Editing Pickaxe

{{Short description|T-shaped hand tool used for prying or hand-to-hand combat}}
{{Redirect|Pickhandle|the fish|Pickhandle barracuda}}
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{{Infobox tool
|name=Pickaxe
|image=Pickaxe.jpg
|caption=Pickaxe on the ground
|other_name=Pick, pickax
|classification=Digging tool
|types=Railroad pick, miner's pick
|used_with=
|related=[[Mattock]]
}}
[[File:Keilhaue Bergmann Hammer VEB - BKW - GLÜCKAUF -Träger des Vaterländischen VO in Gold - Betrieb im VE BKK Senftenberg - Lupus in Saxonia Bild 00017.jpg|thumb|Ceremony hammer of a miner VEB Kombinat [[Senftenberg]] ([[East Germany|GDR]]) - with honorary uniform]]

A '''pickaxe''', '''pick-axe''', or '''pick''' is a generally T-shaped [[hand tool]] used for [[Leverage (mechanics)|prying]].  Its head is typically metal, attached perpendicularly to a longer handle, traditionally made of wood, occasionally metal, and increasingly fiberglass.

A standard pickaxe, similar to a "[[mattock|pick mattock]]", has a pointed end on one side of its head and a broad flat "axe" blade opposite.  A gradual curve characteristically spans the length of the head.  The next most common configuration features two spikes, one slightly longer than the other.

The pointed end is used both for breaking and prying, the axe for hoeing, skimming, and chopping through roots. 

Developed as [[agricultural]] tools in [[prehistoric]] times, picks have evolved into other tools such as the [[plough]] and the mattock. They also have been used in general construction and [[traditional mining|mining]], and adapted to [[warfare]].

==Etymology==
The [[Oxford Dictionary of English]] states that both ''pick'' and ''pickaxe'' have the same meaning, that being a tool with a long handle at right angles to a curved iron or steel bar with a point at one end and a chisel or point at the other, used for breaking up hard ground or rock.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Soanes|first1=Catherine|last2=Stevenson|first2=Angus|title=Oxford Dictionary of English|date=2006|publisher=Oxford Univ. Press|location=Oxford, New York|isbn=978-0-19-861057-1|page=1330|edition=2. ed. (rev.) / ed. by Catherine Soanes ...}}</ref>

The term ''pickaxe'' is a [[folk etymology]] alteration of [[Middle English]] {{lang|enm|picas}} via [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]] {{lang|xno|piceis}}, [[Old French]] {{lang|fro|pocois}}, and directly from [[Medieval Latin]] {{lang|la|picosa}} {{gloss|pick}}, related to Latin {{lang|la|picus}} {{gloss|woodpecker}}.<ref name="Pickaxe Merriam-Webster">{{MerriamWebsterDictionary|Pickax|access-date=2017-03-03}}</ref><ref name="Pickaxe Etymonline">{{OEtymD|pickaxe}}</ref> Though modern picks usually feature a head with both a pointed end and an [[adze]]-like flattened blade on the other end, current spelling is influenced by ''axe'', and ''pickaxe'', ''pick-axe'', or sometimes just ''pick'' cover any and all versions of the tool.

==History==
In prehistoric times a large shed [[deer]] [[antler]] from a suitable species (e.g. [[red deer]]) was often cut down to its shaft and its lowest [[tine (structural)|tine]] and used as a one-pointed pick,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ingenious.org.uk/See/Tradeandindustry/Handandmachinetools/?target=SeeMedium&ObjectID=%7BB316DA4B-0B90-D31E-C28F-94EC504B8D04%7D&viewby=images|title=Deer-antler pick, used in flint mining from Grimes Graves|publisher=ingenious.org.uk|access-date=6 July 2012}}</ref> and with it sometimes a large animal's [[shoulder blade]] as a crude shovel.
During war in medieval times,  the pickaxe was used as a weapon.

==As a weapon==
[[File:Aa flyingwedge plain.jpg|right|thumb|Illustration of pickaxe handles being combined with riot shields]]

The historic pickaxe was readily adapted to a weapon for hand-to-hand combat in ancient times.  Over the centuries aspects of it were incorporated in various [[battle axe]]s.

A pickaxe handle (sometimes called a "pickhandle" or "pick helve") is sometimes used on its own as a [[Club (weapon)|club]] for bludgeoning.  In ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]'' by [[John Steinbeck]], pick handles were used against migrant farmers, and [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] governor [[Lester Maddox]] famously threatened to use a similar, more slender axe handle to bar [[negro|blacks]] from entering a whites-only restaurant in the heated days of the American civil rights movement of the 1960s.  A pick handle is officially used as a baton in the British Army.{{cn|date=June 2019}}

Pickaxes are commonly carried by [[Pioneer Sergeant|Pioneer Sergeants]] in the [[British Army]].<ref name="Tooth-Oct 2018">{{cite web |last1=Tooth |first1=John-Paul |title=Meet The Pioneer Sergeant: One Of The Few Army Ranks Allowed A Beard On Parade |url=https://www.forces.net/news/meet-pioneer-sergeant-one-few-army-ranks-allowed-beard-parade |website=forces.net |access-date=22 July 2019 |page=1 |format=Web page |date=3 October 2018}}</ref>

A normal pickaxe handle is made of [[Ash tree|ash]] or [[hickory]] wood and is about {{convert|3|ft|cm|abbr=on}} and weighs about {{convert|2.5|lb|kg|abbr=on}}. British Army pickaxe handles must, by regulation, be exactly {{convert|3|ft|cm|abbr=on}} long, for use in measuring in the field.{{cn|date=June 2019}} New variant designs are:
* With a plastic casing on the thick end.
* Made of [[carbon fibre]]{{cn|date=October 2023}}

They are sometimes made with a steel casing on the thick end.

==See also==
* [[Mattock]]
* [[Ice axe]]
* [[Entrenching tool]]

==References==
{{Commons category|Pickaxes}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Garden tools}}
{{Mining equipment}}

[[Category:Hand tools]]
[[Category:Gardening tools]]