Mine pickaxes

Pickaxes are tools consisting of two elements: an iron spike-shaped and a wooden handle. The shape and size of the tool depended on the activities performed during its use. The most basic form of this tool is the so-called point chisel - a pickaxe with one blade and a flat head. another interesting example wasthe “shank” - called so exclusively by salt miners. Resembling an ice axe, of various sizes, with one end sharp and the other axe-shaped. They were used to cut cylindrical blocks of salt called “salt-loaves” and to break large lumps of salt. as mining technology developed, pickaxes with interchangeable blades - brokes - appeared. This allowed miners to have a spare in case the blade became blunt or damaged. iron was, and still is, the basic material from which pickaxes are made. Hence the miners who carried out the exploitation were called colliers.