PICKS-PICKAXE -PICK HANDLES or just plain picks--now once again there are various ways to use the term----like-- pass me the" pick" means you intend to get fair dinkum and use it,if someone says pass me the "pick" please, its means he's a polite newby to the use thereof and your going to see some fun.

Like the shovel the pick is hard yakka until you get into the swing of things, now if i get to choose between a pick and a shovel, as much as i detest both, give me the shovel any day, for its a seat as well as something to lean on when watching others hard at it .

As a seat the pick is useless owing to the fact its pointed one end a wedge shape at the other ( bit hard on the kyber pass) and being curved like a rocking chair is no good to lean against. I have seen men with shoulders as wide as a pick-handle and built to match use words you would not usually use in front of ladies when using a pick on hard ground. --------
THE other weapon of torture the crowbar.

The common crowbar is usually 6 feet in length, thin,wedge shaped at the business end and used by lifting up high and ramming down hard (if the boss is watching) causing a hole in the ground, then by working around the first hole made you enlarge it ,you must remember not to strike twice in the same place for its like lightening --expending energy for nothing.

Once you think you have made an impression a long handled post hole shovel may be used to remove the loose soil (show a bit of effort here to make it look good) now if you only need a hole continue with the crowbar and post hole shovel, if its a trench continue with the pick not too far in from the beginning of the hole we don't want to hurt ourselves do we, I'll give you another clue here-- Never lay a crowbar down on the ground because on a sunny day even though said bar is thin it can soon get bloody hot in a hurry----that from experience.

THE PICKAXE----- though why its called a pickaxe beats me nothing like an axe at all, i reckon it was named by a committee. One pickaxe i have used for many years is stamped on a 26 fluid ounce dark brown bottle full of the amber fluid called beer which i prefer cold, poured into a glass with a nice foamy head on it---lovely stuff after a hard day using a pick.
---------------THEY WERE CALLED THE GOOD OLD DAYS------------------