Efficiency enchanted pickaxe's obliterate dirt. Thoughts?

[TheYaMeZ]

I've always thought it strange that once you get a diamond pickaxe with any level of efficiency, it seems to destroy dirt faster than a mattock, which is designed for it. For a while I thought it was a vanilla bug until today where I read on the wiki "The speed increase applies to blocks that the tool is appropriate for and those that can be mined by hand."

That fact combined with how easy it is to obtain an efficiency enchantment means diamond shovels are pretty much useless once you've gotten to that stage. Does anyone know if the penalty for using a tool on the wrong block still exists? Does the pickaxe suffer two usages everytime it breaks dirt?

Apologies for the rant, just wanted to get that out of my system and hear what other people thought.

[FaceFoiled]

I'm fairly sure your pick takes more damage from digging dirt, as opposed to rock. In addition, a shovel is far cheaper in terms of materials (1 diamond, as opposed to 3).

[Husbag3]

I'm fairly sure your pick takes more damage from digging dirt, as opposed to rock. In addition, a shovel is far cheaper in terms of materials (1 diamond, as opposed to 3).

JL2579 busted that myth, it only counts for 2 uses on a sword when breaking blocks. All other tools only take 1 damage.

[DaveYanakov]

Diamonds cannot be easily recycled like a mattock can. Why would you want to use 75% of a lens to harvest dirt though?