Leatherman PST production, per Tim

[J-sews]

Figuring out the production sequence on early Leatherman PST's has proven to be particularly difficult. Even with the substantial database of information compiled in the Leatherman PST chronology project thread (LINK) we still have a number of unanswered questions. For instance;

"Were the riveted models the very first PST's, and for how long were they produced?"

"Why does there seem to be no pattern to certain blade/handle/plier head combinations on the early tools?"

"When did the Leatherman Tool Group begin date coding their tools?"

In an effort to clarify these and many other questions, we have gone directly to the source. And by source, I mean THE source! The following is from Tim himself, graciously provided to us by an unnamed source within the Leatherman organization:

 
"From day one, in 1983, we have had our factory here in Portland, Oregon, from which we produced more than 10 million PSTs.  From late 1985 until early 1989, in an attempt to fill exponential demand, we also had about 300,000 PSTs produced in Japan.  The easiest way to identify the Japan PSTs is that they used rivets, with smooth heads, instead of pins and screws, with knurled heads to connect the blades and jaws to the handles.
 
The blogger is correct that in the early years we were making changes too numerous to go back and catalog.  The slight variations in the PSTs were caused by subtle changes in design, changes in manufacturing methods, and changes in parts due to changes of suppliers.   
 
The approximate date of production for PSTs after November, 1992 is fairly easy to ascertain.  Starting in November, 1992, there is a date stamp, month and year, in the bottom of the inside of the handles.  The 4 digit date stamp, for example 1192, shows the month and year we blanked the handles in the punch presses in our factory.  The blanked handles went into finished tools within a month or so, after completing all the other operations that were done on the handles, and all the other parts that go into a PST, and after assembly of the tool.  After that the tools would have been in inventory at our factory, perhaps for only a few days or perhaps longer, depending on demand and season, and then shipped to our customers, and subsequently sold to consumers.
 
Another complication of identifying the age of tools is that a tool that came back for warranty could have a hodgepodge of parts.  For the most part we replaced damaged parts with new parts, but on the other hand we sometimes replaced damaged parts with older parts, still good, cannibalized from older tools."


Wow. That certainly causes me rethink what I thought I knew!

[NeitherExtreme]

Hehe, good luck.

Nice to hear from the man himself though.

[Hoghead]

J-sews,

Thank you for the informatin from the horses mouth so to speak!

[american lockpicker]

Would it be possible to find out the origin of various parts used in current Leathermans?

[Smitty44]

That really helps clear things up,and it sounds like I might have one of the oldest PST in our group,got mine in late Oct. or early Nov. 1983.

[prime77]

It's great to hear from the man himself. It must have been really interesting  in the early days of the Leatherman Tool Group.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Nice one Bob

[Grant Lamontagne]

This pretty well re-writes multitool history as we know it!  The old theory was that all original tools were manufactured in Japan until the Leatherman factory was opened in the US.  This is amazing information on par with finding out that the world isn't really flat.

If this info had come from anyone else but Tim Leatherman, I'd have seriously doubted it.

Def

[Spoonrobot]

10 Million+ PSTs!

Wow.

[MultiMat]

Crikey & wow. So my PST was made in Japan  . Thanks Bob 

[Pacu]

Japan...that's interesting in itself. Seems like production costs there wouldn't be cost effective. How much was a new PST back in the early 80's?

[Smitty44]

Japan...that's interesting in itself. Seems like production costs there wouldn't be cost effective. How much was a new PST back in the early 80's?

Reg.price $39.95,sale price $34.95 per Cabela's price.

[Benner]

What an interesting response!    It is great that he has taken time to give such a detailed email.

And well done Bob on the good work! 

[hawkchucker]

you realy got to hand it to a company pres and founder tthat answers his own mail. Very inpressed also with the info!

[Poncho65]

That really helps clear things up,and it sounds like I might have one of the oldest PST in our group,got mine in late Oct. or early Nov. 1983.

  Well I got that part right ( about it being possibly 1 of the first ) then I took a left @ Albuquerque and went out into left field

Thanks 4 the thread Bob really helped answer some good questions and coming from none other than top LM man himself now we have to rethink what we know of the mighty PST but that's what this place is about finding out all things multi

[DaveK]

Well he should know I guess

So, ALL the smooth headed riveted models were from Japan then! Must admit I'd not considered that some of the unusual "hodgepodge" tools could all be warranty fixes.....

[J-sews]

I gotta tell you guys this was rather stunning information when I first read it. Like Def says, it has just been taken for granted that the JAPAN riveted models were the "first" PST's, and then the knurled-screw USA versions came along later. How wrong we were!

Instead there were knurled-screw USA models produced for about two years prior to the riveted models, which were imported from Japan as a stop gap measure. Which explains perfectly why we see slightly different blades, handles, and plier heads on these riveted tools.

It all makes sense now.

[ringzero]

The following is from Tim himself, graciously provided to us by an unnamed source within the Leatherman organization:
"From day one, in 1983, we have had our factory here in Portland, Oregon, from which we produced more than 10 million PSTs.  From late 1985 until early 1989, in an attempt to fill exponential demand, we also had about 300,000 PSTs produced in Japan.  The easiest way to identify the Japan PSTs is that they used rivets, with smooth heads, instead of pins and screws, with knurled heads to connect the blades and jaws to the handles.

This helps me to pin down when I bought my LM Tool.

I recall having it along on a backpacking trip in the winter of 1985/1986.  Since it was made in Japan, I couldn't have bought it any earlier than 1985.

Therefore, my LM Tool must have been purchased sometime late in 1985.

.

[Poncho65]

The following is from Tim himself, graciously provided to us by an unnamed source within the Leatherman organization:
"From day one, in 1983, we have had our factory here in Portland, Oregon, from which we produced more than 10 million PSTs.  From late 1985 until early 1989, in an attempt to fill exponential demand, we also had about 300,000 PSTs produced in Japan.  The easiest way to identify the Japan PSTs is that they used rivets, with smooth heads, instead of pins and screws, with knurled heads to connect the blades and jaws to the handles.

This helps me to pin down when I bought my LM Tool.

I recall having it along on a backpacking trip in the winter of 1985/1986.  Since it was made in Japan, I couldn't have bought it any earlier than 1985.

Therefore, my LM Tool must have been purchased sometime late in 1985.

.

  That's great another mystery solved

[J-sews]

This is great stuff.   I can't emphasize enough how much we all appreciate Mr Leatherman taking time out of his busy schedule to answer a few silly questions. Such a detailed response too, which must have taken awhile to compose. I just see this as one more example of the high priority Leatherman places on great customer relations.

[Poncho65]

I agree they seem to have a great customer service dept. and for the man himself to compose a letter that had to have taken @ least a few minutes out of his busy schedule I have already said but it's very nice indeed