Do carbide glass breakers work well?

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drjones said:
How hard did you have to hit the glass? Car or home glass?
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It wasn't very hard, maybe the force you'd use to rap on a door, tap a nail in, etc. Home glass was actually harder to break than auto glass, I'll never know why, maybe adrenaline, maybe they had thick windows. Just make sure to go for the bottom corner:thumbup:
 
dalee100 said:
Hi,

Doesn't matter, carbide or steel works just fine. Tempered glass is almost as brittle as regular glass. It just breaks in to small "beads" rather than larger shards that can cut or puncture you like a knife. Automatic center punches are steel and are the preferred tool.

If you must try and break glass, please wear safety glasses, long sleeved shirt or coat, and heavy gloves. Stand to the side of the window, and with a hammer type tool, give a quick, sharp blow to the bottom corner. If you are using an auto punch type tool, place it up against the bottom corner and press punch to fire it. In either case, the idea is to drop the pieces straight down and not to have them scattered all over the interior or the patient.

I have a Vic Rescue Tool, (gift from my two youngest Daughters). I carry it in my own personal jump bag. I've tested the tools and they do work. The glass saw will cut safety glass. But as was pointed out by Josh, we use a Sawz-All to cut laminated glass. It's far faster and easier. If we cut the glass, we're probably going to remove the vehicle roof also. So a Sawz-All is better.

dalee
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This whole thread has got me to thinking; I need to go back to my notes and review from our class. I figure I had to have misunderstood what the instructor was saying. From what you guys say, seems like it's an easy thing to break glass with one of the breakers. Can't imagine why the teacher said it was a hard thing to do, unless I'm confusing the different classes. (Wouldn't be the first time. :o )

Either way, I'm going to do some research so I have a little more knowledge of what to do, though I hope I never have to.

thx - cpr
 
So I got the knife and it is ENORMOUS - slightly longer when open than my Strider GB!

I was at a buddy's house last night having a couple beers when an idea popped into my head......and the glass breaker made quick work of that beer bottle.

Still can't wait to find a junk yard though. :D


Do you guys think a pick & pull place would let me shatter a few car windows??
 
Hammer27 said:
It wasn't very hard, maybe the force you'd use to rap on a door, tap a nail in, etc. Home glass was actually harder to break than auto glass, I'll never know why, maybe adrenaline, maybe they had thick windows. Just make sure to go for the bottom corner:thumbup:
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Why the bottom corner?
 
drjones said:
Why the bottom corner?
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I'm not sure but can speculate - firmness, no give, as in no absorption.

All I know is that I was told that was the way to do it and from talking to others, that's it for sure. It just happened to be too late for me ;)

When I tried to bust into my own home on a tempered window I was using a brick and it literally bounced off that window a dozen or more times and I was going harder each time at the center of the window. When it finally gave it exploded EVERYWHERE! ;) Trust me when I say that window did NOT want to break in the middle - I was wailing on it a few times before it exploded.
 
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Hammerhead7050 said:
No ofense, But if it took the guy to Karate chops to break with sharp carbide glass breaker, he either didn't actually hit the glass on the first try with the small peice of carbide, or he was very very weak. Very weak. Like a small child.
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Glass has a 'sweet spot' for breaking - usually it's towards the centre - miss it and it can be embarassing

The benefit of a carbide tip is that it will be much harder than the glass and therefore can come to a small point without deforming and absorbing the force of the blow - in other words, you get more strike energy transferred to the glass and concentrated on one point.
 
drjones said:
Do you guys think a pick & pull place would let me shatter a few car windows??
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Sure, if you buy 'em first. They sell those things, you know.

I had to buy one when somebody broke out my rear window to steal the digital camera I had stupidly left on the back seat. I paid $33 for a used rear window--I doubt if they will just let you break them for kicks when they can sell them.
 
drjones said:
Why the bottom corner?
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Hi,

You break in the bottom corner because the corner has the most support and won't bounce or flex. As Reeek found out, hitting the glass in the center with a brick just caused it flex and bounce the tool away.

Glass breakers work because they concentrate all the force into a very small spot. Carbide isn't needed. A cheap $10 steel automatic center punch is actually the preferred tool. Because it takes so little effort to use. Simple place on glass and press. Even a child can do that.

Truthfully, we very seldom break any glass. It's often already all broken out. And you would be very surprised at how often the doors open just fine. That's called "Try before you pry". In any case, it sucks to have to work in all that broken glass. We don't like it.:)

dalee
 
a little trick for anyone needing to break a car window, using a carbide tipped rescue knife or similar.

us the carbide to first scratch an big X into the glass, then hit dead center of the X. Takes less than 5 seconds to do both. I've broken 1/2" thick safety glass this way (training)

:)
 
To the best of my knowledge in 15 years as a paramedic I can’t recall anyone using a knife for much of anything on a scene, we normally have better tools than a folding knife (not saying they are bad or anything I normally carry two or three everyday.) For example you are sitting in the drivers seat of a car you just wrecked and some stranger is leaning over your loved one with a large, probably razor sharp tactical folder to cut them out of a seatbelt . Maybe a little intimidating.
 
Bs on the bottom corner. You should break glass from top and upwind(if on a building). If you can't, you run the risk of the broken glass falling on you and cutting something it shouldn't.

Cheers, Shane
 
Bushman5 said:
a little trick for anyone needing to break a car window, using a carbide tipped rescue knife or similar.

us the carbide to first scratch an big X into the glass, then hit dead center of the X. Takes less than 5 seconds to do both. I've broken 1/2" thick safety glass this way (training)

:)
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Thanks mate, I got a MOD Mark 1 on the way and this is especially useful :)
 
Ozy said:
I reckon if you hit a window hard enough with the but of a knife its gonna break.
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It's called toughened glass for a reason.
I have broken quite a few (I'm a firefighter). You need a glass punch. The butt of a knife isn't going to do it.

You can buy a ResQMe for $9 that will function flawlessly.
 
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Hi,

The ResQMe is just a key chain sized version of an automatic center punch. It doesn't matter if the point is steel or carbide. It will work very well on automotive glass.

hunter s thompson, I've been a volunteer FF/EMT for about as long. Everyone I work with carries a small to medium folder of some kind. But like you, I've never seen anyone use a knife on scene for anything. I don't want anything long, sharp and pointy next to my patient. Me and the patient are both having a bad enough day at that point.:eek:

Personally, I think knives sold as a "Rescue Knife" are pretty silly. Go ahead and buy the knife because you like it as a knife by all means. Many of them are truly superb knives for hard use. But none of them are really of much use as a rescue tool.

dalee
 
dalee100 said:
I don't want anything long, sharp and pointy next to my patient. Me and the patient are both having a bad enough day at that point.:eek:

Personally, I think knives sold as a "Rescue Knife" are pretty silly.
dalee
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Besides my ResQMe, the only rescue knife I've got is a Spyderco Assist. No pointy blade there: the blunt tip curls around to shield the serrated edge.

Even the glassbreaker retracts into the handle until the closed blade is squeezed to push it out.
 
dalee100 said:
Personally, I think knives sold as a "Rescue Knife" are pretty silly.
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Me too. I used to carry a Spyderco Rescue in my firejacket, but found that a sharp tip would be more useful, so I changed to a Delica.

If you can avoid it, a sharp knife should not be used in stressful situations near people or or animals. Cutting in this situation should be done with EMT shears, Rescue Hooks, or safety blades.
I carry a Benchmade Rescue Hook and ResQMe for this kind of work - and a sharp knife (Benchmade Griptilian or Endura/Delica/Pacific Salt) for everything else.
 
Thanks everyone for making this an extremely interesting thread. Tons of great advice from those with real experience. :)

Preparedness is in my nature and the extremely minute chance of getting trapped in a car for any of a myriad of reasons is the reason I like to have a ridiculously overbuilt knife like a Strider with me.

I used that fear as an excuse to get an MOD CQD Mk1. :D

I thought the seatbelt cutter was a great feature and of course the glass breaker. :)

Looking now at getting a ResQMe for my lady.
 
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