Leatherman PST chronology project

[J-sews]

•   Date codes?
0898
•   Screwdrivers: pivot-in or pivot-out?
Out

Bit earlier with the driver pivot!

The bar just got raised another notch.

[DaveK]

PST #3

•   Rivets or knurled screws?
Knurled screws
•   Lanyard attachment?
Yes
•   (Old) small diameter or (new) large diameter plier pivot?
New
•   LEATHERMAN alone cast into plier pivot? Or with USA? Or TOOL?
TOOL
•   A hard wire cutter notch?
Yes
•   Handles stamped with what? (see pictures in next post for examples)
LEATHERMAN TOOL - PORTLAND OR
•   Inch ruler only, or inch/metric?
Both
•   Date codes?
0402
•   Drop point knife blade or clip point? (saber?)
Drop Point
•   Knife blade tang stamped LEATHERMAN alone? Or with USA? Or JAPAN?
LEATHERMAN
•   Screwdrivers: pivot-in or pivot-out?
Out

Noticed a difference between the medium drivers on #2 (08/98) and #3 (04/02).

On the older one, the driver has a nail notch on top of the blade (so outside when closed) and is only chamfered on one side at the tip. The new one has the newer nail-nick on the side of the blade and is chamfered both sides at the tip.

[J-sews]

Hmmmm, is that the same thing Spoonrobot was talking about a few posts ago?

2000??
•   New off center screwdrivers pivot OUT

Hey Bob, I do have another PST in storage that I didn't give all the info on in the thread. Call it my PST #5. What I can tell from the pictures I posted a long time ago; it is a 0599 model with a newer-pivoting-out phillips and medium flathead drivers.

The flathead has the side nail nick and not the top nail-ridge like the 00 model I have. Hope this helps!

[DaveK]

Hmmmm, is that the same thing Spoonrobot was talking about a few posts ago?

2000??
•   New off center screwdrivers pivot OUT

Hey Bob, I do have another PST in storage that I didn't give all the info on in the thread. Call it my PST #5. What I can tell from the pictures I posted a long time ago; it is a 0599 model with a newer-pivoting-out phillips and medium flathead drivers.

The flathead has the side nail nick and not the top nail-ridge like the 00 model I have. Hope this helps!

Yes that would be it. I took this pic a while ago, but it shows the differences a little:



2nd from top is PST #3, 3rd one down is PST #2.

[J-sews]

Oooh, so there were three medium screwdriver variations?    Hang on, I gotta go check mine.......

[DaveK]

I shoudl add that the bottom PST in that pic is the cabela's anniversary one, I shan't bother doing that one as it is an after-the-event mish-mash of parts!

[Poncho65]

My 0794 has the same screwdriver as the BO 1 in the above pic the one with the top nail nick hope this helps

[Poncho65]

J-sews possibly does this thread need to be stickied so not to be lost in the mix I mean the PST did have a big hand in all this MT thing anyway   and this is the largest collection of info on several PSTs that I have ever seen

[J-sews]

J-sews possibly does this thread need to be stickied so not to be lost in the mix I mean the PST did have a big hand in all this MT thing anyway   and this is the largest collection of info on several PSTs that I have ever seen

Sure Poncho, good idea. Consider it stickified.

[Poncho65]

J-sews possibly does this thread need to be stickied so not to be lost in the mix I mean the PST did have a big hand in all this MT thing anyway   and this is the largest collection of info on several PSTs that I have ever seen

Sure Poncho, good idea. Consider it stickified.

Thanks Bob   I think this and the pic post of the PST will be very interesting and informative can't wait to see all those PSTs 

[woofer]

So I imported the Excel spreadsheet I was running into GoogleDocs so that it can be a collaborative document and viewable by anyone who might not have excel, at:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pZt2yzMjYcAXMhpNS9kJBCw

For now it's set to permit anyone to view, but only myself to edit. I'm a bit hesitant to open it up for editing by anyone, but if J-Sews or anyone want to put in info, just PM me. Probably going to stick charts in when I have a free minute in order to make it more visually appealing.

The only thing that doesn't really make sense is the blade types - they change from drop to saber to a somewhat random mishmash. Any idea why that happens?


*edit*
added in J-Sews' PSTs from his pictures thread with as much info as I could discern, it's under the second worksheet

*double edit*
okay so maybe I'm having a slow day. Anyhow, I've created a quick and dirty form for this project via GoogleDocs that will autofill the spreadsheet. If you could go to http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pZt2yzMjYcAXMhpNS9kJBCw&hl=en after posting your answer in the forum, that would be great.

[ringzero]

Okay now thats a combination that I haven't seen before RZ. A "Japan" knife blade combined with handles that say "LEATHERMAN TOOL" and have an inch-only ruler.

I'd always assumed that my LM Tool was made in Japan and never thought any less of it for that.

Since there's no USA stamp on it anywhere, but there is that "JAPAN" stamped on the blade tang, I always thought the whole thing was made in Japan.

But, you say that only the blade was made in Japan and the rest of it was made in the USA?

I'd really like to see that picture someday RZ. Hope you can borrow a camera someday soon.

Should be able to borrow a camera from any of several sources - it's just a matter of logistics.  I do miss having my own camera around, if nothing else it comes in handy for documentation purposes like this.

My best guess as to when they discontinued rivets had been 1984/1985. But now Smitty reports that he has a PST from late 1983 that has knurled screws. Hmmm, that means the rivets were only used for about one year.

I've been racking my brain to try to pin down the year I bought my LM Tool.  As best I can remember, it was somtime between 1983-1985 inclusive.  I definitely recall having it on certain outdoor adventures after 1985.

.

[prime77]

The first-post survey questions have evolved somewhat since we started. Here is the latest:

Please take a look at your PST and tell us where it fits in. Does your PST have:

•   Rivets or knurled screws?
•   Lanyard attachment?
•   (Old) small diameter or (new) large diameter plier pivot?
•   LEATHERMAN alone cast into plier pivot? Or with USA? Or TOOL?
•   A hard wire cutter notch?
•   Handles stamped with what? (see pictures in next post for examples)
•   Inch ruler only, or inch/metric?
•   Date codes?
•   Drop point knife blade or clip point? (saber?)
•   Knife blade tang stamped LEATHERMAN alone? Or with USA? Or JAPAN?
•   Screwdrivers: pivot-in or pivot-out?

I'm know I'm late to the party Bob, but heres my PSTs
#1
Rivets
Lanyard attachment
Old diameter pivot head
plier head says leatherman alone
Know hard wire notch
handles stamped with Large LEATHERMAN TOOL
Inch only
No date code
Drop point blade
Blade stamped Leatherman alone
drivers pivot in

#2
Knurled screws
Lanyard attachment
old diameter plier pivot
plier head says leatherman USA
no hard wire notch
handles stamped with small leatherman Tool with the us reg TM number
inch and metric ruler
one handle has 0495 date code the other has no code
saber blade
leatherman USA on blade
drivers pivot in

#3
Knurled screws
Lanyard attachment
old diameter plier pivot
plier head says leatherman USA
no hard wire notch
handles stamped with small leatherman Tool
inch and metric ruler
one handle has 0696, the other 0496
clip point blade
leatherman USA on blade
drivers pivot in

#4
Knurled screws
Lanyard attachment
New diameter plier pivot
plier head says leatherman TOOL
yes hard wire notch
handles stamped with small leatherman Tool
inch and metric ruler
one handle has 0204, the other 0304
clip point blade
leatherman on blade
drivers pivot out

[DaveK]

woofer - I wasn't clear about my PST #1(BO) - where you have the question mark in the "Handle Stamp: Portland, OR" you can enter "Yes".

Good job by the way - makes it much easier to follow than trying to compare all the forum posts - thanks.

[J-sews]

Okay now thats a combination that I haven't seen before RZ. A "Japan" knife blade combined with handles that say "LEATHERMAN TOOL" and have an inch-only ruler.

I'd always assumed that my LM Tool was made in Japan and never thought any less of it for that.

Since there's no USA stamp on it anywhere, but there is that "JAPAN" stamped on the blade tang, I always thought the whole thing was made in Japan.

But, you say that only the blade was made in Japan and the rest of it was made in the USA?

Well now that's an interesting theory. Maybe only the knife blade was made in Japan? Could be!



Hey RZ, just to be clear, is the LEATHERMAN  stamped in large letter font on your handle? Or small letter font?