I've gone through about 2 to 3 pickaxes and picked up a lot of material but never has it leveled up yet? My profile still says Gathering 0

The 0 means nothing. You need to look at the big bars that fo left to right. That's your skill.

That can be missleading sometimes. There are 2 difference Displays of fishing and gathering. First one is in Main char Profile tab, they can be 0 to 5. That are Bonus Levels, they shorten bait time for fishing and Overall gathering time for mining, lumbering etc. They can be aquired via gear, life Tools, buffood and alchemy potions.  Second one is in lifeskill tab. That are real skill Levels. Different numbers under skilbar are mastery Levels, they are Not implemented yet. 

Another thing, in tooldescription are removed skillrequrements for using. But they are there. Green Tools - novice 5, blue - appretince 5, yellow - skilled 5. Exception are repairable rods, balenos and epheria dont have any requerements, calpheon and Mediah have pretty high ones, professional 5 and artisan 5