Yeah I asked stefan the same question when I started playing on this server.. Why axes broke.. because it takes away the entire point of mining since axes are expensive and eat away more than half your profit.. heck, even a titanium axe for like 600 gralat or something would be nice (that doesn't break)
All that work and then your axe breaks so you have to buy another.. apple farming to pie baking is the best way to make money currently.. fishing doesn't come close to the ammount you make in 45 minutes apple pie baking/farming.. go ahead and try it.. fish for an hour and farm/pie bake for an hour.. farming/pie baking will give more. Pearl diving doesn't even make as much as pie baking.. I have tried all the jobs for quite a while and pie baking is the main money maker at the moment.. Although I wish stefan would release high priced items like an unbreakable axe and a fish basket to carry more fish so that the other jobs are actually worth something.. It gets boring farming and pie baking but it just isn't worth the time to even mine/fish.
Oh by the way, what do you guys think about the little character in my signature? It's my beta concept for the online game I am going to create soon.