Pickaxe

Pickaxes are one of the most commonly used tools in the game, being required to mine all ores and many other types of blocks. 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 pickaxe or better, or else the player will harvest no ore. Different pickaxes also mine many materials at different speeds (see the Speed and durability table below).

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

Natural occurrence


Iron pickaxes can spawn inside chests in Abandoned Mine Shafts, Strongholds, or a Village's blacksmith.

Usage
The pickaxe is used in the game to mine blocks. A pickaxe is the most important tool to go further in the game of Minecraft being almost impossible to complete the game without using it. Blocks minable by the pickaxe are listed in the table below.

The pickaxe does one full heart less damage to mobs than the sword of the same material.

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

Speed and durability
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 a tool made from that material.
 * A yellow background indicates that the block cannot be harvested with any tool.
 * A blue background indicates that the block can only be harvested with a tool that has the silk touch enchantment.

Trivia

 * Foam Iron pickaxes are official Minecraft merchandise.
 * It is sometimes possible to complete the game without using it, e.g. by using TNT and creepers for mining (and perhaps getting iron by killing golems), and making the nether portal by casting it in place; but doing all that without using the pickaxe to mine anything, and finding a stronghold without it, is extremely tedious and remarkably dangerous due to limited resources. Some players take this as a challenge to their knowledge of alternative ways to advance in-game.
 * In the game Naughty Bear: Panic in Paradise, you can buy a diamond pickaxe which, according to the game, is made by Kick it up a Notch Pickaxes, refering to Notch.
 * In the game Skyrim you can find, as an easter-egg, a pickaxe named: Notched Pickaxe.
 * In the game Offensive Combat, a stone pickaxe can be used as a melee weapon with the name of "The Notch Carver".