How to Make a Pickaxe in Minecraft
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Minecraft
How to Make a Pickaxe in Minecraft
Pickaxe Tiers at a Glance
Gold pickaxes are the fastest at mining but have the lowest durability and cannot mine iron or above — they are generally not worth crafting unless you need speed for stone specifically. Always enchant your pickaxe with Efficiency and Unbreaking once you have an enchanting table to dramatically extend its lifespan and mining speed.
FAQ
⚡ Quick Answer
How to Craft Every Pickaxe
Open your crafting table, place 3 planks (or cobblestone, iron ingots, or diamonds) across the top row, then place 2 sticks in the middle and bottom center slots. Drag the pickaxe to your inventory.
1
Open your crafting table to access the 3×3 crafting grid. You cannot make a pickaxe in your 2×2 inventory grid.
2
Place 3 of your chosen material across the entire top row — wood planks, cobblestone, iron ingots, gold ingots, diamonds, or netherite ingots.
3
Place 1 stick in the center of the middle row and 1 stick in the center of the bottom row. The two sticks form the handle below the three material blocks.
4
Drag the pickaxe from the result slot into your inventory. Your first pickaxe should be wooden — craft a stone pickaxe as soon as you mine your first cobblestone from a furnace dig.
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Wooden: mines stone and coal. Weakest tier — replace it with stone the moment you have 3 cobblestone.
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Stone: mines iron ore and lapis. Twice as fast as wood and extremely cheap — keep several in your hotbar early game.
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Iron: mines gold, redstone, and diamonds. This is your workhorse pickaxe for most of the game.
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Diamond: mines obsidian and everything below. Required to build a Nether Portal. Craft one as soon as you have 3 diamonds.
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Netherite: fastest and most durable pickaxe. Upgrade a diamond pickaxe with a netherite ingot on a smithing table — you cannot craft it directly.
Can you make a pickaxe without a crafting table?
No. Pickaxes require a 3×3 crafting grid, which is only available at a crafting table. Your 2×2 inventory grid cannot make them.
What pickaxe do I need to mine diamonds?
You need at least an iron pickaxe to mine diamond ore. A stone or wooden pickaxe will destroy the block without dropping anything.
How do I upgrade a diamond pickaxe to netherite?
Place your diamond pickaxe and a netherite ingot in a smithing table with a netherite upgrade smithing template. You cannot craft a netherite pickaxe from scratch on a crafting table.
What is the best enchantment for a pickaxe?
Efficiency V for speed, Unbreaking III for durability, and Fortune III to multiply ore drops — especially useful when mining diamonds. Silk Touch is also valuable if you want to collect the blocks themselves.