Extreme Firefighter Pocket Knife Set (Set of 2)

The old adage "You get what you pay for" holds true here. These knives were inexpensive, and I figured I could use a beater knife on duty to leave on my turnout gear so I thought I'd give these a try. Unfortunately, these are largely non functional. The materials themselves are of decent quality. It is mostly heavy metal construction, given the knife a solid heft. The steel takes an edge well and holds it fairly well for a $10 knife. While there is little flex in the models I received the entire blade rests on its hinge meaning that under stress the blade receives no support from the liners. Unfortunately this is where the good news ends. These knives have poor quality control. Tolerances are awful. First up is the clip. The two models I received both had very loose clips, to the point of not being functional. Multiple times the knife would come off my turnout gear, often with the blade open. Picking up your gear off the ground can result in knife spinning through the air with the blade open. That permanently retired both of mine from any service beyond sitting in a drawer. The other person I know who ordered these same knives showed me one of his, the clip seemed significantly sturdier. Again, quality control seems to be a huge issue. I had the chance to test two features of these knives at a vehicle extrication course. Depending on how the knife was fused together, the seatbelt cutter's blade (which is actually a part of the liner) can either be partially exposed or not exposed at all. Both knives I received did not have the blades exposed. Someone I know who ordered a set only had one with the blade exposed. The point of a seatbelt cutter is so you can quickly and easily slice through a seatbelt or webbing material without danger of damaging anything nearby. Unfortunately with these cutters, it is neither quick nor easy. One must fumble with holding the seatbelt steady and rigid while slicing to even hope to cut the seatbelt. If you do manage, it results in a messy cut that required a lot of effort and time. Forget trying to use the seatbelt cutter under distress, which is the whole point. I would under no circumstance attempt to cut a seatbelt with this knife using anything other than the primary blade in real use. It is essentially a useless feature. Lastly, and sadly this is an issue with design and not quality control, is the glass breaker. It doesn't work, at all. Glass breakers are supposed to have a sharp point made of a very hard material. Unfortunately the glass breaker on this knife is neither sharp nor hard. When first attempting to break the safety glass on the side of a van, I used the force typically required with most glass breakers. This did nothing, I proceeded to hit the glass progressively harder until it was clear this glass breaker had no chance of working. The force the window was being hit with was such that the glass was chipping and cratering where the knife was contacting it and yet no shattering occured. The impact of these hits was enough to flatten the tip of the glass breaker. This means under use the tip quickly goes from having a very small chance of working to essentially no chance of working. I should remind you that I was performing this in full protective turnout gear with less fear of breaking glass than a civilian would so I was able to hit the glass with a lot of force. A real glass breaker, however, should be capable of shattering safety glass with minimal force. Unlike these knives, the other equipment we had that day that featured glass breakers and seatbelt cutters worked flawlessly. Ultimately you have a mediocre knife with two features that are not only non functional but would probably put the user at risk. Not only by assuming to have capabilities they don't, but actually trying to use the seatbelt cutter and glass breaker in a real emergency would probably do more harm than good. If you are looking for an inexpensive beater knife, look elsewhere for one that attempts to do one thing well (***** series comes to mind) than one that does several things poorly or not at all. Even as a knife and even at this price you can do better.