This is one of our favorite emails. It came from a young woman in the Florida Keys named Lyn — a marine mechanic who'd been carrying our 22-in-1 Multi-Tool on her hip every day for two years. It had finally given out. She wanted to know if we did repairs.
We don't run a repair shop. But we read her note, looked at the photos she sent, and replied: send us your address, we'll send a new tool, free of charge. All we asked for in return was her story.
What came back was one of the best things we've read in two years of running this company. We asked Lyn for permission to share it. Here it is, in her own words — with one of her photos.
Lyn's story, in Lyn's words
"I'm a 21-year-old marine mechanic that lives in the Florida Keys. I've been on my own since I was 17, and working on boats and motors since I was 16. I worked while I was finishing my senior year in high school so I could support myself."
"I used to live on a sailboat with my mother, three brothers, and our family cat, Kasper, the boat cat. (He was black.) That's what truly started my love for the marine industry. I still watch over that very boat — her name is Napenthes — and I now own my own sailboat. Finding Paxton."
"I went from riding my bike 12 miles a day to complete school and work until 11 p.m., to having a beautiful apartment with my loving boyfriend and two cats (and a few other critters as well)."
"I started in the parts department at my current job on one condition with my employer: that I'd get the opportunity to become a mechanic and work in their shop. They gladly agreed and admired my determination. The day after I graduated high school, they offered me the job! Now I needed tools though. My dad kindly supplied his very first ratchet set. My step-mother supplied an old pair of Ariat boots. And I worked my booty off for my next items."
"The first two things I bought were my Milwaukee drill set and my multi-tool, from you guys. I've had my trusty multi-tool for over two years now and it has helped me every day of my work."
"My multi-tool has pulled apart powerheads, started engines, fixed my truck, plugged holes, held bolts, screws and sparkplugs. Ha — I just used it today to remove a metal plate and some bolsters from a boat. That's totally how I broke it."
Why this email meant something to us
We sell pocket-sized tools. We can write all the specs and run all the hardness tests we want, but none of it really matters until a real person carries one for two years and tells us how it actually held up.
Lyn's tool didn't fail in a week. It worked through powerheads, truck repairs and full days on the water. It broke doing exactly the kind of job a multi-tool gets handed when the right tool isn't in reach. That's not a defect — that's a tool that earned its place.
And when someone reaches out and asks about a repair, "we don't have a repair shop" isn't a useful answer. A free replacement is. Our lifetime craftsmanship warranty exists for moments like this — owning a DRFRIEDELS tool is the start of a relationship, not a transaction.
Shared with Lyn's explicit permission. Lightly edited for length and clarity; her voice and words are her own.
