An interesting quandry for the multi-tool enthusiast.

[Spoonrobot]

It's always nice to happen upon multis in odd places.

The kitchen crew at the Student Union are taking their daily post-rush smoke break. It's obvious today was a busy day, tightly drawn lips adorn the faces of the different cooks, each staring blankly into the distance, minds somewhere far away from the tired body slouching on the loading dock. Charles, the head dishwasher leans his lanky body against the loading-dock guardrail, enjoying the weak winter sun with a smug look on his face. He reaches into his back pocket, his down jacket moves with his arm and exposes a battered leather sheath hanging tiredly from his belt. I take notice from my seat on top of a milk-crate and gesture with my cigarette, "What's 'at?" He grins and pulls a familiar hunk of metal out of the sheath, too far away to identify as it moves around in his hand so I get up and walk a little closer to examine it as he answers, "This? This is my do-all, does-all tool. I got all sorts of smurf on here. Tree-cutter, meat-cutter, fingernail scissors, drivers, passengers." He laughs heartily at the last item and looks around for a crowd reaction, a few of the cooks smile. He begins unfolding the implements to show me. I look closely, no damage to the blades, all the drivers are there and the scissors appear to be working fine. The wire cutters are a little dinged up and the tool is pretty dirty overall but there is little rust and it is in fairly good condition.
   
"I don't know exactly what it is but I can read plain as day that it's a Leatherman. Have to look it up and see what I got tonight." He explains as I flip the tool over in my hand and check the date code; 9908. Very decent shape for a tool that's closing in on 9 years of service. Mike, the Sous Chef asks to see it and begins examining it. I take a slow drag on my cigarette and sit back down, Mike and Charles converse about the tool and Mike offers him 10 dollars for it. Charles laughs him off, urges him to go higher. I turn and offer 20 dollars and a smile. Charles shakes his head at Mike, "Sorry boss, looks like you got outbid." I agree to bring the money the next day, shaking on it.

 Mike checks his watch, flicks his stubby cigarette off the dock and grunts "Break's over, let's prep out tomorrow and go home." He enters the building, the rest of the cooks on the dock tidy themselves up and follow. Over the next few hours of prep time I do some thinking. As a middle-age dishwasher with a wife, several children, car payments, rent, living costs and so forth I imagine it is a rare thing indeed that Charles would happen upon a quality tool like the Leatherman Wave. I'm not sure where he got it from but I am sure he is not the original owner. I am also sure that if I buy it from him he will not expend any effort to buy another tool. Now, as a multi-tool enthusiast I am constantly expounding upon the virtues of carrying tools, I tell everyone their advantages, how much they can do and how well they help negotiate the minefield of modern life. Should I take the tool from someone who would otherwise not experience it? A quandry I was not expecting, but one that needs to be addressed. I already have three copies of this tool in my collection, each of a different vintage, adding this one would only showcase minor changes but it is a discontinued model and collectibility is always lurking the dark corners.

What does MTO think about the matter?

[I'm Still Bison]

 The bleding heart in me says buy it;the guy could probaby stand having a few extra bucks at Christmastime.
 The bargain hunter in me says buy it;$20 for a Wave is unbeatable.
 The multi junkie says buy it,and give it a good home where it would be appreciated.
 The schmuck in me says buy it,and sell it to me after Christmas for $20-25
So right there,there's 4 votes to buy it.
 Welcome back.

[Spoonrobot]

The bleding heart in me says buy it;the guy could probaby stand having a few extra bucks at Christmastime.
 The bargain hunter in me says buy it;$20 for a Wave is unbeatable.
 The multi junkie says buy it,and give it a good home where it would be appreciated.
 The schmuck in me says buy it,and sell it to me after Christmas for $20-25
So right there,there's 4 votes to buy it.
 Welcome back.

Agree, a Wave isn't going to buy any presents for his kids.
Agree, it's in good shape too.
Agree, there isn't a tool in my stable that doesn't get used over the course of any given month.
Sell it to you? This tool? Oh, no. I got this one for 55$ but I guess I can let it go for 40$. I got a guy coming over to see it later, so you should hurry up if you want it.

 

[prime77]

The original Wave is one of my favorite tools as well. Id say buy it. One more to the collection is always nice.

Welcome back

+1

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Welcome back fella, long time no see

In all likelyhood the guys skint and you'd probably be doing him a favour, by buying it , if you conscience is still giving you a hard time give him an extra $5 for it

Plus the wave will be going to an enthusiast, who'll take good care of it

[Sea Monster]

Despite losing a few treasured items in ill-conceived trades of the past, I've never bothered to think that someone else might foolishly trade or sell something they would otherwise be better off keeping.

If you're that worried about it why not trade him a Multi that is just as functional for him but doesn't mean us much as the Old Wave to you?

[Grant Lamontagne]

If he'll sell it to you for $20, he'll sell it to anyone else without realizing teh real value of it- at least, not until it's gone, at which point, introduce him to Multitool.org so he can make an informed decision when replacing it!

Def

[Anthony]

I say "cut the Wave in half, then you BOTH can have it!"

Seriously though if you've got an old Gerber or something you don't use, ask him if he wants a new tool and $10. 

He still can carry a tool, and have $10 for some stocking stuffers (or a pack of cigs!)

Say the Gerber is worth $30 and with the extra $10 in cash he'll get $40 worth out of the deal, and you'll get an old Wave with a story behind it.

EDIT: overall I don't think I could "take away" a multi or knife from someone who carries one, even if it was offered for some cash.

[NeitherExtreme]

Well, I think for me it kinda depends if he was really going to sell it for $10 if you didn't offer $20... If so, then I say do it. If not, I'm not sure I'd want to take someone elses "history tool" for 20 bucks. Then again I'm probalby too attatched to my own MTs in the first place. Either way, I think putting a trade in the deal some how might be a great thing to do if you've got the tool for it.

In the end though, if he's willing to part with it for 20 (and you obviously aren't twisting his arm), then no foul done anyhow you look at it. He's a grown man.

[Spoonrobot]

I went ahead and bought it from him.





This tool has seen some heavy use but doesn't appear to be abused at all. It's a little tighter at the pivot points than my 10$ Wave so it will see some EDC rotation time.

Ah, the new-tool feeling is such a wonderful thing.

[Anthony]

I can see people carrying the "old Wave" 20 years from now.  Looks good...is that a wire holding the sheath together?  That's dedication!

[Carthas]

It's funny, but my old Wave pouch did the exact same thing with the button - so annoying ><. I'll bet the wire there is to hold on the belt loop, which also started coming off. Anyone know ways to fix the button? PS looks like it could do with some WD40/3in1 action.