If you can't guess by the name of the game, let me tell you that a pickaxe is the most crucial tool in Minecraft. It helps you explore caves, get useful resources, and collect blocks for all your builds. Moreover, if you are on one of the best Minecraft prison servers, the pickaxe is vital for your survival. So, let's figure out how to make a pickaxe in Minecraft and unlock its true potential.
How to Make a Pickaxe in Minecraft (2023)
We are first going over the basics of a pickaxe before moving on to its crafting process. If you are a beginner in Minecraft, we strongly suggest you explore our guide chronologically instead of skipping to the crafting recipe.
What is a Pickaxe in Minecraft
A pickaxe is easily the most popular and most used tool in Minecraft. You need it to mine ores, stones, and metallic blocks in the game. While its main purpose is to allow you to pick up a selected group of vital blocks, this tool also helps you mine blocks at a faster rate.
Whether you want to top the leaderboard of the best Minecraft survival servers or quickly create a new base, a pickaxe is unmissable. But what matters, even more, is choosing the right pickaxe.
Types of Pickaxe
On the basis of in-game materials, there are 6 types of pickaxes in Minecraft:
- Wood
- Stone
- Iron
- Golden
- Diamond
- Netherite
The speed and durability of a pickaxe depend upon its material. Out of these, the Netherite pickaxe is the strongest and most long-lasting one. Meanwhile, a gold pickaxe is the fastest option in most cases.
You can also divide pickaxes further as enchanted and non enchanted pickaxes. But usually, the base material has a much more significant effect than the enchantments on a tool. So, if you are playing on Minecraft SMP servers, we suggest you target materials like diamonds first instead of enchantments.
How to Find a Pickaxe in Minecraft
There are a bunch of ways to obtain a pickaxe in Minecraft other than crafting one from scratch. The easiest way to get one is by exploring structures including mineshafts, strongholds, villages, End cities, ruined portals, and bastion remnants. All of these structures generate pickaxes in their chests.
On the other hand, you can also trade with toolsmith villagers to get a variety of pickaxes. But you might have to cure a zombie villager first to unlock reliable trades. Not to forget, killing pillagers and vindicators during a raid can also make them drop damaged pickaxes.
Items Required to Make a Pickaxe
A player must collect the following items to make a Pickaxe in Minecraft:
- 2 Sticks
- 3 Pieces of base material
- Diamonds,
- Iron ingots,
- Gold ingots,
- Wooden planks, or
- Stone blocks
- Crafting table
Interestingly, all of the base materials, except gold, are interdependent. You need a wooden pickaxe to get stone, a stone pickaxe to get iron, and an iron pickaxe to get stronger materials. Moreover, you
Meanwhile, you just need to place two wooden planks vertically next to each other in the crafting area to get sticks. This recipe works flawlessly with all types of wood in the game including the new bamboo wood of Minecraft 1.20.
Crafting Recipe of Pickaxe in Minecraft
Once you have all the required ingredients, follow these steps to make a pickaxe in Minecraft:
1. First, completely fill the topmost row of the crafting table with three material items.
2. Then, place a stick in the middle cell of the second and bottommost row. With that, your pickaxe is ready. This crafting recipe works for wood, stone, iron, gold, and diamond pickaxes.
3. Lastly, if you want to create a Netherite pickaxe then you have to rely on a smithing table. In it, you must place a diamond pickaxe along with an upgrade smithing template and Netherite ingot.
How to Repair a Pickaxe in Minecraft
Knowing how to make a pickaxe in Minecraft will unlock a ton of possibilities, but you can’t create a new one every time it breaks. So, follow these steps to repair any pickaxe in Minecraft including diamond and Netherite:
1. First, create an anvil in Minecraft by combining three iron blocks with four iron ingots on the crafting table.
2. Then, place your damaged pickaxe along with its base material it is in the anvil. So, to repair a diamond pickaxe you need to place it with a piece of diamond. Then, the anvil will restore the durability of your tool at the cost of experience levels.
3. Alternatively, you can also combine two damaged pickaxes with each other to get a repaired one. But this method only works if both of the tools are made out of the same material.
Best Pickaxe Enchantments
Now that you know how to make a Pickaxe in Minecraft, let's push it to the next level by giving it special abilities. Here are some of the great enchantments that can make your pickaxes truly powerful:
- Efficiency: Increases the speed by which a pickaxe mines
- Fortune: Improves the chances of getting a rarer drop and increases the number of items dropped
- Silk Touch: Allows you to pick up certain items as themselves instead of their usual mined form
- Unbreaking: Decreases the chances of durability reduction which effectively makes the pickaxe last longer
- Mending: Restores the durability of a pickaxe at the cost of experience points
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I make a Wooden Pickaxe in Minecraft?
You can make a wooden pickaxe by combining two sticks with three planks. The planks can be made out of any type of wood in Minecraft.
Which pickaxe is faster?
A gold pickaxe is the fastest tool to mine any block in Minecraft. But it also has a very low durability which makes it quite ineffective in the long run.
What do you use a pickaxe for in Minecraft?
The pickaxe helps you mine a variety of building and natural blocks in Minecraft. It is important for collecting ores, blocks, and even some utility items.
Can I use a pickaxe as a weapon?
While the pickaxe is a much stronger option than fighting with a fist, it is not the best weapon against most enemies. Instead, you should create a diamond sword in Minecraft and keep it handy even during mining adventures.
Make and Use a Pickaxe in Minecraft
Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned player, knowing how to make a pickaxe in Minecraft can significantly improve your gameplay. But as you will discover, simply mining with a regular pickaxe can get boring over time. So, as soon as you get a chance, make sure to install Forge in Minecraft and use some amazing MC modpacks to upgrade your tools. Doing so will not only give your pickaxe supernatural abilities but also make it more fun. Having said that, it's time to grab your pickaxe and start exploring the vast world of Minecraft!