In Minecraft, pickaxes allow you to mine stone, minerals and many other blocks. As you discover better materials, you will be able to obtain more valuable minerals and break blocks faster. However, your first pickaxe will be the wooden one.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Make a Wooden Pickaxe (Windows or Mac)
Step 1. Cut some trees to get wood
Click on a tree and hold down the left mouse button until it falls down. Repeat until you have all the wood you need.
Step 2. Open the inventory
Press E to do this. Look for the 2x2 crafting grid next to your character image. To its right you can see an arrow pointing to the results box.
Step 3. Turn the wood into planks
Drag at least three blocks of wood to a single square of the 2x2 grid. In the result box you should see some wooden planks. Drag them to inventory.
Step 4. Create a workbench
Drag four wooden planks into the crafting grid, filling it completely. Drag the workbench into one of the slots on the bottom bar.
Step 5. Place the workbench
Click on it in the quick selection bar. Right click anywhere on the terrain to place it.
Step 6. Right click on the workbench
A creation interface will open, with a 3x3 grid.
Step 7. Turn the wooden planks into sticks
Overlap two planks in the crafting area to get wooden sticks. You can do this in your inventory creation grid.
A mistake that beginners often make is to confuse wood with wooden planks. This recipe doesn't work with wooden blocks
Step 8. Build the wooden pickaxe
Right click on the workbench and fill it as follows:
- Fill the entire top row with wooden planks.
- Put a stick in the middle square of the grid.
- Put a second stick in the middle box of the bottom row.
Step 9. Use the pickaxe
Drag the pickaxe into the quick selection bar and click on its icon to equip it. Now you can use it by holding down the right mouse button to break any object. Try breaking stone. You will do much sooner than with your hands and you will get some crushed stone instead of destroying the block.
You can excavate coarse coal (stone with black spots) with the wooden pickaxe. If you tried to dig some raw iron (stone with beige spots) or other more valuable minerals with this pickaxe, you would only destroy those blocks. Read on for recipes for making the most advanced picks
Method 2 of 3: Build a Wooden Pickaxe (Pocket Edition or Console Version)
Step 1. Cut some trees
On consoles, hold down the right trigger or joystick R2 button when facing a tree to turn it into wood. In the Pocket Edition, you just have to keep your finger on the tree. You need at least three wooden blocks.
Step 2. Open the creation grid
All players start with basic crafting skills. Here's how to exploit them:
- Xbox: Press X.
- Playstation: Press Square.
- Xperia Play: Press Select.
- Other Pocket Editions: Press the three dots to open the inventory, then press Craft.
Step 3. Turn the wood into wooden planks
Select the wooden planks recipe and turn all the wood blocks into planks.
If you play on a console, you have the option of using the more advanced creation system found in the computer version of the game. Read the previous section for instructions on how to use that system
Step 4. Create a workbench
Now, select the workbench recipe to turn four boards into a table. This item gives you access to many more recipes.
Step 5. Place the table
You must place the workbench in the game world to access the extended crafting menu.
- Console: Move through the slots of the Quick Select bar with the direction keypad or the L1 button until the desk is equipped. Place it with the left trigger or the L2 button.
- Pocket Edition: Press on the workbench in the quick select bar, then press on the ground to place it.
Step 6. Make sticks
Return to the creation menu. You should see a lot more recipes. Choose the wooden sticks from the Materials tab. You need two wooden planks to make them.
Step 7. Build a wooden pickaxe
Choose the corresponding recipe from the Tools tab. If you have three aces and two sticks in your inventory, you will get a pickaxe.
Step 8. Dig with the pickaxe
Once the pickaxe is equipped from the quick select bar, it should appear in your character's hand. Thanks to it, you can break the stone and get crushed stone and dig up coal. Don't try to break the more valuable minerals without a better pickaxe.
Method 3 of 3: Building Better Pickaxes
Step 1. Build a stone pickaxe
One of the priorities for mining in Minecraft is making a stone pickaxe. Get three blocks of crushed stone with your wooden pickaxe, then select the recipe for the stone one. In the computer version of the game, follow the same recipe as the wooden pickaxe, but replace the planks with crushed stone. Here are the advantages of the stone pickaxe:
- Breaks blocks faster than wooden blocks.
- It lasts longer.
- It can mine raw iron (stone with beige spots) and lapis lazuli (stone with dark blue spots).
Step 2. Make an iron pickaxe
Iron is usually not difficult to find by digging for a few minutes or visiting a small cave. Obtain at least three of these minerals, then turn them into a pickaxe as follows:
- Build a furnace with eight blocks of crushed stone.
- Put raw iron in the upper space of the furnace and some coal or other fuel in the lower one.
- Wait for the furnace to melt the raw iron to obtain ingots.
- Build an iron pickaxe with three ingots and two sticks.
- Iron pickaxes can mine all types of minerals, including gold, red stone, diamonds, and emeralds.
Step 3. Consider the Golden Pickaxes
They are probably the least useful picks, because they are weaker than the iron ones. If you like the way they look, you can dig some raw gold, melt it into ingots and build a pickaxe out of this material. The procedure is identical to that used previously for the iron pickaxe.
Usually, you can find raw gold starting at 32 blocks high from the bottom of the map
Step 4. Build a diamond pickaxe
This material is extremely rare and is found only very deep. If you can find this blue stone, you can build a very strong and very strong pickaxe with three diamonds and two wooden sticks.
