Busted shifter

So there I was trying to take a freewheel off a bike wheel. My favoured tool for this is a big shifter. So I grab this 250mm shifter and start grunting and gritting my teeth and trying to undo it. There's this creak and a sort of pinging sound and something gives way. I didn't expect it to be one of the jaws of the shifter, particularly not the fixed one. The jaw flew away into the shed somewhere. I haven't bothered looking for it. Something tells me this can't be easily fixed.

From this dark spot

I'm guessing there was a hidden flaw there. It's a shame really, the padded handle was good for pushing really hard when undoing stubborn things. Thinking about it, this may have hastened its demise.