Upon further review, I was hasty making a public, blanket condemnation of Havalon's products. I have NOT used or seen used one of their knives with the newer, thicker 60A blades. The accident that happened to my friend occurred 6 or 7 years ago. At that time, his was the first Havalon knife that I, or any of our other hunting buddies, had ever seen or heard of.
Talking to my friend, he reminded me that his accident occurred the very first time he ever used the knife to field dress a deer (I didn't know or had forgotten this). His previous use of that knife was just for caping and skinning. He still uses Havalon knives, but has learned to be careful to not twist or side-load the blade or cut hard against bone.
He said that at the time of his accident, he was in a hurry (which I can vouch for, since I was there) and he was unknowingly putting a side load on the blade plus jerking it against the rib bones, moving his hand and knife in quick, jerky motions (which I can also attest to). He says he is now much more careful and smooth in the use of his Havalon knife and rarely breaks a blade. He uses a regular hunting knife to open up the ribcage and separate joints.
However, I still like the Outdoor Edge knife better because of the thicker blades, the fact that the knife is designed to support and reinforce the blade better, and that it's easy to change blades without using a tool.
