Metallurgy came up because the company said they used 4140 and one fellow said "fancy steel" and the other said "cheap steel". It's not fancy, and its price doesn't have bearing on its effectiveness (though it may have bearing on overall price).
Basically my point was that y'all might have some valid points about the design or whether the marketing is on the silly side or not, but their choice of alloy is very reasonable and commonly chosen for similar tools for good reasons.
The fact that it is impact resistant is exactly why I (and a heck of a lot of other axe-makers) like it for axes. Steel properties are always a balancing act. For the kind of usage I expect my axes to see, I would much rather have something that balances on the tough side than on the edge-holding side. I grew up chopping blackjack oak and mesquite trees, the latter of which involved chopping down into the dirt filled with fist-sized chert rocks to bust up the root balls prior to pouring on diesel in an attempt to kill the ravening hydra-beast-trees. Even when not chopping root balls, every tree in my neck of the woods is hardwood and puts a lot of stress on an edge. I'm not worried about holding a fine edge, I'm worried about the edge not being utterly destroyed. That being said, I've seen 4140 hold a darn good edge through hard usage.
Carry on.
