The Pickaxe is the tool that farms every rock you build with and every sulfur ore you blow up a base with. You start with a Stone Pickaxe from spawn, swap to the metal Pickaxe at a Workbench 1, and later grab a Salvaged Icepick or a Jackhammer for speed.
This Rust pickaxe guide covers the exact recipes for the Pickaxe and Stone Pickaxe, how much ore each tool pulls from a stone, metal and sulfur node, how fast they clear it, how the hotspot works, repair and recycle values, where to loot one and when it is worth upgrading.
- What It Is
- Recipes
- Ore per Node
- Every Mining Tool
- Hotspot
- Is It Worth It?
- Repair & Recycle
- Where to Find
- Skins
- Tips
- FAQ
What Is the Pickaxe in Rust?
The Pickaxe is the standard metal mining tool. In the game files it is pickaxe with item ID -1302129395, an Uncommon item that despawns 20 minutes after you drop it. The Stone Pickaxe is its wipe day version, stone.pickaxe with ID 171931394, and it despawns after only 5 minutes. Look up any other short name in our Rust item IDs list.
Both tools mine the three ore nodes (stone, metal and sulfur) and also strip Bradley and helicopter wrecks and the Satellite Crash wreck for HQM, metal fragments and charcoal. As a weapon the Pickaxe hits for 30 damage and the Stone Pickaxe for 17, with x2 on a headshot. That is enough to finish a fresh spawn, but not a tool you want to fight with.
How to Craft a Pickaxe in Rust
- Craft a Stone Pickaxe first. It is a default blueprint, so it crafts from your inventory with 200 wood and 100 stones you can farm with the rock in a couple of minutes.
- Learn the Pickaxe. Put a Pickaxe in a Research Table with 40 scrap, or unlock it on the Workbench 1 branch of the tech tree.
- Stand at a Workbench 1. Our Workbench Level 1 guide covers the 500 wood and 100 metal fragment build.
- Craft it. 100 wood and 125 metal fragments, 30 seconds at a Workbench 1, 15 at a Workbench 2 and 7 at a Workbench 3.
| Stat | Stone Pickaxe | Pickaxe |
|---|---|---|
| Recipe | 200 Wood, 100 Stones | 100 Wood, 125 Metal Fragments |
| Workbench | None (default blueprint) | Level 1 |
| Craft time | 15 s (7 s at WB1, 3 s at WB2/3) | 30 s at WB1, 15 s at WB2, 7 s at WB3 |
| Research | Known from spawn | 40 scrap |
| Damage | 17 | 30 |
| Ore gather damage per hit | 16 | 30 |
| Despawn | 5 minutes | 20 minutes |
| Short name / ID | stone.pickaxe / 171931394 | pickaxe / -1302129395 |
Testing on your own server? Admins can spawn one from the F1 console:
inventory.give pickaxe 1Our Rust admin commands list has every other give and spawn command.
How Much Ore Does a Pickaxe Get per Node?
Every tool from the Pickaxe up takes the full node. Better tools only make it faster, they never make it bigger. The Stone Pickaxe leaves roughly a fifth of every node in the ground.
| Node | Pickaxe / Icepick / Jackhammer | Stone Pickaxe | Lost with stone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stone node | 1,000 stones | ~794 | ~206 stones |
| Metal node | 600 metal ore + 2 HQM ore | ~485 | ~115 metal ore |
| Sulfur node | 300 sulfur ore | ~257 | ~43 sulfur ore |
An Ore Tea raises all of these. With a Pure Ore Tea a Pickaxe pulls about 1,500 stones or 450 sulfur ore from one node, so pair your best pick with your best tea on a sulfur run.
Pickaxe vs Stone Pickaxe vs Salvaged Icepick vs Jackhammer
| Tool | How you get it | Ore gather per hit | Clear a stone node | With hotspot | Full yield? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stone Pickaxe | 200 wood, 100 stones, no bench | 16 | ~25 s | ~11 s | No (~79%) |
| Pickaxe | 100 wood, 125 frags, WB1 | 30 | ~27 s | ~12 s | Yes |
| Salvaged Hammer | 50 frags, 1 metal pipe, WB1 | Stone tool rate | ~20 s | ~9 s | No (~54%) |
| Salvaged Icepick | 1 metal pipe, 5 metal blades, WB2 | 50 | ~14 s | ~8 s | Yes |
| Jackhammer | Loot, or ~150 scrap at Outpost | 25, automatic | ~4 s | ~3 s | Yes |
The Stone Pickaxe swings faster than the metal Pickaxe, which is why its clear time looks the same, but it is pulling about 20% less out of the node in that time. Per second of swinging, the metal Pickaxe is the better tool by a wide margin.
The Salvaged Icepick is the best pick you can craft. It halves the time of the Pickaxe, keeps the full yield and wears far slower, but 5 metal blades are not cheap early in a wipe. The Jackhammer is fastest by far, needs no fuel and refills for free at a workbench. Buy it at the Outpost once you have the scrap.
How the Pickaxe Hotspot Works
Every ore node shows a small glowing spot. A hit on it gathers 150% of a normal swing, and each hit in a row on the next spot builds the bonus up to 300%. Miss once and it resets. The node never gives more in total, you just empty it faster: about 12 seconds with a Pickaxe instead of 27.
The spot is hard to see at night, so carry a torch or a lantern, or mine with the sun behind you. Our stone node guide shows where nodes spawn in each biome.
Is the Metal Pickaxe Worth It?
Yes, as soon as you have a Workbench 1. Using the per-node numbers above, here is what the upgrade earns back over a Stone Pickaxe:
| Farm run | Extra with a Pickaxe | What that buys |
|---|---|---|
| 1 metal node | +115 metal ore | Pays back the 125 frag Pickaxe on its own (ore smelts 1:1) |
| 10 stone nodes | +2,060 stones | Almost 7 stone wall upgrades at 300 stones each |
| 10 sulfur nodes | +430 sulfur ore | About 172 pistol bullets or 130 rifle rounds worth of sulfur |
| 25 sulfur nodes | +1,075 sulfur ore | Half the 2,200 sulfur in one C4 |
On a sulfur farm the gap grows fast: a group that mines 25 sulfur nodes with stone tools has thrown away half a C4. If you are short on metal fragments, smelt the first metal node you hit with the Stone Pickaxe in a furnace and craft the Pickaxe from that.
Pickaxe Repair, Durability and Recycling
A Pickaxe loses roughly 5% condition per node, so a fresh one lasts around 20 full nodes, which is about 20,000 stones or 6,000 sulfur ore. A Salvaged Icepick loses about 1% a node and lasts around 100. Repairs at a Repair Bench cost a little and take 20% off the maximum condition each time.
| Tool | Repair cost | Recycler | Safe zone recycler |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stone Pickaxe | 40 wood, 20 stones | 120 wood, 60 stones | 80 wood, 40 stones |
| Pickaxe | 25 metal fragments, 20 wood | 75 metal fragments, 60 wood | 50 metal fragments, 40 wood |
| Salvaged Icepick | 30 metal fragments, 1 HQM | 3 metal blades, 60% metal pipe | 2 metal blades, 40% metal pipe |
| Jackhammer | Free refill at any workbench | 36 scrap, 3 blades, 60% pipe | 24 scrap, 2 blades, 40% pipe |
A broken Pickaxe in a recycler gives back 60% of what it cost, so do not throw it away at the node. Recycle it at a monument instead of the Outpost for the better rate.
Where to Find a Pickaxe in Rust
- Scientists: regular scientists, including the ones on patrol boats and RHIBs, drop 1 to 2 Pickaxes about 36% of the time.
- Tool crates: the toolbox in junkpiles and monuments rolls a Pickaxe 7.8% of the time, see our Rust loot tables.
- Mine crates and minecarts: about a 7.7% chance of a Stone Pickaxe in the tunnels.
- Outpost: the Tools vending machine sells pickaxes, hatchets, chainsaws and the Jackhammer.
- Salvaged Icepick: rare in loot, around 2% in tool crates and 1.3% in locked crates, so craft it instead.
Pickaxe Skins and Variants
Three variants in the game files are cosmetic replacements that you craft from the same recipe once you own the matching Steam item:
- Concrete Pickaxe (
concretepickaxe): a Stone Pickaxe replacement, 200 wood and 100 stones. - Abyss Metal Pickaxe (
diverpickaxe): a Pickaxe replacement from the Abyss pack, 100 wood and 125 metal fragments at a Workbench 1. - Prototype Pickaxe (
lumberjack.pickaxe): a Pickaxe replacement from the Lumberjack pack, same recipe.
Regular workshop skins for the Pickaxe and Stone Pickaxe are on the Steam market too. See our guide to where to buy Rust skins.
Pickaxe Tips
- Stone Pickaxe in minute one. 200 wood and 100 stones more than doubles what the rock gets from a node. Our Rust beginners guide covers the full wipe day order.
- Metal Pickaxe the moment you place a Workbench 1. The first metal node pays for it.
- Chase the hotspot. It cuts the time per node by more than half.
- Save teas for sulfur. A Pure Ore Tea turns 300 sulfur ore into 450.
- Bring a Jackhammer or Icepick to wrecks. A Pickaxe needs over four minutes on a Bradley wreck, a Jackhammer about 35 seconds.
- Do not melee raid with it. A stone wall soft side eats about 7 Pickaxes, see how to break a stone wall.
- Farm before the force wipe resets it all. Check the Rust force wipe countdown so your sulfur stash gets used before the map resets.
Rust Pickaxe FAQ
How do you craft a pickaxe in Rust?
The Pickaxe crafts at a Workbench 1 from 100 wood and 125 metal fragments in 30 seconds, after you learn it for 40 scrap at a research table. The Stone Pickaxe crafts anywhere from 200 wood and 100 stones and is known from spawn.
How much does a stone pickaxe cost in Rust?
200 wood and 100 stones. It needs no workbench, it is a default blueprint and it takes 15 seconds to craft from your inventory.
Is the pickaxe better than the stone pickaxe?
Yes. Both clear a stone node in about 25 to 27 seconds, but the Pickaxe gets the full node (1,000 stones, 600 metal ore, 300 sulfur ore) while the Stone Pickaxe gets about 794, 485 and 257.
What is the best pickaxe in Rust?
The Jackhammer is the fastest mining tool, clearing a node in a few seconds, but it cannot be crafted. The Salvaged Icepick is the best craftable pick: Workbench 2, 1 metal pipe and 5 metal blades, about 14 seconds a node with the full yield.
How many stones does a pickaxe get from a node?
A full stone node gives 1,000 stones with a Pickaxe, Salvaged Icepick or Jackhammer. A Stone Pickaxe gets about 794. With a Pure Ore Tea a Pickaxe gets about 1,500.
How much scrap is a pickaxe to research?
40 scrap at a research table. The Stone Pickaxe is a default blueprint and needs no research.
How do you repair a pickaxe in Rust?
Put it in a Repair Bench. A Pickaxe costs about 25 metal fragments and 20 wood to repair, and every repair lowers its maximum condition by 20%.
What does a pickaxe recycle into?
75 metal fragments and 60 wood at a normal recycler, or 50 metal fragments and 40 wood at a safe zone recycler.
How much damage does a pickaxe do?
The Pickaxe does 30 damage per hit and the Stone Pickaxe 17, both doubled on a headshot.
Sources
- Facepunch Rust Wiki: Pickaxe
- Facepunch Rust Wiki: Stone Pickaxe
- Facepunch Rust Wiki: Salvaged Icepick
- Facepunch Rust Wiki: Jackhammer
- Rust game files (items.craft.json), recipes, workbench levels and research costs, October 2026