Surefire pen- glassbreaker info?

mark greenman

mark greenman

Joined
Feb 16, 2007
Messages
662
So, my only interest in carrying a SF pen over, say, a bic, is the glass breaker option.

Does anyone know what the glass breaker is made of?

Have there been any first hand tests done on whether the glass breaker actually works, or works well enough?

Thanks,
Mark
 
I found this review on Google.

http://the-gadgeteer.com/2009/05/15/surefires-nearly-indestructible-pens/

surefire_pen1-3.jpg


What makes SureFire’s Pen I unique is its hardened stainless steel tailcap tip. This tip can break tempered glass….pretty cool. Remember the MythBuster episode where Adam was pretending to be trapped in a vehicle that was sinking underwater and he had to do his best to escape. Well, with this pen you could easily escape a watery grave by using the tip to shatter the car window and swim to safety.
Click to expand...
 
Has anyone ever tried to break a car window with one of these?... especially from the inside where your swing is very limited?

Keep in mind that it's not unusual for a truck to throw a rock (a very hard object often with pointy bits on it) up and back at some speed and then for you to drive into it at seventy miles per hour, a total speed of maybe a hundred MPH, and for that rock to only chip the windshield.

The side windows are usually smaller and less useful for escape/rescue. They are less hardened and easier to break, but still plenty strong. It's not unusual to see very violent crashes afterwhich the side glass is still intact.

And, again, if you are trapped inside the vehicle, your ability to "swing" will be very limited.

I'm also concerned about doing this with a pen which will be right in your hand. I can easily see your hand getting cut to shreds. With a hammer-like tool, your hand is away from the actual impact/break, and your swing is apmplified by the length and weight of the tool.

So, has anyone actually demonstrated using one of these pens to break auto glass from the inside? It seems to me like it would be easy to find a car at a local scrap yard to use.
 
I have used mine on a small back door corner window. It took 3 hits for me to pop the glass. I just didn't give it enough whack the first two times.

I didn't have to use a full arm swing and could probably do the same from inside the car. The only problem would be putting your hand through the window. I suppose if your car is sinking or on fire then a few cuts to the hand are of little concern though. When doing it from the outside I stood with my back to the car and was able to use the window frame/door as a "stopper" with my forarm so my hand didn't go through the window.

I can think of many things that will break a window if you really had to but I suppose the addition of one more isnt going to do any harm. The SF pen is probably better suited to use as an impact tool for people. It works well on areas of the body where there is bone under the skin, like the head, face and hands as well as the usual pressure points.
 
Yeah, I spoke to a friend of mine who works for SF and actually went to a junkyard to smash some windows.
 
Gollnick said:
Keep in mind that it's not unusual for a truck to throw a rock (a very hard object often with pointy bits on it) up and back at some speed and then for you to drive into it at seventy miles per hour, a total speed of maybe a hundred MPH, and for that rock to only chip the windshield.
Rock is softer than glass, tempered glass breaks much easier when using something harder than the glass itself i.e. carbide.

The side windows are usually smaller and less useful for escape/rescue.
Side windows are the best bet for escape.

The front windshield is tempered safety glass. This means it will shatter but be kept in place by an inner liner. This is to protect you from a frontal crash, but therefore is difficult to break through. The side windows are not tempered for this exact reason.


They are less hardened and easier to break, but still plenty strong. It's not unusual to see very violent crashes afterwhich the side glass is still intact.
It depends on where the car is hit, but under certain circumstances glass can take a good amount of force and not break.

And, again, if you are trapped inside the vehicle, your ability to "swing" will be very limited.

Exactly. This is why spring-loaded punches (Automatic center punches) are the best bet.

I'm also concerned about doing this with a pen which will be right in your hand. I can easily see your hand getting cut to shreds. With a hammer-like tool, your hand is away from the actual impact/break, and your swing is apmplified by the length and weight of the tool.
Tempered glass only needs a crack through the glass and the entire pane with shatter. The glass is also made to shatter in a way which create tiny pieces that are not sharp.
Plus, where is there going to be room to swing a hammer in a car? if the car is full of water?
Click to expand...

Just my thoughts given my experience with tempered safety glass.
 
Gollnick said:
Keep in mind that it's not unusual for a truck to throw a rock (a very hard object often with pointy bits on it) up and back at some speed and then for you to drive into it at seventy miles per hour, a total speed of maybe a hundred MPH, and for that rock to only chip the windshield.
Click to expand...
Don't forget that a windshield is laminated glass, so it's a totally different animal then the tempered glass used on side windows. Contrary to what is shown in the movies, it's a real bear to break the windshield of car from the inside out, using even your feet. If your underwater, because of the inward pressure, I would risk say it's basically impossible to break a undamaged windshield from the inside.

With the side windows it's totally doable, even if the car is totally submerged. Don't forget it's not only how how much pressure (=force) you put on the glass, but also the size of the contact area. That's why those small spring loaded glass breaker tools work. Though if you have your ability to move hindered, it won't be a piece of cake to do it from the inside using something like the SF pen. But it's not impossible, far from that.
 
A cheaper option would be an auto-punch(the spring loaded ones) and to actually use it in the widow's corner to limit any flex that would absorb the energy.
 
Haze said:
I have used mine on a small back door corner window. It took 3 hits for me to pop the glass. I just didn't give it enough whack the first two times.

I didn't have to use a full arm swing and could probably do the same from inside the car. The only problem would be putting your hand through the window. I suppose if your car is sinking or on fire then a few cuts to the hand are of little concern though. When doing it from the outside I stood with my back to the car and was able to use the window frame/door as a "stopper" with my forarm so my hand didn't go through the window.

I can think of many things that will break a window if you really had to but I suppose the addition of one more isnt going to do any harm. The SF pen is probably better suited to use as an impact tool for people. It works well on areas of the body where there is bone under the skin, like the head, face and hands as well as the usual pressure points.
Click to expand...

What kind of car was it? Overall, were you pleased with its performance?
 
I watched a guy try to break out a side window by hitting it 4 or 5 times and it did not break. He was swinging it pretty hard, too.

As mentioned, a better tool to break a window would be a ResQme or Houdini. A spark plug works very well, too!

http://www.resqme.com/features_specifications.html

http://www.houdinitool.com/products/houdini.aspx

The Surefire pen is a great pen, but the glass breaker is more a novelty in my mind.

I have both of the Surefire pens and I prefer the clickie version without the novelty ball on the end.
 
mark greenman said:
What kind of car was it? Overall, were you pleased with its performance?
Click to expand...

It was an old Toyota saloon that was getting scrapped (I don't know what the model was) The pen did break the glass so it managed the task it was asked to do. It wasn't exactly perfect for the job though. I don't know if maybe throwing the pen would be a better idea, I'll have to try that next time.

My friend also tried out the glass breaker on his microtech troodon, that worked pretty well too. The "bird beak" pommel on my ASH-1 managed to break a window pretty easily as well.
 
Daniel said:
I watched a guy try to break out a side window by hitting it 4 or 5 times and it did not break. He was swinging it pretty hard, too.
Click to expand...

Was that with the surefire pen?


Haze, thanks for the info! About how hard did you have to swing? Do you think you would have been able to swing that hard if you were trapped in your car?
 
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