I think “self rescue” is about being unable to use whatever it was that got you there to get out. If it has a motor and now it’s not on your side anymore, you can be really screwed. Yards become miles. Water stops go from “meh” to “we’re gonna die”.
You can be WITH your truck and still be completely stuck if it’s now a 100 mile walk through the desert to get home.
Good point. But I’m little bewildered as to how an axe can help get a broken down pick-up out from the end of a trail.
By my definition, back-country is wherever a pick-up can’t go in the first place. If you haven’t walked there, you’re still on a road, although perhaps an illegal one created by people such as yourself bashing through forest. The infiltration of 4x4 (and other motorised) vehicles into what was previously wilderness/back-country is a pox.
“Outta my way, Nature!”; Simpson, M.
Yay! Hardened Technobabble!
Wait, sorry. It’s toughened, not “hardened”.
Yay! Toughened Technobabble!
Sure, but on the other hand “we have a video of it doing something awesome…go watch the awesome thing video!”
Ar400 is apparently a quench hardened/tempered plate steel. Designed for abrasion resistance.
https://www.specialtysteel.com/abrasion-resistant-steel-plates-strips/
Typical usages would seem to be the buckets of excavators, plow blades and other high wear applications. Or as the website describes it “AR400, a 200K PSI abrasion resistant steel most often found in cool places like giant drills and bullet proof targets”
In other words it doesn’t sound like a typical tool steel. Nor do the properties I see listed sound like its appropriate for a bladed instrument of any kind.
It has an out of the box Rockwell in the 42 range. Which is barely hard enough to hold an edge any better than a generic hardware store axe.
Decent axes tend to have a Rockwell rating in the 50-56 range. If not higher, for special applications
(carving, some felling axes). And from the looks of it ar400 doesn’t have enough carbon to harden to that range.
Unless these guys are running some sort of different heat treat on it (which isn’t mentioned on the site and would defeat the purpose of selecting a steel defined by its pre-existing heat treat) then yes. It’s likely not hard enough to be dangerous. But it’s also not likely to be a very good Blade. Hard to sharpen (abrasion resistance), low tensile strength (spec sheets contain warnings about using it as structural or load bearing steel). Very low carbon content. Very prone to rust. Probably has good edge retention, provided you don’t dent the edge.
It’s not the sort of thing you should be making cutting implements out of now that I look it up. While it’s gonna be less likely to scratch, fracture or wear down in certain ways. I dunno how it will actually hold up. Or how functional it’ll be once the original edge wears down. It’s industrial low carbon plate. Designed for durability against abrasion and debris strikes.
It would probably make a decent wedge. Dunno about an axe.
I know @Medievalist likes sharp slicy/stabby things.
When I read “axe designed for back-country self-rescue” the first thing I thought of was
It’s a silly toy.
Go get one. Toys are fun.
In general I approve of heavy duty gadgets, if one were actually skilled enough to achieve something worth achieving with them.
Living in an urban environment… it might be a bit overkill for me to lug that thing around on a daily basis though.
I have a spade (‘entrenchment tool’) in my car, and maybe that would like a peer.
You can apparently get a good edge on an Entrenching Tool; sharp enough for decapitation.
I’ve been known to take a forged axe backpacking, which might be a valid indicator of some sort of insanity. .
I like this thing. It reminds me of my Leatherman PSTII, not the perfect tool for any particular job and not entirely comfortable in the hand, but lightweight and capable of doing just about any job, just slightly suboptimally.
I had to look up welding 7075 aluminum, because of course you can. But it turns out it’s not really aluminum, it’s a specialty alloy, and arc welding it will ruin it. I learnt something!
Found President Bush! 
And Vlad Putin too!
Huh. I’ve had one of those for ~20 years. Loves it, I do. Agree about the sub-optimal though 
When I saw, ‘axe designed for back-country self-’, my brain filled in ‘arrest’. In winter, I do carry an axe designed for self-arrest. Mine happens to be one of these. (No affiliation except as a customer,) It’s a very popular choice for a 'basic lightweight piolet for when you’re hiking, not expecting to do technical ice climbing."
ETA: I don’t know WHAT I’d do with the thing in the article. But as long as I don’t have to carry it, have fun.
I think you mean is isn’t the sort of thing you would not be making cutting implements out of.
I’ve never understood why smart people make themselves look that way by using should to throw shade.
In my scouting days, the only person I remember seriously injuring himself was my Scoutmaster, who was splitting firewood and put the axe into his foot.
Actually, I’m not sure if that happened during or before my time (my older brother was in the troop for 3 years before I was) because it became an integral part of troop lore. Fortunately, one thing this Scoutmaster was not lacking in was a sense of self-deprecating humor, so he was just as likely to bring it up as one of the scouts.
Right… But if one were to dig a trench, the decapitation edge would be
completely ruined in no time. So I’d need a digging spade and a slaying
spade obviously.
Or use your slaying spade to threaten someone to dig your hole for you 
… however, starting with sharp edge will make digging that trench a whole lot easier.
Besides, doesn’t everyone include a file in their ETC to sharpen the e-tool?
Well, the last time I dug a hole with that spade was so that a branch could be put deep enough into the earth so that my in-laws’ dog’s leash (plus dog) could be affixed to it… I could have threatened someone to do, it but it would have been seen as rude. Also, I kinda enjoyed doing it myself.
