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 (see below on the Speed and Durability table).
Crafting
Pickaxes are crafted using 2 sticks and 3 units of a tool material:
| Ingredients | Input » Output | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Sticks + Wooden Planks or Cobblestone or Iron Ingots or Gold Ingots or Diamond Gems |
Template:Grid/Crafting Table | Required to mine stone-related blocks and ore. |
Speed and Durability
The following table summarizes the speed at which different quality pickaxes perform. Values marked with (*) and highlighted in blue indicate that no resource will be dropped when the block is destroyed by that quality of pickaxe.
| Pickaxes | Bare hands | Wood | Stone | Iron | Gold | Diamond |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Durability | ∞ | 60 | 132 | 251 | 33 | 1562 |
| Smooth Stone | 7.50 sec* | 1.15 sec | 0.60 sec | 0.40 sec | 0.20 sec | 0.30 sec |
| Cobblestone | 10.00 sec* | 1.50 sec | 0.75 sec | 0.50 sec | 0.25 sec | 0.40 sec |
| Coal Ore | 15.00 sec* | 2.25 sec | 1.15 sec | 0.75 sec | 0.40 sec | 0.60 sec |
| Iron Ore | 15.00 sec* | 15.00 sec* | 1.15 sec | 0.75 sec | 15.00 sec* | 0.60 sec |
| Gold Ore | 15.00 sec* | 15.00 sec* | 15.00 sec* | 0.75 sec | 15.00 sec* | 0.60 sec |
| Diamond Ore | 15.00 sec* | 15.00 sec* | 15.00 sec* | 0.75 sec | 15.00 sec* | 0.60 sec |
| Redstone Ore | 15.00 sec* | 15.00 sec* | 15.00 sec* | 4.50 sec | 15.00 sec* | 4.50 sec |
| Lapis Lazuli Ore | 15.00 sec* | 15.00 sec* | 1.15 sec | 0.75 sec | 15.00 sec* | 0.60 sec |
| Iron Block | 25.00 sec* | 25.00 sec* | 1.90 sec | 1.25 sec | 25.00 sec* | 0.95 sec |
| Gold Block | 15.00 sec* | 15.00 sec* | 15.00 sec* | 0.75 sec | 15.00 sec* | 0.60 sec |
| Diamond Block | 25.00 sec* | 25.00 sec* | 25.00 sec* | 1.25 sec | 25.00 sec* | 0.95 sec |
| Lapis Lazuli Block | 15.00 sec* | 15.00 sec* | 1.15 sec | 0.75 sec | 15.00 sec* | 0.60 sec |
| Obsidian | 50.00 sec* | 50.00 sec* | 50.00 sec* | 50.00 sec* | 50.00 sec* | 15.00 sec |
| Cobblestone Stairs | 10.00 sec* | 3.00 sec | 3.00 sec | 3.00 sec | 3.00 sec | 3.00 sec |
| Wooden Stairs | 3.00 sec | 3.00 sec | 3.00 sec | 3.00 sec | 3.00 sec | 3.00 sec |
| Stone Slabs | 10.00 sec* | 1.50 sec | 0.75 sec | 0.50 sec | 0.25 sec | 0.40 sec |
| Furnace | 17.50 sec* | 5.25 sec | 5.25 sec | 5.25 sec | 5.25 sec | 5.25 sec |
| Sandstone | 4.00 sec* | 0.60 sec | 0.30 sec | 0.20 sec | 0.10 sec | 0.15 sec |
| Brick | 10.00 sec* | 3.00 sec | 3.00 sec | 3.00 sec | 3.00 sec | 3.00 sec |
| Netherrack | 0.60 sec | 0.30 sec | 0.15 sec | 0.10 sec | 0.05 sec | 0.10 sec |
Redstone and Obsidian take an unusually long time to harvest because the game does not consider pickaxes to be "good" at mining them; this is probably a bug. The same goes for Furnaces, Stairs and Brick.
Notes
- 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, one only ever needs to have 1 wood pickaxe.
- Since the Beta 1.2 update, tools have increased durability and gold tools destroy blocks faster, making them no longer completely useless.