Even more exciting than all the new products at Shot this year were the people we met.
Great minds from throughout the entire industry were there, and we were fortunate enough to strike up conversations with many of them. Grant has compiled pictures of several of these meetings in this thread
HERE, but I'd like to relate a few snippets from some of the more interesting discussions we had.
On Tuesday morning we sat down with one of the gentlemen from Victorinox who had designed the SwissTool. The year was 1996, and Victorinox was late getting into the plier multitool game. The most important feature that the designers wanted to incorporate into their new multitool was outside opening blades, a feature they felt would be a big improvement over Leatherman tools of that time. The Bear MGC patent would have to be addressed, but there were already plans in the works to do that. In the mean time, how to maintain control over each blade on an outside opener? We learned that it had been "the old man" Charles Elsener Sr himself who had first suggested the idea of individual backspring fingers.
And those impossibly narrow slits between the fingers? They are cut with a laser beam we found out, which was pretty amazing stuff indeed back in the mid-1990's.
"No comment" is the reply we received after inquiring as to why the little ratchet device (shown in the patent) was never included on the final product.
Later Tuesday morning we sat down with the team at Gerber who were responsible for the new Strata, Octane, and Grappler, as well as last year's Crucial and who knows how many models prior to that. These guys have not yet established the legendary reputation of some of the folks we met later on, but their enthusiasm was boundless. And contagious; I found myself truly excited for the first time in a long while about the direction Gerber is heading.
On Tuesday evening we bumped into the surprisingly young head of the design department at Leatherman. I admit to having expected him to be a little older, given that his most well known masterpiece was the original Wave from over twelve years ago. (I had to glance twice at his name tag to be certain it was really him!)
He has since gone on to give us the Micra, Juice line, New Wave, Charges, etc etc.
Unfortunately the setting did not allow me to ask
any of the questions I've had pent up for years waiting to meet this fine gentleman, so they will have to wait until next year.
The next morning however we spoke with an aquaintence of his, the chap who invented the Skeletool. Now this guy is quite a character, with a quick smile and a ready sense of humor. After Grant and him carried on for several minutes with the Star Trek jokes
I knew he was our kind of people.
Given the enormous success of the Skeletool, its kin (the Freestyle) and its offspring (the Style CS), I think Leatherman owes this guy a lot. He has since moved on to different pastures though, but I'm happy to report that his new designs are at least as exciting as his old ones.
Now get this: as if sitting at a table with the inventor of the Skeletool wasn't enough, part way through the discussion in walks the guy responsible for inventing the CRKT Guppie, Zilla-Tool, and Get-A-Way Driver!
No kidding! Two legends at the same table! And a minute later, the both of them are brainstorming ideas about new modules for the CRKT Flux!
It was pretty heady stuff I tell you. Grant almost had to reach for his inhaler.
Honestly though, these are two of the finest fellows you ever care to meet, and I was honored to learn that they both stop by and visit us here from time to time.
Thursday morning we had a conversation with the lead designer at SOG, the man responsible for such multitool innovations as geared compound leverage and assisted opening blades. I was delighted to hear about his soft spot for the old Micro ToolClip, and how one of the key people on his team still carries one to this day. An appreciation for this almost 20 year old model is what prompted SOG to bring the Micro back in its current form.
On Friday we found ourselves at a medium sized booth, just across the aisle from the giant Leatherman pavilion. The company was Kutmaster, and the man we spoke with was responsible for the MultiMaster and MiniMaster tools, both brought out in the mid-1980's.
"Keep in mind that Leatherman tools did not yet have locking blades, so our locking-L feature was the only game in town for a few years," he told us.
True enough, and the grand old firm of Kutmaster continues to produce these tools as well as other Utica Cutlery knives at their plant in Utica New York just like they have done for over 100 years.
Now here's a cute story; this guy from Kutmaster can remember that first Shot Show many years ago when Tim Leatherman himself first showed up with his original PST.
"He'd taken that crazy thing - have you ever seen his original concept? - around to all of the other knife companies, but none of them would make it for him. I told him it needed to be made simpler, without all those locks and extra jaws, and less costly."
"So he decided to make it himself, and make it simpler. But he didn't have the resources to make all the parts, so we agreed to produce the knife blade, the awl, the can opener, and the screwdrivers."
The Kutmaster guy went on to say, "I remember that first year at Shot, when he stood over there in that little tiny booth, cutting up pennies with his multitool while folks walked on past. I never figured anything would come of it. But now look."
We all looked across the aisle at the sprawling Leatherman booth....
Later that day we met up with the fellow who had invented the Bear Jaws multitool. He had an interesting Leatherman/Shot Show story to tell as well.
"It was about 15 years ago, the day before the Show opened, and we were still setting up our booth. The guy laying down the carpet had this Leatherman multitool on his belt, and he kept needing to retrieve the knife blade in order to make cut-outs in the carpet. Open the pliers, unfold the blade, close the pliers - I must have watched him go through that routine a hundred times! Finally I thought to myself, why not just put the blades on the
outside? So we did."
"The very next year at Shot, we had our new Bear Jaws out on display. After a while, who should walk up but Tim Leatherman himself, along with that hotshot young engineer of his. They studied our tool and studied it, putting it through all the motions. Finally Tim looks over at the young engineer and in a deadpan voice says, "Why didn't
you think of that?"
Hehehehe, we just about busted a gut laughing at that one!
So anyhow, I hope this post didn't come across as a big neener neener brag fest. I just enjoyed the hell out of talking with these guys - my heroes - and wanted to share with you all.
Bob
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