Kickstarting a tough, flexible first responder axe carved from AR400 armor plate

Cory Doctorow 2:20 pm Thu Oct 22, 2015

Peter writes, "We spent the summer doing user-centered design (researching, designing, prototyping and building) around fire-fighting – specifically rural and volunteer first-responder fire fighters."

The result is a new fire-fighting axe that combines 7 disparate tools, reduces weight (from well over 20 pounds of tools to less than 10) and decreases active response times by allowing fire fighters to carry one tool throughout an FGO (Fire Ground Operation) rather than having to head back to their truck to get different tools.

We are calling it the FROST (First Responder On Scene Tools) Axe. It's tough (built from a single piece of AR400 armor plate), made in the USA (in our tiny little factory in the SODO neighborhood of Seattle) and we think it has a certain look to it as well. You may well love this axe even if you don't happen to be an active duty firefighter.

Though all Kickstarters are a crapshoot — that is, you might get nothing for your money — I've known Peter for a long time and he's a get-er-done-er. Pledge $50 and they'll donate an axe to a fire department; $295 gets you your own axe.

FROST Axe (First Responder On Scene Tools) [Peter Biddle/Kickstarter]

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