Originally posted by Suzaku:

I wouldn't consider requiring half as many hits "slightly decreasing". That means mining twice as fast, which will get you through the bronze age much faster. Agreed that needing a forge to repair is more cumbersome than a basic workbench, but it's worth it in the end.

I understand what you're saying, but I feel like you might be missing a factor or two in your "time-saved" calculations.

The bronze pick requires a third more stamina to swing than the antler pickaxe. The increased stamina cost per swing means you're not actually saving any time by breaking voxels in fewer swings, because you have to stop swinging and regenerate your stamina more often.

Repairing the bronze pick requires a forge, and building a forge on-site requires some not-inconsequential prep work; a forge costs coal (the kiln requires surtling cores) and refined copper (the smelter also requires surtling cores, as well as needing coal). Building a forge also requires a workbench, and actually using the forge requires that it have a roof. Given all that work, you probably want to just "pop back home" to repair your bronze pick.

If you're going home to repair your pick because you can't repair it on-site without spending half an hour setting up the facilities to do that... you're not actually saving any time there, either. If we're being entirely honest, you can probably mine half the copper deposit with the antler pick in the time spent either traveling back and forth to the nearest forge to repair the bronze pick, or setting up a forge nearby so you don't have to make the trip home.

If you're burning half the time necessary to use the antler pick to mine the deposit with the additional time required to repair the bronze pick, then the benefit of chopping the copper in half the swings is negated... and having to stop to "catch your breath" more often means that using the bronze pick is actually slower than using the "inferior" tool.

It's my impression that the bronze pick exists solely as a means of acquiring a pick without having to kill Eikthyr first (assuming you can bait trolls into "mining" tin and copper for you)... and the benefit is outweighed by the drawbacks.

TL;DR: It's faster and easier to just use the antler pick.