Iron Pickaxe — Minecraft item

Overview

An Iron Pickaxe is the tool that opens the game up, because it is the first that can mine diamond, gold, redstone and emerald ore without destroying the drop. Everything else about it is comfortable rather than remarkable — 250 uses, a mining multiplier of 6, one ingot per repair — but that harvest tier is the gate every player passes through. There is a specific, common mistake it prevents: swinging a stone pickaxe at diamond ore loses the diamond permanently, and no amount of Fortune afterwards brings it back. Carry an iron pickaxe on every mining trip from the moment you can, even if you have a diamond one, because 250 uses of cheap iron is a better tool to spend on ordinary stone than 1,561 uses of diamond. Enchantability of 14 is unusually good, better than diamond's 10, which makes an iron pickaxe a sensible Efficiency and Fortune host early on. Its one hard limit is obsidian and ancient debris, which need diamond or better. Iron is the tier where mining stops costing you drops, and that is worth more than any speed number on the page.

Mining diamond, gold, redstone and emerald ore safely, and doing the ordinary stone-and-ore work that would otherwise eat a diamond pickaxe's durability. It is the cheapest tool that never loses a drop.

Iron Pickaxe is one of the 6 variants of this shape in the game. What changes between them is the material, and with it the hardness, the drops, the durability and the recipe — so every figure on this page is this variant's own. Stone Pickaxe is the same shape in a different material.

In Minecraft, Iron Pickaxe is a tool item. Expect 250 uses before it breaks. Repair it on an anvil with Iron Ingot, or combine two damaged copies.

It accepts enchantments at an enchanting table or anvil. Every copy occupies a full inventory slot. It also turns up in chests in Village and Stronghold.

You make it with Iron Ingot and Stick. The one thing it makes is Iron Nugget.

About the iron tool set

How to get it

Craft 1 from 3 Iron Ingots and 2 Sticks. Iron ore is common between Y 15 and Y -24, and 1 ingot on an anvil restores roughly a quarter of the 250 uses.

Tips

Take an iron pickaxe alongside your diamond one and use it for stone; save the diamond for ore and obsidian.
Iron enchants better than diamond at an enchantability of 14, so Fortune III on iron is a real early-game option.
It cannot mine obsidian or ancient debris — those need diamond tier, whatever enchantments you apply.
Read how to mine safely before the first deep trip; the pickaxe is not what kills people.

Damage and attack speed

Iron Pickaxe deals 4 damage per hit and swings 1.2 times a second, which works out at 4.8 damage per second when every swing is fully charged.

A swing that lands before the cooldown bar refills deals a fraction of that, so waiting for the bar is worth more than clicking faster.

That is 5 hits to kill a zombie or a creeper, the same for a skeleton, and 4 hits for a spider.

Properties

Iron Pickaxe lasts 250 uses before it breaks, and Iron Ingot repairs it on an anvil. Two worn copies can also be merged, on an anvil or a grindstone. Unbreaking III roughly quadruples the lifespan, and Mending replaces the repair cost with experience. Its enchantability of 14 decides how good the enchanting table's offers are: the higher the number, the more often a level-30 table offers the top-tier enchantment rather than a weak one. Iron Pickaxe does not stack — each one occupies an inventory slot of its own.

Damage per second: 4.8
Enchantability: 14
Repaired with: Iron Ingot
Category: Tools

How it compares to the rest of the set

Every tier of pickaxe in the game, side by side, so the trade-off is visible in one place: Iron Pickaxe sits 3 of 6.

Gold is the outlier: it enchants better than anything else (enchantability 22) and breaks almost immediately, which is why gold gear is enchanted and then upgraded rather than used.

Item	Durability	Attack damage	Attack speed	Enchantability
Wooden Pickaxe	59	2	1.2	15
Stone Pickaxe	131	3	1.2	5
Iron Pickaxe	250	4	1.2	14
Golden Pickaxe	32	2	1.2	22
Diamond Pickaxe	1,561	5	1.2	10
Netherite Pickaxe	2,031	6	1.2	15

Crafting recipe

Crafting Table

Iron Pickaxe

Found in

Iron Pickaxe is in the loot tables of Village and Stronghold.

Village — Villages generate in five architectural variants — plains, desert, savanna, taiga and snowy — each built from local materials with its own house shapes, and the variant is fixed by the biome of the village centre even if it sprawls across a border.
Stronghold — A sprawling underground maze of stone brick corridors, spiral staircases, storerooms, prison cells and libraries, and the only place the End portal exists.

Used to craft

Iron Pickaxe is an ingredient in 1 recipes, producing Iron Nugget.

Iron Nugget

Enchantments it can take

5 enchantments can be applied to Iron Pickaxe: Efficiency, Fortune, Mending, Silk Touch, and Unbreaking.

Mending is a treasure enchantment and never appears at an enchanting table — they come from loot chests, fishing or villager trades only.

Guides and tools that cover this

Frequently asked questions

How do you make Iron Pickaxe in Minecraft?

Iron Pickaxe is crafted from Iron Ingot and Stick.

What is the stack size of Iron Pickaxe?

Iron Pickaxe does not stack at all. Every one you carry takes an inventory slot of its own, which is the practical limit on how many you take on a trip.

How much damage does Iron Pickaxe do?

4 damage per fully charged hit, at 1.2 attacks per second — 4.8 damage per second. Strength II adds 6 damage on top of that.

How much durability does Iron Pickaxe have?

Iron Pickaxe has 250 durability, and can be repaired on an anvil with Iron Ingot.

Can Iron Pickaxe be enchanted?

Yes — 5 enchantments apply to it, at an enchanting table with fifteen bookshelves, or from an enchanted book on an anvil. Mending is usually the one worth hunting for, because it removes the repair cost entirely.