Forward of an email I received this morning:
(Re-printed with permission...)
On a completely different note, I wanted to express my gratitude for the
quality which I've come to expect from your company.
A number of years ago, when I was in The Marine Corps, I was also working
as an EMT. When I first started the job as a paramedic, I noticed that the
senior EMT kept an odd looking knife clipped to his belt. When I asked him
about it and its unusual blade shape, he showed it to me (the Harpy) and
explained that he'd yet to find a better knife for cutting people out of
jammed seatbelt harnesses. Being L.A., a LOT of our calls were to handle
collisions and after the first time fighting with 2.5" nylon seatbelt
webbing, I understood what he meant. Immediately after my first struggle
with a seatbelt in a time-critical situation, I went out and purchased a
Harpy of my own.
I can't even begin to tell you what kind of abuse that poor knife took but
I'll try to give you an example. One time, we were cutting a man out of the
remains of a later-model Honda and the seatbelt was jammed (no surprise
there) so I reached back for my Harpy to cut him out. Hold the blade, flick
the wrist, and the blade was out and ready for use (it's always been a joy
to FLICK open one of your knives). After cutting the man out, I only had the
one hand free to put my knife away (which I'd done countless times
before)... unfortunately, my gloves were dripping with blood and the knife
slipped out of my hand half-closed, bounced off the railing of the overpass
we were working on... and down into heavy traffic. I was horrified! First, I
was worried that it would hit someone's car and they'd freak and cause an
accident. Then I started worrying about MY KNIFE!!! I'd paid quite a bit
(and more than worth the cost) for that little chunk of steel and I hated
the thought of having to replace it only a month after buying it! I watched
as it bounced between cars, get run over twice, and finally settle on the
side of the embankment... out of traffic.
After we'd stabilized the patient, I ran down to see if my knife was
salvageable. To my surprise, other than a few dings in the handle and a
badly bent clip, it was fine! I flicked it open and closed it a couple of
times to make sure that it really was alright... then clipped it back on my
pocket!
That's only one of many incidents in which my poor knife took more abuse
than I'd have preferred, but it's never failed me and I've never had a
problem with the blade, hinge, or lock. As I said before, it was more than
worth every cent I spent on it.
Chul Kim (KChuck)
~~Danelle
