Pickaxe

Pickaxes are one of the most commonly used tools in the game, being required to mine all ores and many other types of block. Different qualities of pickaxe are required to successfully harvest certain ores and blocks. For example, while coal ore 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. Better pickaxes also mine many materials faster (see the Speed and Durability table below).

Uses
The Pickaxe is used in the game to mine blocks. A Pickaxe is not required to go further in the game of Minecraft, only to help you achieve your goals faster. Some Blocks that the Pickaxe can mine, but is not limited to, are:
 * Stone
 * Cobblestone
 * Iron Ore
 * Gold Ore
 * Diamond Ore
 * Redstone Ore
 * Mossy Cobblestone

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

Speed and Durability
The following table shows the time it takes to break each type of block. Values marked with a red background indicate that it cannot be harvested by that quality of tool. (Note that some blocks, like Ice, don't drop anything even when they are "harvested.") If there is no tool that helps speed up mining the block, then the row is marked with a grey background.

Trivia

 * Before Beta 1.2, the pickaxe had less durability and gold pickaxes acted like wooden ones.
 * Notch said pigmen would hold iron pickaxes in the future, alongside Iron Swords.
 * The Pickaxe is featured in the "Time to Mine!" and the "Getting an Upgrade" achievements.
 * Before Beta 1.6.6, Glowstone acted like a glass type block but now it has been changed to a stone type block requiring a pickaxe.