You ever strip all the tape off and flex the handle by the head to really check the grain? That's how I caught one on a sledge last year, same deal, hairline split hidden under the grip tape. I don't replace handles anymore, I just buy a new tool and swap the head onto a fresh hickory handle if it's worth saving. For a cross peen, a new handle is like 10 bucks and 20 minutes of work with a rasp and some epoxy. Way cheaper than a new hammer, and you know the grain is solid once you hang it right.

...and that's exactly the kind of thing you only pick up from somebody who's been doing it for forty years. I had a guy in Texas once show me a trick with a curved boning knife that let me get the belly off cleaner, but I never could make it work as smooth as he did. It's funny how those little shortcuts stick with you though, even when you can't quite replicate them yourself.

Don't really see how losing paying customers is ever a win.

Did you hear about that software update that supposedly makes it lock automatically now or something?

The weight thing is real... I had the same experience with a KM 17 a few years back. Those old hats sit lower so your neck muscles don't have to fight the buoyancy as much the way the newer lightweight shells tend to float up. The exhaust valves on those old models are way simpler too, less plastic parts to fail at depth. If you find a used 17, just replace the faceport and check the duckbill valve before you run it, but the rest of that gear is basically bulletproof.