Catch a Coyote by its Tail ANNIVERSARY GIVEAWAY!

Aloha · **Reply #30 on:** July 02, 2013, 02:10:20 AM

great Multi stories folks,

when i joined i mentioned i am a small business and don't require a lot of tools but having a multi on my person is essential. I work off ladders often and really want to stay a light as possible while 20-30 feet up or walking across roofs. its always about safety first and being able to access a tool strapped to my side capable of nearly all tasks thrown at it has given me a great sense of confidence while off the ground. from 100 year old homes to some of the most expensive property in my area my LM has not been let me down. literally my tool box is whatever LM i have strapped to my side. Pictures added for the WIN!!!!!! good luck to all who posted such great stories.

detron · **Reply #31 on:** July 02, 2013, 02:15:58 AM

Another time I was SAVED by my multitool was when I was in the Navy. I was working aloft on the radar dish while under-way, after a roll that was larger than the others I had become use too hit, I fell a little, and my safety harness got tangled in a bar I had to loosen to do my work. I could not get it undone by my self, because it was behind me. I pulled out the original Super tool (I lost it while in the navy

) and reached up and cut that portion of my harness off. I was glad to be loose, however the safety people did not like what I had done to their harness.

A few months later ALL of us who climbed the mast on the ship were issues multi-tools.

jzmtl · **Reply #32 on:** July 02, 2013, 03:46:12 AM

I posted this here years ago and it's on leatherman's website somewhere, back when skeletool first came out I had a CX clipped to my belt loop while working outside. When I found out I had locked myself outside with absolutely no way to get in (try to coax the cat to jump up and hopefully turn the locking lever on patio door proved to be fruitless). Eventually I managed to disassemble the basement window and security bars with the skeletool alone, and saved myself a lot of trouble.

Poncho65 · **Reply #33 on:** July 02, 2013, 03:46:50 AM

Just last week on the job I used my Rebar to save the day for someone else

One of the other trades cutting torch was jammed up and not cutting properly

I pulled out my MT and got the file out and with a few file strokes and a small piece of wire it was cleaned and they were back in business

RamoN · **Reply #34 on:** July 02, 2013, 04:06:54 AM

My last girlfriend bought an enourmous wardrobe for her house that weighted a lot. Two guys brought it and managed to lift it through the 40 meter long hallway that led to my girlfriend house. This hallway was narrow and the entrance door was at 90 degrees with a narrow entrance also. They were fiddling with the positioning to manage to make it pass through the door somehow, first i used the bit driver to remove doors and other removable parts out and found a clearance. But when trying to push they found that a huge vine that covered entirely one of the walls had a branch so big (at least two inches) that was stealing all the clearance for the wardrobe to turn.

It was a sunday at 7 am, so no hardware stores and my girlfriend had no tools of any kind. So i pulled my wenger saw, hacked that huge branch in seconds and the wardrobe finally got in

Yadda · **Reply #35 on:** July 02, 2013, 04:16:22 AM

I have several stories but, this is the best. Less than 100 miles into an 800 mile trip the antennae broke on the rental car. No radio.This was pre iPod days. I unwound a wire hanger, but it didn't fit because of the twists. I pulled out my swisstech style key chain pliers and cut the hanger. The radio worked. I've been hooked on Multitools ever since. I had received the tool as a present the day before. Now I never go anywhere without at least one Multitool.

Captain Crunch · **Reply #36 on:** July 02, 2013, 04:36:29 AM

I was at my nephew's place a couple of weeks ago and he was trying to cut a new roll of paper towel in half with a dull knife. He was making absolutely no headway so, quick as lightning, I whipped out my Charge TTi and, opening the serrated blade, I handed it to him. Using this he easily went through the roll, like butter. I listened with great satisfaction as he exclaimed, "I gotta get me one of these!".

stealth007s · **Reply #37 on:** July 02, 2013, 05:48:54 AM

I have so many saved the days from my time in the Army but my favorites have to be when I'm the only one with a cork screw or bottle opener

good luck everyone who enters this and thanks Nickola for hosting the giveaway

Sent from the Millennium Falcon via starblaster

Nhoj · **Reply #38 on:** July 02, 2013, 06:07:25 AM

I have more interesting stories than this but for some reason this is all I can think of.

Ok so I was on MTO on my laptop. My laptop's battery being old, has pretty much gotten to the point where it lasts only a few minutes unplugged. When suddenly the screen turned black. It was plugged in so I didn't know why it turned off. Then I looked down and realized my great dane who is bigger than me but a puppy had chewed through the cord. So I pulled out my wave. I cut off the casing on the cord and successfully rewired it. My laptop could charge again and I could view my MTO. Later though I decided I should do it the "right way" and took it back apart and re-soldered it.

Grathr · **Reply #39 on:** July 02, 2013, 06:46:10 AM

Here's another creditcard story.

Several years ago, before my MTO days, I stopped at a unmanned gas station to refuel my old Toyota Carina. At the other pump stood an elderly and scratched his head fiddling with the cardmachine at the pump.
As I finished refueling my car, the old man came over to me and asked if I could help him use the cardmachine, as he could not get it to work. I followed him over to his pump, and quickly discovred what was wrong. The old man had two cards, one credit card and one bonus card. He had never used this bonus card before, so he had put the bonus card into the card slot in the machine, and then jammed the creditcard into the receipt printer...

He had jammed it in so deep that he could not get a grip on it to pull it out.

Now, this was before my MTO days, so I did not have a Wave issued to the car, like I do now. Luckily I had a LM Style on my keychain. I used the scissors on the style to horizontally get a grip on the card and pull it out.
The old man was very embarassed when I explained what he had done wrong, and was very thankful that he had not been forced to call the servicenumber to get help. I don't think he ever used a unmanned station again.

PTRSAK · **Reply #40 on:** July 02, 2013, 07:49:22 AM

A couple of years ago we were out the back of the property we go shooting on at Thargomindah, 1100km west of Brisbane. Talkin SERIOUS outback here.
Now, cattle properties out west are measured in square miles, not acres and we were about 20 miles from the homestead and still only 2/3 of the way to the back boundary.
We had got a little stuck crossing a dry creek-bed and in getting the vehicle out had managed to rip a fair section of the exhaust system off.
The place we were looks like this...

...in pretty much any direction you look.
With the aid of my Wave we used some old fencing wire to tie together what was left of the exhaust and make some hangers for it. At least we managed to get the end of the exhaust out from under the 4WD so the rest of the day was a little less uncomfortable.
Needless to say with an open exhaust we managed to scare off every hog within miles and never saw a thing until we had fixed the exhaust properly that evening back at the main workshop shed.

but the wave saved the day initially.

Breezy12 · **Reply #41 on:** July 02, 2013, 08:17:13 AM

so many stories to choose from... this giveaway is making me think way too hard.

a few years back, my wife and I were helping some friends prepare for their wedding. they were on a somewhat limited budget, so they were decorating the hall/room being used for the reception themselves, and we were helping. the bride (one of my wife's best friends) wanted icicle-style Christmas lights hung from the rafters of the room. We had plenty of lights, but no way to hang them up... or so they thought. I went up on the ladder and noticed some old nails sticking out of the rafters that had probably been used to hang decorations many years before. However, the lights were too heavy to hang on the nails without falling off... until I pulled my Charge Ti out of my pocket and started bending the nails one by one to turn them into makeshift hooks.

It took awhile, but we got the lights up exactly how she wanted them. Later that weekend, at the actual wedding reception, the bride came over to me with a huge smile on her face and thanked me again for improvising a solution for the lights. She then promised me, "I will never make fun of you again for always carrying a Leatherman!"

we're still good friends, and she has kept that promise to this day.

Mr. Whippy · **Reply #42 on:** July 02, 2013, 02:23:40 PM

To continue the Leatherman theme:

I own and restore old Land Rovers. Back in the mid 1990's I was driving my 1967 Series IIa Land Rover to upstate New York for a Rover Rally. I decided to follow only backroads, for the adventure (well and the Rover tops out at around 64 mph). Here's the truck:

Somewhere north of the Poconos, the truck just stopped. As in the engine just shut off. Getting under the hood (after letting it cool a bit), I realized I had made a foolish mistake when I rewired the truck.

Land Rovers of that vintage have only 2 fuses for all the truck electrics. In order to protect the harness I had so lovingly installed, I put a 25A slow blow fusible link in the main harness coming from the alternator that leads into the main part of the wiring harness. The soldered connector had broken at the fusible link. So, although the alternator was charging the battery, no current could get to the rest of the truck!

I pulled out my Leatherman PST, and removed the offending fusible link but the cable was too short to span the gap.

. I only had a couple options to get back on the road. I decided to open the boombox I had (Remember Boomboxes?

) and pulled out several wires from it. I used 4 different 18 ga wires to make a wire large enough to carry the current that the 8 ga main cable delivered and spliced it in, again with the Leatherman PST.

Truck started right up and I even was able to partake in some of the offroading at the rally! (We were at a ski resort, so a lovely big hill to play on).

Lynn LeFey · **Reply #43 on:** July 02, 2013, 02:44:50 PM

Just this past Saturday, I was visiting my relatives, and had a bunch of MTs I'd brought to show my nephew. My brother-in-law, who knew I had a bunch of these, asked to borrow one, to unscrew a broken lightbulb from a light fixture. That light fixture was the only power to their barn, where they wanted to set up some music equipment for a party. I handed him the one I'd miss the least, in the event things went wrong: The Ozark Trails (Walmart brand) tool. It did the job and (maybe unfortunately) returned mere minutes later, unscathed.

Even the cheapos occasionally get their moments to shine.

adobo · **Reply #44 on:** July 02, 2013, 02:57:06 PM

It was the first time i'm meeting my would-be father-in-law, and I have been warned by my girlfriend then that her dad is a very reserved man, says less and do more. A retired engineer that has seen lot of major construction project under his command. I was not into Leatherman's then. Im a SAK guy. I really have no idea what present to give for my introduction, Then I decided to get him a Leatherman.

The available tool at my local store that time was some multitools named after a baby food brand

and a Leatherman Surge. It was a no brainer.

Fast forward to 4 years.. Ive given him Leathermans EVERY christmas (Wave, Charge and Supertool 300) and each time he opens the gift from me, He knew it was a Leatherman.. but still, eager like a kid for a new toy.

jojotlc · **Reply #45 on:** July 02, 2013, 03:22:11 PM

...over the long 3day weekend 2 wks ago, my MTO purchased multi saved the day for a couple of senior elders in a event to promote local delicacies .. Being a guest, I was seated, flipping my hp for websurfing..after a while, my wife whom is closest to one of the elderly approaches me, saying that the bottled LPG regulator is bad, and need to be replaced..else no one will able to cook, and no local delicacies to be eaten..

She knows that I keep my Skeletool in car dash stowage..and commandeered me to help out

..
Out come the trusted Skeletool PE blade, cutting thru reinforced PVC hose to make way for a new joint, and the Philip bit driver to tightened up the clamp...voillaaa..problem solved...gas stove lighted up and cooking commenced

Another great thing happening weeks before that was that I've received a mint LM Juice Pro, been patiently waiting for the right moment to grab one..saving me further itch to grab it further down the line

One of those many stories of MT usage moment

kkokkolis · **Reply #46 on:** July 02, 2013, 03:55:01 PM

Nothing heroic I can remember. My tools always saved my day though. For example, when I served my outreach duties as a young doctor, 20 years ago. I was serving for a year at a village on Dirfi mountain. Things were very primitive there and those days a man needed a can opener for real (I cut myself with a can there and still have the mark). I had no real toolbox, neither a knife other than my Swisschamp.

The Shadow · **Reply #47 on:** July 02, 2013, 07:12:49 PM

Went to a party this weekend. Host didn't put an opener by the beer cooler, so out came the Micra (always on my keychain) to save the day! Problem was the rest of the table saw me do it, so they kept bringing beer back, unopened, just to watch the Micra in action.

I should have brought my party knife, the C303 with the carabiner opener...

rdub934 · **Reply #48 on:** July 03, 2013, 02:06:25 AM

Myself and two missileers witnessed a vehicle accident as we were posting out last summer. A woman had fallen asleep at the wheel and managed to drive at highway speed through a large, albeit gradual ditch, through a barbed wire fence and well into a wheat field. I called upon my trusty Leatherman Wave to cut through a few of the strands of wire which had become hopelessly wrapped around the rear axle.

Funny thing was that the woman had her infant son in the backseat (yes, in a carseat) and he slept through the accident, and he remained asleep for another 45 minutes afterwards. Some kids sleep through anything. Not my daughter, though... Lol

nervium · **Reply #49 on:** July 03, 2013, 02:53:47 PM

nice giveaway i think...

yesterday my mom closed car's window glass upon my left hand fingers.my micra was in my right pocket with my keys, i used micra as a lever, to protect my fingers until mom opens it.she was in a panic too and i would break the glass as using my micra as a piece of stone if she cannot open it.

pain continues...

ThadMiller · **Reply #50 on:** July 03, 2013, 03:12:43 PM

Short and easy. On our last class reunion i was the only guy who was enable to open a bottle of wine because of my SAK SwissChamp

I was the hero of the night

gregozedobe · **Reply #51 on:** July 03, 2013, 03:31:41 PM

Another unexciting story but I do want to be in the draw (and my LM P4 did the job it was asked to do when and how it was needed

)

I was training my young dog ("Jet" - a 5 months old, super friendly working Border Collie) this morning at my local dog training club and decided to practice some recalls with him. Because he is so friendly I just knew he would want to run off and say hello to all the "new friends" (2 legged and 4 legged) that were around, so I wanted to train in the recall chute (a long skinny fenced off area with a gate at one end). Unfortunately the quick relase clip holding one of the gates to the fence (in the open position) was so tight I couldn't get it off by hand. P4 to the rescue - undo the bolt and re-adjust the clip so it could be undone and redone easily, all in just a couple of minutes.

As a bonus, Jet surprised me by both holding his stay and then coming straight to me without diverging to say hello to the several other BCs that were lining the fence wanting to say hello. And he did it several times, just to prove it wasn't a fluke ! I was impressed and happy, to say the least

NAB · **Reply #52 on:** July 03, 2013, 03:50:51 PM

Awesome Giveaway

Had to use my old Charge Ti and a glove compartment PST II to hold and saw through the metal boot bracket on a car's gear shifter. It was a really hot day in the middle of a parking lot, and a mother and infant were stuck with a car that wouldn't start b/c of the jammed up shifter. I cut through the backet and removed it. The mother was able to start the car and get the air going to get the little one cooled off. W/o those two Leathermans those two might have been stuck for awhile in some awful heat.

Jamie_M · **Reply #53 on:** July 03, 2013, 06:46:58 PM

About 2 years ago I was out on a boat fishing and through my own carelessness I ended up with a barbed hook through the webbing on my hand, used a Gerber Flik to cut the end off the hook and remove it. Thus letting me carry on fishing

dbeeks1 · **Reply #54 on:** July 03, 2013, 11:41:30 PM

Not sure if this counts... but here goes...

I work in tech support and had a guy ship me a USB flash drive because he wasn't able to get his files off of it. He said that it was broken, but wasn't sure what happened to it.

I removed the broken case/enclosure and found a tiny component that was broken off of the circuit board. I could see where it was supposed to be soldered on so I used the tweezers and toothpick from my Victorinox Craftsman to position the component and then carefully wrapped some tape around the board to hold it in place. I plugged it in, Windows recognized and installed the drive.

I was pretty excited when I called him to let him know that I was able to recover his files.

cannonball · **Reply #55 on:** July 04, 2013, 03:07:13 AM

Nothing earth changing. I put a book shelf together with my Wave for my 90 year old Father.

chris777 · **Reply #56 on:** July 04, 2013, 03:15:30 AM

Ok so like 15 years ago (at least) a buddy of mine has his radiator hose blow near Atlanta. I get the call to come help. I of course didn't have the foresight to bring a tool set. So we end up using my original wave, and Gerber 600(I think that's what it is) to change out the hose. As far as I know the hose is still on the thing, lol. This is the main reason I try and carry a pair now, because sometimes you need a tag team for the Job.

Ashley · **Reply #57 on:** July 04, 2013, 07:19:12 AM

Well its not really a save the day kinda things its about everyday. I carry a multi tool everyday because I use the pliers for monkey fist cord work and multiple other uses. Every time I think today I'm not carrying a multi I won't need it I always do!

never fails! Before I got my new ride I used my tool almost everyday at some point to jimmy the door lock/latch so the door would stay closed. One of those days I thought I wouldn't need the tool I ended up driving 10 mins while holding the door to keep it from swinging open. That was quite an interesting task to say the least....... Doors are much heavier then a person thinks.

Good Luck to all!

Ash's mobile on the move.

nuphoria · **Reply #58 on:** July 04, 2013, 04:41:30 PM

I think the best save I've ever used a MT for was getting half a broken key out of a lock.

Charge Ti, few seconds of fiddling... massive locksmiths bill avoided!

skygear · **Reply #59 on:** July 04, 2013, 07:33:26 PM

I'll start from the top, all in one outing.

1. Got stuck on a multi-pitch with my climbing partner that broke a bone from some loose rock that crushed his hand.
...a. opened my Charge TTI to use it as a pry bar to luft up the rock hus hand was stuck under.
...b. gut hook to cut the sleeve back.
...c. used the scissors on my Charge TTI to cut the skin to stitch the cut closed, then the S30V Knife to cut the suture

2. When he got stuck, he ditched his pack for whatever reason.
...a. Used the can opener to open up the empty fuel canister and made a stove with it using tinder i had in my pack and some dry brush that took hold in the cliff face. The birds nest I climbed to helped out too. Saw to cut some of the bigger pieces down and knife to split the wood into more manageable pieces.
...b. Took out a piece of wire framing from my pack and bent it into a holder for the newly fashioned stove using the pliers on it.
...c. Started the fire using the thin part of the File on my Charge TTI to shave off some of my fire steel then started the fire.
...d. Opened the dried food with the knife and stirred it with the file.

3. Spot was dead...
... a. used the screw driver to change the battery, so we could send for help.

used it a few times over the next few hours, but hopefully you get the jest of it.

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