# How to make a pickaxe in Minecraft

Canonical: https://crafting.recipes/guides/pickaxe

To make a [Wooden Pickaxe](/items/wooden-pickaxe.md), place **three planks across the top row** of a crafting table and **two sticks down the middle**, below the planks. Swap the planks for cobblestone, copper ingots, iron ingots, gold ingots, or diamonds to make the other crafting-table pickaxes. Netherite comes later, by upgrading a diamond pickaxe.

## Craft [Wooden Pickaxe](https://crafting.recipes/items/wooden-pickaxe.md)

Use: [Crafting Table](https://crafting.recipes/items/crafting-table.md).

**Output:** 1 × [Wooden Pickaxe](https://crafting.recipes/items/wooden-pickaxe.md)

### Crafting grid (3 × 3)

```text
+---+---+---+
| A | A | A |
+---+---+---+
|   | B |   |
+---+---+---+
|   | B |   |
+---+---+---+
```

### Ingredients

- **A** — 3 × any of ([Acacia Planks](https://crafting.recipes/items/acacia-planks.md), [Bamboo Planks](https://crafting.recipes/items/bamboo-planks.md), [Birch Planks](https://crafting.recipes/items/birch-planks.md), [Cherry Planks](https://crafting.recipes/items/cherry-planks.md), [Crimson Planks](https://crafting.recipes/items/crimson-planks.md), [Dark Oak Planks](https://crafting.recipes/items/dark-oak-planks.md), [Jungle Planks](https://crafting.recipes/items/jungle-planks.md), [Mangrove Planks](https://crafting.recipes/items/mangrove-planks.md), [Oak Planks](https://crafting.recipes/items/oak-planks.md), [Pale Oak Planks](https://crafting.recipes/items/pale-oak-planks.md), [Spruce Planks](https://crafting.recipes/items/spruce-planks.md), [Warped Planks](https://crafting.recipes/items/warped-planks.md)).
- **B** — 2 × [Stick](https://crafting.recipes/items/stick.md)

## Make your first pickaxe from logs

1. Collect three [Oak Logs](/items/oak-log.md) and turn them into 12 [Oak Planks](/items/oak-planks.md).
2. Use four planks to make a [Crafting Table](/items/crafting-table.md). Place it and open it for the 3 × 3 grid.
3. Place two planks vertically in a crafting grid to make four [Sticks](/items/stick.md).
4. Use three more planks and two of those sticks in the pickaxe pattern above.

You’ll have three planks and two sticks left over. You can use other wood types too. Use planks, not logs, for the pickaxe head. For help with the inventory grid and recipe book, see [how to craft](/guides/crafting.md).

## Choose a pickaxe material

Keep the two sticks and change the three ingredients across the top. Until you reach netherite, each new pickaxe is made from scratch.

| Pickaxe | Head ingredient | What it can mine |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Wooden](/items/wooden-pickaxe.md) | Planks | Collect cobblestone from stone. |
| [Stone](/items/stone-pickaxe.md) | Cobblestone, cobbled deepslate, or blackstone | Collect raw iron from iron ore. |
| [Copper](/items/copper-pickaxe.md) | Copper ingots | Collect raw iron, like stone; cannot collect diamonds. |
| [Iron](/items/iron-pickaxe.md) | Iron ingots | Collect diamonds and redstone. |
| [Golden](/items/golden-pickaxe.md) | Gold ingots | Collect cobblestone, but not iron or diamonds. |
| [Diamond](/items/diamond-pickaxe.md) | Diamonds | Collect obsidian and diamond ore drops. |
| [Netherite](/items/netherite-pickaxe.md) | Upgrade a diamond pickaxe | Collect the same blocks as diamond. |

## Craft [Stone Pickaxe](https://crafting.recipes/items/stone-pickaxe.md)

Use: [Crafting Table](https://crafting.recipes/items/crafting-table.md).

**Output:** 1 × [Stone Pickaxe](https://crafting.recipes/items/stone-pickaxe.md)

### Crafting grid (3 × 3)

```text
+---+---+---+
| A | A | A |
+---+---+---+
|   | B |   |
+---+---+---+
|   | B |   |
+---+---+---+
```

### Ingredients

- **A** — 3 × any of ([Blackstone](https://crafting.recipes/items/blackstone.md), [Cobbled Deepslate](https://crafting.recipes/items/cobbled-deepslate.md), [Cobblestone](https://crafting.recipes/items/cobblestone.md)).
- **B** — 2 × [Stick](https://crafting.recipes/items/stick.md)

To move from stone to iron, mine [Raw Iron](/items/raw-iron.md), smelt it into [Iron Ingots](/items/iron-ingot.md), and craft the new pickaxe. The [smelting guide](/guides/smelting.md) explains which furnace to use. For the final upgrade, follow the [netherite guide](/guides/netherite-upgrade.md).

## Why did the block disappear without dropping anything?

With the wrong pickaxe, you can break an ore block and get nothing back. Use an iron, diamond, or netherite pickaxe for [Diamond Ore](/items/diamond-ore.md); use diamond or netherite for [Obsidian](/items/obsidian.md).

Stone normally drops [Cobblestone](/items/cobblestone.md), not the stone block. [Silk Touch](/enchantments/silk-touch.md) changes certain drops, while [Fortune](/enchantments/fortune.md) can give you more drops from ores such as diamond. You still need the right pickaxe material.

## Why won’t the pickaxe recipe work?

Open the crafting table rather than the small inventory grid. Check that the head materials occupy all three top slots, the sticks occupy the middle and bottom center slots, and the other four slots are empty. A netherite pickaxe has no ordinary three-ingot crafting recipe.