Tiny Toolkits in the Palm of Your Hand

Image Gallery What do you do when the tractor won’t start? Reach for a multitool such as the Leatherman Crunch™ and u se its file component to clean the battery’s terminal posts and cable clamps. Oscar H. Will III

They’re here to stay, getting more sophisticated every year, and you shouldn’t go anywhere without one. No, I’m not talking about cell phones. I’m talking about multi-tools, those incredibly useful toolkits that fit neatly in your hand.

I would choose a multi-tool over a cell phone - even though both are handy - for the simple reason that the multi-tool empowers you to help yourself, while the cell phone limits you to calling for help.

Found objects like rocks, bones and antler tine were among the first multiuse tools our ancestors took in hand, but luckily they were never quite satisfied with what they found. Fast-forward through the ages to the Industrial Revolution and significantly more purposeful designs emerged including cast-iron hammers with handles that doubled as wrenches and multi-bladed folding jackknives.

Originally considered an aristocratic novelty, the jackknife evolved from gentleman’s accessory to hard-working gizmo, and, by the mid-1900s, most agriculturists carried a jackknife. Handy as it was, the jackknife notably lacked pliers or wire cutters – essential implements that farmers tucked into dedicated leather cases worn on the belt. Most farmers also gathered screwdrivers, saws, files, hammers and other indispensables in a five-gallon bucket left to rattle around in the back of his or her pickup truck, which led to the ultimate dilemma: Which tools do you carry to that back-40 fence repair that’s only accessible on foot? There had to be a better way.

Tim Leatherman wasn’t worried about which tools he needed for rough country fence repair when he envisioned the original pliers-based multi-tool in 1975. He was concerned with keeping his old car roadworthy on an epic European journey, returning to this country with sketches and a cardboard mockup of what eventually became the Pocket Survival Tool™ (PST). Leatherman launched his namesake company (and an entire industry, as it turns out) in late 1983 with two somewhat skeptical orders for the innovative PST – it was an instant hit with farmers, tradespeople, bicyclists and virtually everyone else who picked one up. I received my PST shortly after its debut, and it quickly replaced just about every tool in my five-gallon bucket except the hammer. The PST also whetted my appetite for similar tools.

Since Tim Leatherman’s kick-start in the early 1980s, the multi-tool industry has exploded into a multi-million dollar enterprise that continues to thrive. Today’s farmers can choose from among scores of different models and several high-quality manufacturers. Most multi-tools are general purpose and include the standard array of cutting edges, screwdrivers, wire cutters and pliers, but other more specialized models geared for hunting, gardening or blasting are also available.