Now to the fire ax, well it's hard to tell how far the blade edge of the fire ax penetrated the safe body in the attack. It looks like around 1/8" (10ga) to me as a rough guess so that would leave another 1/16th of an inch of steel before the safe's interior was finally penetrated.
Based on Sturdy's own photographs (shown again below), I'd say it was much less than that. I'm assuming that was 12 gauge steel shown in their photo. 12 gauge is only 1/10" thick, and you'll notice where there are various axe marks that missed their target. Those marks did not penetrate the steel.
Although the safe in the photo was clearly attacked, if that's all the damage that was done, it was a very quick and unmotivated attack. Not to say that the safe wouldn't have held up to much more abuse, but there simply wasn't much doled out on the safe in the photo.
It looks like the dial was probably hit at least once, but there are no marks on the safe around the dial. The dial probably wasn't even knocked off, as it appears it was removed by whomever had to drill it open. It appears that they may have activated the internal relocker.
The handle has what appears to be 10 or so strikes around it, and the hinge about the same. I don't know if the body was attacked at all, but just looking at the door, you're looking at about a minute worth of beating.
the picture of that safe which you have shown us, do you know if it was repaired and how (a new door or just putty and paint?
Most gun safe manufacturers with the "after burglary" type warranties would probably be willing to replace the safe (or the door) even with this minimal damage. I have replaced safes in homes with similar damage that was paid for with insurance proceeds.
If this was a commercial safe, it would probably be repaired on site due to the minimal damage. There's no structural damage. A new handle, lock, some putty, and some paint and you'd be back in business.
I doubt that Sturdy uses putty.
I've never looked at the Sturdies that I've seen to inspect for putty, because it's not really something I normally look for. However, it is very common on any painted steel item, including safes. It makes for a much smoother painted surface.
I also had one of my welders look at the photo we were discussing using the axe attack. He sees some of the same damage I see on safes, as he does all of the mobile welding for me.
I said earlier that I thought it looked funny, and he had an instant answer for me. He said that it appears to have been hit from both sides. He said the puncture from the fire axe appeared to come from the back side of the sheet towards the camera. He pointed to the edges of the steel that were "pushed" through are visible on the camera side. Some of the metal along the tear is also bent towards the camera side.
Of course if you look on either side of the tear, you can see axe marks that would have been made from the camera side swinging towards the back.
Although I am positive you can still cut through 12 gauge steel with an axe, it sure would be easier being able to weaken it from both sides. Of course you only have access to one side on a safe.