Leatherman Collecting.

[Chako]

This is more for those who are newer then old, as I am sure you folks have read about this a time or two.

I got into collecting multi-tools because of my father. When he passed away, I found around 20 multi-tools in his room. He was a tradesman and liked to buy the junky type to beat up on the jobsite. His first Leatherman was the Pulse, which he considered too nice to abuse. Consequently, the Pulse was his "dress" tool that he hung on his belt at all times when he wasn't at work.  While he was still alive, we bought a pair of American Campers for our archery belt. They did come in handy a time or two.  Later, I wanted something nicer, much like my dad's Pulse. I bought a Coleman Prolock. A neat design that never got off the starting block in many ways. At that time, I couldn't afford a Leatherman Pulse.

Leatherman had a special place for my dad.  He compared all tools to them, and although he never bought a Leatherman until the Pulse came out, he did handle quite a few on the jobsite. Thus when he passed away , and I had the unenviable duty of cleaning his room out, I found all of these various multi-tools. I knew he had a few, but I didn't know he had so many.  Once I laid them all out on his bed, I got the idea to collect them in his honor. Many of you may think I have a sickness, and well...I have always been a collector of certain things...but the MT collection has personal meaning and significance to me. 

Add to that a philosophy that a collection should be shared...a notion that has caused me some grief on these forums in the past, I present to you once again, the Leatherman portion of my collection. The funny thing about this however, back when I first visited this web site, I only thought I would get a few Leathermans, a few Gerbers, etc...and I would be done. Oh how little i Knew.

Top drawer is the home for most of my  Leatherman keychain tools. Micras on the left, Squirts and Styles on the right. Most of these are different right down to the different rivets used on the Squirts. There are even 6 factory errors to be found here. So far, I have 6 of them. The two blue presentation cases contain stainless steel advertizing Micras...in case you were wondering.



The next drawer down contains  The Skeletool family along with the Wingmans and Sidekicks. There also resides the Style PS and CS grouping. The 3 boxed items on the top are Multitool.org branded items. On the right are   my 4 Muts. Once again, they are all different with no duplicates. The wackier laser etched tools and gold plated ones you see in these drawers are all Texas Toolcrafter custom items.



Next drawer down contains a various assortment of Surges, Super Tools, Super Tool 200s, Super tool 300s, Cores, Crunch, OHT,  and the Mini Tools. I have one Super Tool 200 duplicate in here. When I first started collecting Leatherman, I would have never guessed at the variety out there.



One level down, are most of my Charges. I have a few more special ones that I placed back into their packaging for safe keeping. I also have a first edition Z-Rex and a few of their LED flashlights. All are different. I ordered a newer Z-Rex to see what has been changed, and to add to the grouping.



One level down are the Waves and Kick/Fuse/Blast family. Once again, they are all different.



The next drawer has all of the Juices at the top. Middle contains a flair, my fathers Pulse, a few Sideclips, a pair of Rebars, my PST and PST 11 family, along with the Vista, Hybrid, and Genus.  Amazingly, I have a pair of Juice Pros, and that is the only duplication I have going on in this drawer.



Now getting to the two bottom deeper drawers, the first contains various boxes. In here, I have 2 Costco specials, one being a Charge SLV, and the other being a Charge 25th Anniversary AL. In the cardboard sleeve is a Danish OH 25th Anniversary Wave. On the lower right hand, is the 2009 Damascus Wave. Middle is a new Leatherman Headband flashlight, and a Leatherman knife.



The last drawer has a few mixed goodies. In the upper left hand corner is a 25yh Anniversary silver Charge. Upper right has a few items along with a 20th Anniversary Wave still in its blister package. Lower right contains another Charge SLV in a limited Edition EDC kit. The middle of the drawer is home to a bunch of Leatherman sheaths that are special enough to not reside in my mixed sheath drawer. The two wooden boxes are empty for now and came from Texas Toolcrafters.

 


So that is it for the Leathermans. I hope you have enjoyed the variety and breath that Leatherman has to offer. I could not in my wildest imagination think that there would be so many different models and differences. I am at the point where I only have to pick up the new gear. There are still a few items that have eluded me. But that is the fun of collecting.

[Monrogue]

WOW   You've got a lot of Leathermans my friend.  You have a lot of somewhat unique versions as well.  It's cool that there is a sentimental connection/motivation behind your collection.

[Vladimir]

Excellent photos and collection!

[baja820]

Well done sir!

[Nhoj]

Wonderful collection!!!  

[Taxi Dad]

my collection would probably be like that if i didn't have 'the wife' 

[Crouton]

Welcome back Chako.  We missed you.  Now quick, don't think about it, which one is your favorite for sentimental value and which is your favorite otherwise.  Two total.  Now ship all the rest to me.  Thanks

[Syph007]

I always wondered.  As a collector do you view modded ones like the laser etched wingmans and gold coated ones as proper collection material since they aren't made by leatherman?  Technically there could be an infinite number to collect if you keep laser etching different patterns.

[sawman]

SUPER collection !!     I especially like the way you've stored them for display 

[Breezy12]

always a pleasure to see pics of your collection, Chako. 

I love the fact that the only Pulse in your collection is your father's -- the one that started it all. 

[stealth007s]

Very nice Chako I've stumbled on photos of your stuff on here a while ago sniffing through old threads and postings. Impressive group of tools here

[derekmac]

Fantastic pics as always! I really missed all of your collection pics. I never knew what got you started in collecting MT's, so thanks for sharing!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[Chako]

Crouton...the Pulse for sentimental reasons. My second choice may surprise you...but it would have to be a Knifeless Fuse simply because that is my EDC due to work restrictions.

Syph007, I especially like the decorative custom stuff. Not into laser etched advertizing pieces on the whole however.


sawman, I moved the Leathermans over to the new storage last summer. I needed the extra room.

Thanks everyone.

[THE_LONGBOW]

Very nice collection. It is enjoyable for me to see other collector's collections.  If you are anything like me the thrill is in the hunt. I am still trying to convince the other half for a storage unit like yours. 
 There is always one more......

[Monrogue]

my collection would probably be like that if i didn't have 'the wife' 

Same here   On top of that, if I had gotten interested in MTs/SAKs 10 years or so ago (a few years before "the wife"), I would have probably amassed quite a collection by now. 

[Bruce909]

Hi Chako,

I thought you had a Damascus Charge...at least I believe it was you that beat me on a ebay auction.

Do you still have it?

Bruce

[Chako]

Do you mean the Leatherman prototype with the DLC coating? Yes I still have it.

[condcup]

Do you mean the Leatherman prototype with the DLC coating? Yes I still have it.

Nice! Leatherman prototype could you show us some pics!

[gregozedobe]

I always enjoy seeing things in your collection   

Ignore those few that don't understand the pleasure of collecting, they can't help the way they are. 

[Chako]

condcup here you go. The email that I printed for provenance, I haven't made public except to Bob on here...but I think enough time has gone by. I do hope Juli doesn't mind.

A little background story is in order. I found these off of eBay. I had assumed they were custom jobs from the seller, and won the bid on both of them.  Of the 3 pieces the seller had on auction, I won two of them. The guy stated that they were DLC coated only after I bought them as I could see the finish was not BO. I could clearly see one had Damascus blades, but I figured someone was evil enough to destroy a 2009 Damascus Wave to produce this piece. This was before Damascus blades were being made for Leatherman tools as an upgrade kit. Once I got them in my hands, I only had more questions, as it didn't appear to be a custom job as the quality was very high. I emailed Juli and got the reply in the following photo. Via other chats, I found out that there was only one of the Damascus DLC coated Charge Prototypes ever produced, and about 3 to 4 of the DLC coated Charge seen here.  These are the highlights of my collection. Leatherman was nice enough to let me keep them.

The email.


Both prototypes.






When I got them in, the finish was unlike anything I had seen. The quality was very high, and I could tell it wasn't BO due to the cleanness of the coating. BO tools tend to fill up crevasses such as these markings, or inside the letters. These didn't. They also had a weird colouring inside the tool that was probably not coated...but shows titanium being heated. You don't see that on BO tools.



Here is the other Prototype.


Both tools have this date code.


I gave the seller's eBay ID to Leatherman once I found out what I had after the purchase. I do not know what they did with it. That is their part of the story that we will probably never know.

[Syph007]

Cool story and damn nice looking tool! 

[AdmSlc]

Wow!!

[sawman]

That's a beautiful damascus pattern.  I'm glad those went to a good home 

[Monrogue]

Yeah, those Charges are very  and

[brian.keane.108]

Fantastic.

[NKlamerus]

Chako I just found this and I must say once again, I am extremely impressed. Thank you again for sharing your collection, this is not the first time I've seen your pictures. But the first time I've read your story.

I think everyone has a list of people they respect and people that amaze them in their own interests. Your definetly on my list bud, Thanks for sharing. Glad too see you still live the tradition you father started for you.

(I may add, I was searching for some photos of a silver OHT as I want to purchase one but can't decide what color.  And yet again, I search anything leatherman; and your pictures show up!)

[SteveC]

Sweet LM collection Chako   

[parnass]

Great collection, Chako.

When it comes to storing a multitool collection, the sheaths seem to require even more space than the tools themselves.   

[Higgins617]

I'm sure you've answered this time and time again, so I'm sorry. But out of your collection what sees regular use? You said the Fuse but is that it?

[Chako]

In the past, I have tried quite a few different multi-tools for a few days to a week...mostly in the summer time however. At work, I tend to carry a Leatherman knifeless Fuse, and a Swiss+Tech UtiliKey 6 in 1 hidden on my keychain.


NKlamerus, I know. I come across many of my photos whenever I do an online search myself.

parnass, yes. The sheaths do indeed take a lot of room. I tend to keep the boxes, and inside those boxes are many sheaths. When I first started collecting, I just dumped all the sheaths into the deepest drawer.