This is mostly me being greedy here...

I think what Pickaxes have are pretty much spot on for function with the 3 block and 9 block mining.

Axes though are a bit different. Very rarely will you find a 3x3 area of Wood to mine unless you're mining say a junglewood tree from the top down and I can honestly say that I try to avoid using just the 3x1 upgrade as it tends to make chopping down certain trees awkward unless I want to hold down shift.

I think it would help if the First Axe upgrade was closer to 5x1 or 6x1, but that's mostly a personal preference. It would be about enough to fell a small Oak or a Birch in one chop, but most other trees would still take quite a bit of work.

Similarly, It would be more useful if the second upgrade for Axes were closer to the lines a Treecapitor/Lumber Axe rather than a copy of the Pick's square mining but for wood.