UTC)