Originally posted by ling.speed:

Antlers are great for terraforming. Nevermind repair, the stamina cost is lower. For the same reason Bronze Axe is the best one for chopping wood. You get a little more damage with later axes but till mistlands Bronze is all one needs to chop.

For picking actual stone/ore thou, from limited testing its still better to upgrade due to damage increase. Also while mining its usually easier to get resting buff. Not rested, restING , which gives 400% stamina regen while hacking at rocks. This negates the higher stamina cost downside of better picks.

Agreed. For basic utility, the Antler Pickaxe is the GOAT. It does pretty much all you need, with the only difference being if you need a certain other pickaxe in order to mine a certain tier of ore. Yes, there are some effiecency differences, but that means nothing when an Anlter Pickaxe can be repaired by a basic workbench, and all others require a giant set up just to cart around and fix.