Nuts ... the name is Rocksplinter and not splitter, but aye, I have retrieved the notched pickaxe before - but I read about (and heard about it from the NPC) that there exists a unique pickaxe called Rocksplinter, so I just wondered if anyone knew how to get hold of it

"Mining is done by activating an ore vein with a pickaxe in your inventory, or attacking an ore vein with an equipped pickaxe. In addition to standard pickaxes,
Rocksplinter or the Notched Pickaxe can be used to mine ore"
From: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Mining