Leatherman Tool Tales GAW

[Poncho65]

Well folks here we are again ANOTHER GAW

This time our friends at Leatherman Tool Group have been gracious enough to give us a Wave + Stock photo here but since it is actually coming from LM then it is as close to actual tool as possible



They have asked that we do a Leatherman Tales type GAW and they will send the Wave straight to the winner themselves helping out MTO a bit more by covering shipping to the recipient as well

Just post in here a story where a LM tool has gotten you out of a bind, saved the day or maybe even saved your life in an otherwise bad situation

We will let this run for the remainder of the month and it is open to all members Remember family friendly as always

Good luck everyone with all the tales and hope to hear some great stories guys

 

[jaya_man]

Another challenge and an awesome prize... what are you waiting for guys?

[Mechanickal]

Cool GAW!

Thank you for the Chance LM!

It was 2015.
I wasn't a multitool addict as I am now, but the vibe was there...

My parents left for a trip to Slovenia with their camping trailer for a month.

Shortly after arriving, they noticed oil spilling from their car after a stop at a supermarket.
They call up the roadside assistance who drag them off to a nearby garage.

They drive a Mazda Tribute (Ford Escape) which is a rare car here in Europe since they didn't catch on (SUV petrol powered aren't desirable here).


Sadly, the garage couldn't get the parts needed to repair the car.
End of holiday? Not by far.

My parents rented an Opel Corsa and drove home in a single day.
My dad is a mechanic himself and knew he needed a new gearbox.
So a mere week after they left, they were home in their rental car and my dad started removing the gearbox from a wreck he once bought for parts.

The day after they loaded the car with the "new" gearbox, tools and a jack, and drove off for Slovenia again.
Right before they drove off I went to say my goodbyes and put my, Charge AL in my mom's hands right before she closed the door.
It was my only multitool at the time and it felt strange being without.

My dad drove back to the campsite in a single day again and replaced the entire gearbox on the campsite's grass the next day.

He needed to build some bolts that weren't available in any DIY store so he made new ones with some threaded rods and bolts, but he didn't bring a metal saw!

I was told that the Charge wasn't ideal, but worked well enough not to drive to yet another DIY store again.

They finished their vacation as planned, but on the way back the car wouldn't turn off the cruise control!!

My dad pulled over by using some foot/handbrake combos and switching off the ignition.
Turned out that the cruise control throttle wire got undone and got trapped in it's own casing.

Out came the Charge again to cut the wire.
They got home safely and my Charge was given back to me, with a story to tell with it.
My dad still doesn't believe in the Multitool way but he never leaves for a vacation without a fully loaded toolbox now.

The roadside assistance they have should cover all expenses in foreign countries... And they did! They got a full refund for the rental car, the gas that went into it and even the threaded rods and bolts.

All in all, Leatherman did not save my day back then, but it did save my parents' entire vacation!

[ducttapetech]

I got so many stories where my Surge has help me limp tractors or equipment back to shop/barn or helped fix a truck on the side of the road or cutting out cattle tangled in fencing. Very nice of LM to do this. Good luck everyone!

[jorritvS]

Not necessarily a life saving moment but a while ago the bike of a friend of mine was stolen.

A few days later we saw the same bike standing at the station. Of course we called the police and after proving the bike was ours they assisted in getting/ legally stealing it back.

They got a pair of pliers from the car but couldn't open it. The tried with another even bigger one but still no luck.

Luckily I had my Leatherman Surge with me. And being as indestructible as it is, it was able to get the bike back.

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[kottskrapa]

Very nice GAW and looking forward to read awl the stories!

[It's not failure if you learn something from it]

[Raoul Octav]

I'm in.
My stories aren't so wow factor , i'm just a DIY Macgyver type of guy, and i use LMN since 2009, when i first managed to buy a LMN in the Land of Dracula.
They were precious and rare commodities back than. Nowadays they are more obtainable, guess the world finally knows we're not all vampires.
Since than, many things have been fixed, repaired, done with the Leathermans i owned.
From Laptops/tablets, consoles, jewelery to fixing stuff to my motorcycles, cars , around and in the house and even kitchenware. All done with me hands and a Leatherman.
The most memorable memory i have with a LMN, is off course with the first one that i got, a Surge gen.1.
 After a year or so, when i made the decision to save and chase a Leatherman, i finally found and bought a LMN from a guy who was in the US and brought back some souvenirs to sell .
I was really happy, bouncing here and there with the multitool, and when my future wife came home, i presented it to her, being really excited...and the futurewife was so lame in response, saying...what are you so hyped about a plier! Totally opposed feelings
Nowadays she's satisfied, and has some knowledge on multitools, as i fix things she needs too.

[SteveC]

Back in the 1990's shortly after I bought my first PST I was camping in the mountains of Colorado with some friends. We had our dogs with us of course. One of my friends had a Wolf hybrid dog that had been known to go after critters. We were a full day hike from civilization and were enjoying being away from it all. We had all just woken up and were getting ready to rustle up some breakfast when the dogs heard something rustling nearby. They all took off  chasing something and that's when we heard a loud yelp. The dogs came slinking back into camp and the wolf dog , whose name was Lakota had a bunch  of spiky things sticking out of his mussel.  Yep, you guessed right he had caught up to a porcupine.
 
His owner tried to pull them out with his fingers but that was not working very well as he could'nt get a good enough grip. That's when I remembered that I had put my new Leatherman in my pack. I had almost decided not to bring it because I always carried a knife on my belt when I camped. Well it's a good thing I did because the pliers worked perfectly for getting hold of those quills and pulling them out. The dog was not too happy during the process but I think he was after they were all pulled out.   

Now you would think that a dog would learn it's lesson after an ordeal like that. Sadly Lakota was not the brightest of dogs  and got into it with a few more porcupines in his lifetime   

Anyway,  my PST saved the day on that camping trip   

[Poncho65]

Lots of great stories so far

I need to put a disclaimer up folks

I am not sure either way but these stories could possibly be used by LM on their site as a whole or perhaps just the winner I am not sure of all the details like this and can understand if you want your story taken away we can edit it but it will put you out of the running for a nice shiny Wave+

Figured I better put that out there in case anyone was in question

I will also edit this if I find out for sure whether this is true or not

[RF52]

Great stories guys! Love hearing real life use like this

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[LoopCutter]

Great GAW, yet iirc one of our members had a major problem with his horse trailer and horses on a highway in which his Wingman saved the whole load.  Can we locate the post and copy paste it here for him?
Sorry at work and not able to do search!


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[Nix]

I can't recall a specific story, but it seems that I've carried a Leatherman forever.

My Leatherman saw the most frequent use when I was deployed.  It got used for everything from opening rations, to cleaning weapons, to improving a hootch. My Leatherman Charge AL became my favorite multitool and went with me everywhere. I couldn't imagine deploying without one now!

[SteveC]

Great GAW, yet iirc one of our members had a major problem with his horse trailer and horses on a highway in which his Wingman saved the whole load.  Can we locate the post and copy paste it here for him?
Sorry at work and not able to do search!


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No, If he wants to post his story that is up to him .

[Mechanickal]

That was Glenfiddich IIRC.

And I'd be flattered if LM used my story on their site

[Poncho65]

No, If he wants to post his story that is up to him .

  there can't be stories posted on someone else's behalf

[CeHo]

Great stories guys

I was with my brother in Sweden and we were on a bigger lake for pike fishing. The day was great and we caught some pikes (the biggest one was 91 cm).

In the evening we are on the way back home with the small boat. Then we had problems with the engine - and 4km distance to the holiday house. After a short stop on an island we noticed that the engine wasn’t the problem. Some fishingline was wrapped around the propeller. We tried to cut of the fishingline but it didn’t work. It went to deep under the propeller construction... the sun was going down ... we had to loosen two screws and get the safety pin out. I took my 1998 Sideclip out of my pocket, we removed the screws, the safety pin and the propeller  and solved the problem.

We came back at home with the last 5 minutes of daylight. It was not very critical but the bed was good after a long fishing day 👍

I had so many tools and knives for EDC but at the end of the day I went back to my Sideclip. The Wave with the replaceable wire cutters would be a great new EDC tool.

Best regards CeHo

[LoopCutter]

No, If he wants to post his story that is up to him .

Understood, I was trying to remember the member and search would not work. Just thought a proxy entry would possible.  My bad


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[glenfiddich1983]

Great GAW, yet iirc one of our members had a major problem with his horse trailer and horses on a highway in which his Wingman saved the whole load.  Can we locate the post and copy paste it here for him?
Sorry at work and not able to do search!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That was Glenfiddich IIRC.

And I'd be flattered if LM used my story on their site

I don’t have horses, nor do I have a horse trailer. 

I don’t even have a Wingman, heck I don’t even have any kind of Leatherman at all!

Now, I do have a car and there is a highway nearby.

Would it help if I tell you the story about that day I was driving on the highway without my horses, horsetrailer and Wingman?

[Poncho65]

 

[Mechanickal]

Ok, so IDNRC...

[LoopCutter]

~

Would it help if I tell you the story about that day I was driving on the highway without my horses, horsetrailer and Wingman?

Does it include another Leatherman tool?

Then, YES!




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[glenfiddich1983]

Does it include another Leatherman tool?

Then, YES!




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Another Leather man, hmm...

 

What if in the story I would wear leather boots, a leather belt and a leather jacket?

[Mechanickal]

Brain bleach...

[EMZ]

No, If he wants to post his story that is up to him .

Well, this is my story which a posted earlier in another thread. Thanks to LoopCutter who made me aware of this GAW (I don't even know what this abbreviation means...)

In May 2019 my wife and I bought a young horse. The poor animal wasn’t used to travel in a horse trailer and our journey would take about two hours, without traffic jams. So we had a challenge.
First, the horse was very reluctant to enter the trailer. That did cost us about half an hour of hard work.
Second, traffic was much heavier than expected. So by the time we were half way, the first traffic jams started.

In a large curve in the highway the horse had to pee. Due to the centrifugal forces and the urinated, wet floor of the horse trailer, the horse slipped, tripped and lost its balance. In order to restore its balance the horse jumped up, and ended with his forelegs over the front cross bar! That's over 545 kilograms of in fact uncontrollable animal...
Anybody familiar with horses and horse trailers know this is an extremely dangerous situation. Luckily we were accompanied by a friend who was driving behind us in order to check the safety of the horse and trailer. She saw what had happened and immediately informed us that we had to make an emergency stop on the highway’s safety lane. So we did and checked the situation. We realized we were in a live threatening situation. If the horse would panic (something they usually do in sort like circumstances) the change of one of us being killed would be very likely. Cars and trucks were passing us with 90 km/h within 3-4 feet!

To be honest, we were all three fighting against our panic. I really felt for a few seconds the best option was to run away and leave it all behind. Of course this was no real option, but we had to fight our emotions. We first called the emergency services to inform them of the dangerous situation we were in.
Then I realized the horse trailer has a special emergency release for the inner front bars.
You see, the front bar on the inside is attached to a plate that is secured with a screw to the outer wall of the trailer. (Se picure)
The screw is on the outside of the trailer ,so it van be reached from the outside. (You don’t want to be inside a trailer when a horse panics. I’ve seen horses escape through the trailer’s roof, which can easily kill a horse.)
However the screw was tightened very fast. It had never been used or unscrewed for about 10 years. I could not unscrew it with my bare hands. I had to have a large screw driver or something alike, but that was somewhere buried in the back of the fully loaded car’s trunk. Then I realized I have my Leatherman Wingman always within reach of the driver’s position! I quickly got is and folded one handle outwards. Now I had a long piece of steel that I could use as a lever to loosen the emergency screw. It did take me a few seconds to unloosen the screw and free the horse which was still hanging on this front bar. (And meanwhile the trucks were still driving at high speed at only 1-2 meters of my body. Also it had stared to rain; not normal rain, no it was a real down pour!)

The horse was also tied down to the cross bar with a rope (the rope can be seen in the picture). The knot was also 10 years old and was so tight it couldn't be untied by hand. That was the second time that day the LM came in handy!
I used the screw driver as a pry (or awl) to open the knot.
Maybe, just maybe I would have run away if I hadn't had the LM multi-tool.

Anyway, after the horse was freed, we drove to a nearby parking lot, where we called for a vet. The vet gave the stressed horse some tranquilizers.
As ar result of driving on the safety lane, the horse trailer got a flat tire. We had to fix that also. We waited until the traffic jams were gone and then we headed for home.
The horse survived with minor bruises and cuts on his forelegs. The most astonishing was that all the time it did’t panic!!

Thanks to my Leatherman Wingman we quickly could get away out of this live threatening situation. Unfortunately I had to put a little bit too much force on the multi-tool, so now the tools in one of the legs won’t open easily. But who cares!

Good luck to you all!

[RF52]

Glad it all worked out and everyone was fine
And great story!

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[Poncho65]

Lot of great stories everyone

I said I will let this run til the end of the month but if we go several days without any new stories I may call it early

[EMZ]

Lot of great stories everyone

I said I will let this run til the end of the month but if we go several days without any new stories I may call it early

Please share your Leatherman adventures with us!!

Here's another adventure I had, but not so life threatening as the previous story.

In 2018 my wife and I were having dinner in this fancy restaurant when suddenly a large piece of my replacement crown for one of my molars broke off. Modern day replacement crown are made of ceramics so the remainings were sharp as a razor blade. In fact, at the moment the piece broke off, the remainings were nothing more than a piece of broken glass cemented into my mouth! Dang, the sharp ceramic remains cut immediately in my tongue.
Luckily I had in my car a LM Charge TTi with the diamond file. So there I was, standing in front of the mirror in the men's toilets with my mouth wide open and my small Olight in one hand and in the other hand my Charge with diamond file, filing on the piece of ceramics in my mouth. However, the LM did the job and I could finish my dinner without too much hurting my tongue.
LM saved the date.

[RF52]

Great story That must have been quite a sight for the other people walking in

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[LoopCutter]

Wow, that is a great story EMZ and no tool was damaged in the process.
I have been fortunate that my crowns that have failed broke at or below to the point of cementing, actual failure of the original tooth below gum.

However that would be good reason to carry a spare file/saw blade kit for a Surge.


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[EMZ]

Great story That must have been quite a sight for the other people walking in

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Wish you hadn't mentioned it... 
For at least 10 minutes I was fumbling around with the tool and flashlight in front of a mirror next to the toilets where men stand to pee. It was a large restaurant, with many visitors, so also with many men answering nature's call. Nevertheless I blessed my LM's diamond file! (I think a normal file won't do the job, because of the extreme hardness of the crowns ceramics.)