What a pickaxe does in Minecraft
A pickaxe is the tool you use to mine stone, ores, and most hard blocks in Minecraft. Swing it at the right block and you get the drop. Try to mine those blocks with your hand or the wrong tool and you either get nothing or you waste a lot of time.
Every player crafts a pickaxe within the first few minutes of a new world, usually a wooden one, then trades up through better materials as they gather resources. Picking the right tier matters because the material decides two things: which blocks you can mine at all, and how fast you mine them.
This guide covers all six pickaxe tiers, how to craft each one, what each can mine, how durability works, and the enchantments worth putting on the pickaxe you plan to keep.
The six pickaxe tiers
There are six pickaxe materials, and they sort into a clear ladder. Each step up lets you mine everything the tier below could, plus a few blocks the lower tier couldn’t touch.
| Pickaxe | Mines up to | Durability (uses) | Mining speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wooden | Stone, coal ore, copper ore is blocked | 59 | Slow |
| Stone | Iron ore, copper ore, lapis ore | 131 | Faster |
| Iron | Gold, redstone, diamond, emerald ore | 250 | Fast |
| Golden | Same blocks as wooden | 32 | Very fast |
| Diamond | Obsidian, ancient debris | 1,561 | Very fast |
| Netherite | Obsidian, ancient debris | 2,031 | Fastest |
The golden pickaxe is the odd one out. It mines as fast as diamond, but it can only break the same blocks a wooden pickaxe can, and it breaks after just 32 uses. Most players skip it as a mining tool. Its one real strength is enchanting, which the enchantments section below explains.
How to craft a pickaxe
Every pickaxe uses the same shape: three of the head material across the top row of the crafting grid, then two sticks stacked down the middle column. That gives you one pickaxe.
The head material changes with the tier:
- Wooden pickaxe: three planks of any wood type.
- Stone pickaxe: three cobblestone. Blackstone and cobbled deepslate also work.
- Iron pickaxe: three iron ingots.
- Golden pickaxe: three gold ingots.
- Diamond pickaxe: three diamonds.
The netherite pickaxe is the exception. You don’t craft it from scratch. Instead you take a finished diamond pickaxe to a smithing table, add one netherite ingot and a netherite upgrade smithing template, and the table upgrades the diamond pickaxe into a netherite one. The upgrade keeps any enchantments already on the diamond pickaxe, so enchant first, then upgrade.
What each tier can mine
Mining tier is the part new players trip over most. If your pickaxe is too weak for a block, you’ll mine it, see it break, and get no drop at all. The block vanishes and you get nothing. This catches almost everyone the first time they swing a stone pickaxe at diamond ore.
Here’s the order that matters:
- Wooden and golden pickaxes mine stone, cobblestone, coal ore, and other stone-grade blocks. They cannot mine iron or copper ore.
- A stone pickaxe adds iron ore, copper ore, and lapis lazuli ore.
- An iron pickaxe adds gold ore, redstone ore, diamond ore, and emerald ore.
- A diamond pickaxe adds obsidian, crying obsidian, and ancient debris (the block you smelt into netherite).
- A netherite pickaxe mines the same set as diamond, with more durability and a small speed boost.
So the rule of thumb is simple: you need an iron pickaxe to get your first diamonds, and a diamond pickaxe to start the netherite hunt. There’s no shortcut around those two steps.
Durability and how fast a pickaxe wears out
Each time you mine a block, the pickaxe loses one point of durability. When it runs out, the tool breaks with a snap and disappears from your hand. Mining is the only thing that costs a pickaxe durability; carrying it or holding it costs nothing.
The numbers vary a lot by tier. A wooden pickaxe lasts 59 blocks. A golden one lasts only 32, which is why gold is a poor choice for actual digging. Iron gives you 250, diamond jumps to 1,561, and netherite tops out at 2,031. That gap is the main reason players grind for diamond gear: a single diamond pickaxe outlasts roughly 26 wooden ones.
You can repair a worn pickaxe two ways. Combine two of the same pickaxe on an anvil or in the crafting grid to merge their durability, or use an anvil to repair it with the raw material (iron ingots for an iron pickaxe, diamonds for a diamond one). The Mending enchantment, covered below, repairs the tool automatically as you collect experience.
The best pickaxe enchantments
A pickaxe you plan to keep is worth enchanting. These are the ones that pull their weight:
Efficiency
Efficiency speeds up mining, and it’s the enchantment you’ll feel the most. At Efficiency V on a diamond or netherite pickaxe, stone breaks almost the instant you start. This is the first enchantment most players go for.
Unbreaking
Unbreaking gives each use a chance to not cost durability. At Unbreaking III, a pickaxe lasts several times longer before it breaks. Pair it with a high-durability tier and you’ll rarely think about repairs.
Fortune
Fortune increases the drops you get from many ores. Mine diamond, coal, redstone, lapis, or emerald ore with Fortune III and you’ll often pull double or triple the usual amount. It also boosts raw copper drops. Fortune does nothing for blocks that drop themselves, like stone or obsidian.
Silk Touch
Silk Touch makes a block drop as itself instead of its normal loot. Mine coal ore with Silk Touch and you get the ore block, not coal. It’s the only way to collect things like ore blocks intact, glass, or amethyst clusters. Silk Touch and Fortune can’t share the same pickaxe; you pick one.
Mending
Mending uses the experience you pick up to repair the tool in your hand. On a pickaxe you mine with daily, Mending plus Unbreaking can keep it alive almost forever. This is where the golden pickaxe earns its keep: gold has the highest enchantability of any material, so a golden pickaxe often pulls better enchantments from the table, and a well-enchanted gold pickaxe with Mending sidesteps its terrible base durability.
Tips and common mistakes
A few things that save new players grief:
- Keep a spare pickaxe in your hotbar when you go deep mining. Breaking your only pickaxe next to a vein of diamond ore is a classic mistake.
- Don’t mine diamond, emerald, or other valuable ore with a tier that’s too low. You’ll destroy the block and get nothing. When in doubt, use iron or better.
- Use Silk Touch when you want to move an ore block somewhere else to mine it later with Fortune, which is a common way to multiply diamond yields.
- Don’t waste diamonds on a diamond pickaxe before you have Mending or at least Unbreaking lined up. An unenchanted diamond pickaxe still wears down.
- Bring a water bucket when mining obsidian. The pickaxe handles the block, but obsidian is slow to break and often sits next to lava.
Java and Bedrock differences
Pickaxe crafting, the six tiers, mining levels, and durability values are the same in Java and Bedrock. A diamond pickaxe mines the same blocks and lasts the same 1,561 uses on both. The differences players run into are general enchanting differences, like how enchantments combine on an anvil and the experience cost, rather than anything specific to the pickaxe itself.
Frequently asked questions
What pickaxe do I need to mine diamonds?
An iron pickaxe or better. Wooden, golden, and stone pickaxes will break diamond ore without dropping anything. Iron, diamond, and netherite all work.
Why am I not getting any drops when I mine ore?
Your pickaxe tier is too low for that block. The ore breaks but drops nothing. Step up a tier and try again.
Can I mine obsidian with an iron pickaxe?
No. Obsidian needs a diamond or netherite pickaxe. An iron pickaxe will break the block and leave you with nothing.
How do I get a netherite pickaxe?
Upgrade a diamond pickaxe at a smithing table using a netherite ingot and a netherite upgrade smithing template. You can’t craft one directly.
Should I use Fortune or Silk Touch on my pickaxe?
It depends on the goal. Fortune gives more drops from ore. Silk Touch collects the block itself. Many players keep two pickaxes, one of each, since they can’t go on the same tool.
Is a golden pickaxe worth making?
Not for mining, since it breaks fast and can’t mine iron or better. It’s mainly useful as an enchanting base because gold takes enchantments well, and it works in a pinch for cheap, fast digging through stone.
The pickaxe you actually want to invest enchantments in is iron or diamond, since those are the first two tiers that can reach the ores worth keeping. Get an iron pickaxe to your first diamonds, then build a diamond pickaxe with Efficiency, Unbreaking, and Mending. That combination will carry you for hundreds of hours of mining.