How to use a pickaxe
Updated: October 2026
A two-piece fibreglass pick is not ready just because the parts are in the box, and the bed is not clear just because the grass looks empty. How to use a pickaxe starts with whether you should swing at all, then with seating the head so it stays on. The [pickaxe comparison](/hub/digging-tools/pickaxe) is the table if the tool itself is the wrong size. Peter F. followed UK excavation guidance and the stored amazon.co.uk review notes in October 2026. There was no lab test. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
A two-piece fibreglass pick is not ready just because the parts are in the box, and the bed is not clear just because the grass looks empty.
A two-piece fibreglass pick is not ready just because the parts are in the box, and the bed is not clear just because the grass looks empty. How to use a pickaxe starts with whether you should swing at all, then with seating the head so it stays on. The pickaxe comparison is the table if the tool itself is the wrong size. Peter F. followed UK excavation guidance and the stored amazon.co.uk review notes 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, two-piece | 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 |
Before you swing
National Grid’s avoidance leaflet tells people who are looking for a buried cable to dig trial holes with an insulated spade or shovel, using foot pressure, and not to use a pick, a fork or a power tool. The Health and Safety Executive says the same shape of work: locate the service, dig trial holes, and dig alongside a cable rather than onto it. A fibreglass garden handle is not an insulated digging tool. PAS 128 is a survey specification for mapping utilities. It is not a rating for your pick. If this bed is planned work, or you are not sure where the supply runs, use a service search such as LSBUD before you open the ground, then an insulated spade for the trial hole. Put the pick down. PUWER applies when this tool is being used as work equipment. A private border is not a site, and the cable rule does not relax because you are at home. What the point is for, once the ground is clear, is pickaxe for hard ground.
Seat the head
Most of these amazon.co.uk tools arrive in two parts. On a full-size fibreglass shaft, stand the handle upright and strike the butt on a solid floor so the head drops down the eye, then check that it will not twist off in your hand. One Mighty reviewer could not get the shaft into the eye at all and discarded the head. Another grubbing head would not drive fully home, even with a club hammer. If it will not enter, stop. Forcing it with a bigger hammer is how handles split. Short plastic handles in other listings slip, work loose, or need tape. The normal response is to seat, twist, and return the tool if the two parts do not marry. Do not drill a screw into the shaft as the ordinary fix, and do not soak a fibreglass handle hoping it will swell. That swelling trick is for hickory. Which handles are fibreglass is on the pickaxe buying guide.
The swing
Once the head is seated and you are clear of services, let the tool do the work. Let the head fall and slide the upper hand down the shaft as it drops, rather than keeping a stiff grip and shoving. Your feet stay apart, the arc stays in front of you, and nobody stands in that arc. A reviewer of a heavy 5 lb pick called it a proper workout and said it was not for someone who is not strong. On stone, use half swings. A full arc into flint or a buried brick jars the wrists and is how people start to lever. Do not use a mattock as a wrecking bar. The adze is the thin face. It bends, which is what happened to one grubbing head on bamboo roots. Chop, then move the loose spoil with a spade. A 15 inch hand pick is a short, often kneeling stroke of about 400 g to 1.5 lb. You do not get a 90 cm drop. Eye protection is worth wearing when the point meets brick, flint or a slab.
When to stop
Stop when the head twists, walks off, or will not enter the eye. A loose head on the upswing is the failure mode in the short-tool reviews, and a handle end that breaks five minutes into a fence-post hole is a reason to put that shaft down. Stop when you feel yourself prying. Reviewers of the full-size mattocks say hard leverage breaks them. Stop and get a professional when the hole is for a supply, a drain you cannot trace, or ground you do not know. A gardener’s pick does not locate a cable. Clay as a soil, and what a 5 lb point will not break, stays on the hard-ground page.
Common questions
How do you fit the head on a fibreglass handle?
Stand the shaft on a firm floor and strike the butt so the head seats down the eye, then try to twist the head off by hand. That is the check before any swing. If the shaft will not enter the eye, do not force it with a heavier hammer. Short plastic handles that slip after that check belong back in the box.
What if the head keeps falling off?
Reseat it once and test the twist. If it walks off again, the fit is the product. Return it. Drilling a screw into the shaft is not the normal repair, and gaffer tape is a reviewer’s workaround, not a method to copy for a tool you will swing.
Can you use a pick to find a cable?
No. National Grid’s leaflet says trial holes are an insulated spade or shovel, with foot pressure, and not a pick, fork or power tool. Dig alongside a known cable, not onto a guessed line. A fibreglass garden shaft is not that insulated spade. If you are not sure the bed is clear, leave the pick on the path.
When do you stop and call someone?
Call someone when the work is a supply, a drain you cannot trace, or a service search you are not equipped to do. LSBUD is for planned works. HSG47 is the excavation guidance, and PAS 128 is a survey specification, not a pick rating. Also stop, without a call, when the head will not stay on or you have started to lever.
Is a hand pick swung the same way as a 90 cm tool?
The idea is the same and the blow is not. A 38 cm mattock of about 400 g to 1.5 lb is a short, often kneeling stroke. You do not get the drop of a 90 cm, 5 lb shaft, and you should not pretend a dozen short hits equal one. Use it in a border. Use the long tool only where you have room and you can control it.
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)