Pickaxe for hard ground
Updated: October 2026
The spade bounced on drought-baked clay, flint and a few old bricks, and a neighbour has said you need a pickaxe. A pickaxe for hard ground can be the right next tool, and the wrong one if you heard concrete or if a cable runs under that crust. On the [pickaxe comparison](/hub/digging-tools/pickaxe) the matching full-size listing is the Roughneck ROU64352 at about £27.29, 4.8 from 597 reviews. Peter F. used the stored amazon.co.uk reviews and UK guides that split 5 lb from 7 lb, in October 2026. There was no lab test. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
The spade bounced on drought-baked clay, flint and a few old bricks, and a neighbour has said you need a pickaxe.
The spade bounced on drought-baked clay, flint and a few old bricks, and a neighbour has said you need a pickaxe. A pickaxe for hard ground can be the right next tool, and the wrong one if you heard concrete or if a cable runs under that crust. On the pickaxe comparison the matching full-size listing is the Roughneck ROU64352 at about £27.29, 4.8 from 597 reviews. Peter F. used the stored amazon.co.uk reviews and UK guides that split 5 lb from 7 lb, in October 2026. There was no lab test. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Head | Length | Handle | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Roughneck Roughneck ROU64352 pick axe, 5 lb | Railroad pick | 92.4 cm | Fibreglass | 9.7 | about £27.29 | View offer |
 Mighty Products Mighty Products 5 lb grubbing mattock | Grubbing mattock | 90 cm | Fibreglass | 9.7 | about £34.74 | View offer | |
| Best value |  Draper Draper 83463 mini mattock and pick, 400 g | Mini mattock and pick | 38 cm | Fibreglass | 9.4 | about £16.99 | View offer |
What hard ground means here
Hard ground means the crust a garden spade will not enter. Reviewers write about drought-baked clay, compressed flower-bed soil, flint, buried brick and paving slabs. That is a weekend of breaking and then shovelling, not a demolition job. A marketing line on the Roughneck mentions old concrete. The sample reviews stay with clay, rocks, roots and slabs. Structural concrete, a footing, or a slab you do not own is outside what these listings have shown. Rubble in a garden bed is still a point job if the pieces are bricks, flint and thin broken paving you mean to lift out. It is not a reason to lever the face under a slab and pull. If you are unsure whether you need a point or a grubbing face, that split is pickaxe vs mattock. A cable under hard ground does not become safer because the soil is difficult.
The 5 lb point
The tool that matches the shed-base story is the Roughneck ROU64352. Reviewers broke drought-baked clay where a spade bounced, and they moved rocks, roots, buried bricks and paving slabs. The shaft is fibreglass, about 92 cm, so you need room to swing and enough strength to control it. One reviewer says it is not for someone who is not strong. It is a garden breaker for this kind of ground. It is not a concrete breaker because a different Roughneck, a 7 lb model on a trade site, has a concrete line in its description. The title says 5 lb / 2.27 kg. A specification line says 4.16 kg. Both figures conflict, so neither becomes the mass you quote as settled. Gardens Illustrated and UK Planet Tools both keep 7 lb, about 3.18 kg, for rock, chalk or dense clay when 5 lb is not enough. That class is not in this comparison.
When a hand pick is enough
A border, a raspberry bed or a strip beside a fence can be hard and still be the wrong place for 5 lb. The Draper mini mattock, listed at 400 g and about 38 cm, broke dry clay-heavy ground for a raspberry bed in reviews, at about £16.99, because a full-size mattock was not wanted. A 15 inch tool at about £12.59 cut sun-baked clay in flower beds and was used near a wall where a full swing felt risky. Those are real hard-ground jobs at kneeling scale. They are not the shed base. If you are opening a floor for a shed, a path base or a run of flint, the short arc will exhaust you and still leave the crust. Size is the pickaxe buying guide. The Mighty grubbing mattock is the other full-size option when the hard ground is full of roots as well as clay. One head bent on bamboo.
When to stop
Stop if you do not know what is under the crust. A shed supply, a water pipe or an old armoured cable can sit under exactly the baked strip you want to break. The sequence is on how to use a pickaxe: search, trial hole with an insulated spade, pick only once you are clear. Half-swinging a 5 lb point just to test is the search National Grid tells you not to do. Stop if the pieces you are lifting are a slab, a footing or someone else’s path. The reviews that mention paving slabs are people moving slabs, not bursting reinforced concrete. Break the crust, then shovel. The Roughneck is the listing that matches baked clay and light rubble in this set. The Draper matches a small baked bed. Neither is a breaker for structural concrete, and neither finds a cable.
Common questions
Will a pickaxe break drought-baked clay?
Reviewers of the Roughneck 5 lb pick say it broke drought-baked clay for a shed base after a spade bounced. That is the evidence in this set, at 4.8 from 597 reviews. A 15 inch mattock has done the same job inside a flower bed, not across a shed floor. Clay that still will not move may be the dense case kept for a 7 lb head, which is not sold here.
Is 5 lb enough, or do you need 7 lb?
Gardens Illustrated treats 5 lb as the head for longer work you can still manoeuvre, and 7 lb as more mass. UK Planet Tools points at about 3.18 kg for rock, chalk or dense clay. For a typical baked garden crust, the 5 lb Roughneck is the tool this comparison can actually show you. If you already know you need 7 lb, leave this table. Do not read the 4.16 kg specification line as that heavier head.
Can the Roughneck in this set break concrete?
The listing mentions old concrete. The reviews in the sample do not show structural concrete breaking. They show clay, rocks, roots, bricks and slabs. A trade page for a different Roughneck, about 7 lb, is not a result for ROU64352. Do not buy this 5 lb pick as a concrete breaker.
Will a 15 inch mattock do a shed base?
No. The Draper reviews are small beds, a raspberry row and ground beside a fence. The length is about 38 cm and the mass is 400 g. A shed base is the 90 cm, 5 lb job. The short tool will mark the crust and leave you with it.
What about flint, old brick and paving slabs?
Reviewers used the Roughneck on rocks, buried bricks and paving slabs, and the grubbing mattock on flint before paving. That supports light rubble you can break and lift. It does not support levering a slab out with the adze. If the brick is a footing, stop. If it is loose demolition in a bed, the point is the face that matches the reviews.
What if the hard ground might be over a cable?
Put the pick down. Hard clay does not change the National Grid leaflet: trial holes are an insulated spade or shovel, not a pick. Use the how-to page for that stop, including a service search if the work is planned. None of the star ratings in this set is evidence that a fibreglass handle is safe over a cable.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources and the amazon.co.uk figures stored for this category, checked in October 2026. Shelf prices and star lines are the display figures. A higher score is not a laboratory result, and it is not a mark that the tool is safe near buried cables.
- Roughneck picks and mattocks guide (retrieved 20 October 2026)
- Travis Perkins pick axes and mattocks (retrieved 20 October 2026)
- Wonkee Donkee, mattock heads (retrieved 20 October 2026)
- HSE PUWER overview (retrieved 20 October 2026)
- HSE excavations (retrieved 20 October 2026)
- National Grid avoidance leaflet (retrieved 20 October 2026)
- LSBUD duty to protect (retrieved 20 October 2026)
- Consumer Rights Act 2015 (retrieved 20 October 2026)