Grudgingly climbing aboard the multitool bandwagon

“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” — Edward A. Murphy Jr.

ALBANY‒ Spend enough time outdoors, and chances are you’re going to break something. Spend that time with me, and it’s not a matter of if, it’s more a matter of when.

Fortunately for me, I have one hunting companion who makes the rest of us look like we’ve got the luck of a leprechaun. Stan Murphy is convinced that there must be a very close genealogical connection to Edward, who as an aerospace engineer originated what he now considers to be the family motto.

Fortunately for “Murph” and others with our luck, another engineer had a vison that proved to be a game-changer for anyone trying to stay in the field with a quick McGuyver fix. In 1975, while touring Europe with his wife in a $300 Fiat in need of frequent repairs, Tim Leatherman often found himself in need of a set of pliers and other simple hand tools.

Upon his return to the States, Leatherman was determined to put his recently acquired engineering degree to use and develop what he envisioned as, “A Boy Scout knife with pliers.” With his wife’s blessing, he went to work in his garage workshop while she went to work to support the family. Five years later, his efforts were rewarded with his first patent. Sadly, this didn’t mean a whole lot because now that Leatherman had achieved his goal, nobody else seemed to see the value of his creation.

“I went to knife companies, and they said, "Sorry, it’s not a knife it’s a tool,'" Leatherman said. "I went to the tool companies, and they said, 'Sorry, it’s not a tool. It’s a gadget, and gadgets don’t sell.'”

After a few more years of continued perseverance, Letherman got his first sale when Cabela’s agreed to purchase 500 units for catalog sales.

“You can’t believe how happy I was to finally have a sale,” he said.

However, it still wasn’t smooth sailing. By 1983, his invention with parallel-action pliers and its other features added up to a tool that would cost $40 (equivalent to $113 today). Cabela’s felt that the purchase price for the tool presented to them was too high for a new unproven gadget. Leatherman was sent back to the drawing board, where he removed and modified features until he reached the $25 target price. Doing so forced him to do away with the original double-pliers in exchange for the needle-nose variety. In the end the versatility of the needle-nose pliers turned out to be a blessing, allowing the tool to trim and strip wire, pull splinters, undo knots and perform a multitude of delicate tasks in the field.

I wish I could say I was ahead of the curve when it comes to the multitool craze that Leatherman’s invention created. Sadly, I wouldn’t get on the bandwagon for a number of reasons. First and foremost, I thought they were a gimmick. I mean, it looked like a Swiss Army knife on steroids. I always carried a high-quality pocketknife and if need be, I could find any tool I needed in my truck or back in the shop.

Then a few decades ago, Murphy struck again, disabling the ATV I was riding. Suddenly, stranded miles from my truck and camp, I was facing a long walk out. Then I remembered the Leatherman in my daypack. In a matter of minutes, the pliers and screwdriver attachments allowed me to make a field repair and had me motoring on. Since that day I have had a multitool close at hand. Numerous times, having one on hand has saved me from wasting my time afield searching for a simple tool or having to go get one.

The first Leatherman had nine basic tools: pliers, knife, file, can opener, Philips head screwdriver, three straight blade screw drivers, and an awl. Since Cabela’s helped kick off the multitool trend, I went to their current catalog to discover today they offer more than 40 tools with prices ranging from the $25 gimmick sweet spot to $200. Many of these tools are specialized with a focus on firearms, cycling, camping or tactical applications.

One final nod to Murphy: When using a multitool, always keep the knife blades folded when not in use. A few years ago, I ran into a friend who was literally limping along. When I enquired how he had hurt himself, he grudgingly acknowledged, “I was trying to pull the safety pin loose on my trailer hitch with my multipliers. The good news is the pin came free. The bad news is I stuck the tool's knife blade all the way into my thigh.”