3 Vintage French MultiTools

[MultiMat]

I now own 3 vintage French MT's. The 2 Seaboard Steel's are from the 50's-60's & I am not sure about the Le Depanneur but I reckon it is a similar age to the 2 Seaboards  .

The Le Depanneur in a Seaboard Steel sandwich.

Thanks to Bob's spotting & US Ebay I recently became the happy owner of a vintage Le Depanneur slip jointed plier MT made by Kita(going by what is stamped on the tool).
The Le Depanneur, besides being old & made in France, is a bit unusual in that it is a MT with adjustable slip jointed pliers.The only other slip jointed plier MT I can think of is the Schrade ST5E .




Quite a small MT.


The combined awl , bottle opener & ? wirer striper tool scores a thumb stud but the blade gets a nail nick  .








Not sure how strong the tool is , I would be a bit nervous bearing down hard on a large nut. The metal seems a bit thin 

The SeaBoard Steel MT with shifter wrench is a whole lot nicer than the cheap & nasty versions you can get now days.

It shares what looks like a sailing inspired awl, combined file/screw driver/cap lifter & a slightly smaller blade when compared to its more conventional brother.The wrench MT scores a Phillips head screw driver over the other Seaboard tool.


The 2nd Seaboard Steel MT is a more conventional MT sharing a format that seemed to be quite popular for the time





My 2 SeaBoards came with their original leather sheaths  .


The pliers of the time share a simple but effective spring & handle catch system.

Seaboard Steel at top , Hubeo(German) middle & Hoffritz(German)bottom.


Plier catch Hoffritz at top, Seaboard Steel middle & Hubeo bottom.


Interesting how 2 different nationalities & 3 separate manufactures can be so similar 
Hubeo at top, SeaBoard Steel middle & Hoffritz at the bottom.   


I am fairly sure these tools all come from the 50's-60's amazing that it took Tim Leatherman another 25 odd years to come up with the PST  .

Now I could really go a latter Le Depanneur model like Bob's 

[ryan1835]

  i love the older tools  your becoming the new bob

[Neil]

He's got a way to go yet

Nice haul there Mat

That your total haul for French MTs?  which country you moving on to next

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

I still really like that design of MT

[nuphoria]

They are fantastic, really classic looking 

[David]

Nice collection there Mat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[J-sews]

Ah good, you got the Le Depanneur in Mat!!  I'm not thinking there were very many of those made, as they don't come along very often. Congrats! Quite the oddball don't you think? I'm wondering if those narrow plier jaws canted at an angle like that were designed for something specific? Like a special bicycle tool or something?

For sure no one can accuse them of knocking off someone else's design!

[Multitaskertools]

I still really like that design of MT

me too

[Santos]

the spyderench/Byrdrench has the same head as that seaboard if thats what you mean by 'slipjoint'

[Zed]

love them all, and yes a thumb stud on a awl is a bit odd    still all cool looking 

[Mr. Whippy]

Could that actually be a knob to pivot on as a can opener? 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Nice haul Mat!  Good to have another member in the Depanneur Club!









Great design for a tool- I'd love to see a modern day version of it!

Def

[Multitaskertools]

Great design for a tool- I'd love to see a modern day version of it!

Def

care to let me borrow it?

[Neil]

...

Great design for a tool- I'd love to see a modern day version of it!

Def

Layout wise it reminds me of the Wichard .

...

smurf me backwards, have you seen the price!  No way are they worth that 

[Spork, Lord of Lime Jello!]

Could that actually be a knob to pivot on as a can opener? 

I agree with you Mr Whippy...that's part of the can opener arrangement.