Pinch me, I'm dreaming!

[Grant Lamontagne]

Actually, don't bother, I'll let this old Gerber pinch me instead!



This beautiful old tool couldn't be more pristine if it was still in it's original box, which it isn't.  Still, it was a gift from a fellow MTO member, and I am happy as a pig in poo to call it my own, box or no box! 

There's more info on this old Multiplier all over the Gerber Forum and in the Encyclopedia (link is always at the top of the forum!) so I'll just toss out a subtle reminder that this is the predecessor to the insanely successful Multiplier 600, the tool that put Gerber on the map.  While some folks may have issues with Gerber, even they can't deny the success of the MP600 series- there are more variants of it than there is of probably any other multitool on the market, plus it spawned the MP400 and all following sliding head designs like the Flik, Freehand, Diesel and Octane, all of which are gerber's trademarks.  When you see a folding plier tool it might be a Gerber, but when you see a sliding head you know it's a Gerber!



As you can see from this old one, Gerber did some serious upgrades when they jumped from the Multiplier to the MP600- the head was completely modified, the handles were adjusted so they didn't come together with painful results, the high polish, slippery finish disappeared and the patented Gerber SAF-T-LOK was added.

While the old Pinchy is inferior is every way to the MP600, the pedigree is obvious, and you just can't help but appreciate a pristine classic like this one!

Def

[nuphoria]

It may have been a less well designed tool, but it looks great and has more class than the later ones I reckon

Great to see one in such good shape too

[Chako]

Not a user if you can help it. Palm pincher, wacked out nail nicks, etc. The later models are a vast improvement...and yet, there is something ephemeral about these solid well built stainless tanks that make the Pre MP600s endearing.

[5hif7y]

its great to see what they all start out as. this really shows how gerber have come along way with there designs. looks like a great tool  .

any pics of the inside tools?

[Grant Lamontagne]

Not at the moment- my camera died as I shot these and I was too lazy to go in the other room for some new batteries! 

Def

[J-sews]

Not a user if you can help it. Palm pincher, wacked out nail nicks, etc. The later models are a vast improvement...and yet, there is something ephemeral about these solid well built stainless tanks that make the Pre MP600s endearing.

Maybe that something ephemeral was the Gerber's polished finish? I found it to be most endearing indeed.   Too bad they didn't stick with it IMO

Also gotta wonder on this tool how on earth they "missed" lining up the nail nicks with the cutouts in the handles..?

[Grant Lamontagne]

I think they probably got away from the high polish because it was too slippery.  That seems to be why no one else (other than Victorinox) is polishing tools.

As for the nail nicks, well I guess we'd best try to remember to ask the Gerber designers that in a week or so...

Def

[Chako]

I was never a big fan of bead blasted surfaces. They tend to rust right quick in some environments. That polished surface is  .

Oops. I may have just made it a little slipperier...let me just mop that up a little. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

I agree Dan, especially in an environment like mine where rust can start in minutes.  But, by the same token, it's better to have rusty tools than no tools because you dropped them over the side of the boat along with your camera and girlfriend...

Def

[MultiMat]

That girlfriend lanyard + Surge + boat was always going to end badly  .

I think the First Production Run Gerber MT may well be my favourite Gerber shelf queen , its sooo pretty n shiny & well made, not particularly well executed but very well made. It is so Gerber 

 

 

[Grant Lamontagne]

I love the new sig line Mat! 

Def

[MultiMat]

I love the new sig line Mat! 

Def

Just don't ask for photographic evidence 

[Grant Lamontagne]

I'm very certain that won't be necessary!

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

its great to see what they all start out as. this really shows how gerber have come along way with there designs. looks like a great tool  .

any pics of the inside tools?

Ask and ye shall sometimes receive! 



Note the very different scissors- definitely not the nice Fiskars scissors we are used to today from Gerber!



There are some other interesting things to point out here, and the one that always gets me is the folding lanyard ring.  This thing is so honking huge that it seems like the kind of ring you'd tie an M1 Abrams to so you don't lose it!   



The other thing as mentioned above is the oddly mismatched nail nick/cutout thing.  You can see the serrated blade in the other handle has the same issue.  It's funny, but it's also one of the many idiosyncrasies that make classic multitool collecting so interesting!

Def