All About Pocket Knives

There seem to be a lot of models of the Leatherman. I got this one today. No model name or number.
Is this an early one? It's in great shape. 4 inches long, folded.

Thanks for looking.

Joe that appears to be the Leatherman PST (Personal Survival Tool), the original Leatherman model. Below is a link to additional info.

https://www.leatherman.com/pst-77.html

I'm no expert on Leathermans but that's an old one. The first one was the PST model, which I think was discontinued at some point. I have a PST that I got in the early 1990s IIRC. It's also 4 inches, looks like yours but says "Leatherman" on the leather belt pouch. The one I have, the ruler is marked in inches only, no centimeters. I'm guessing but yours looks maybe older than mine.

Ken

Open the tool up, under the blades should be a four-digit code on the inside of the bottom of the handle, first two for month, last two for year. The Marlboro Country Store version (which you have) was made in the mid-to-late 1990s, so it should have a date code. Some older ones (made 1993 and before) don't, as well as a few select modern models like the Skeletool.

My PST has no numbers. Apparently it is pre-date code, which makes sense given your info. Wish I could remember when exactly when I bought it. Looked at my Crunch, it's stamped 1012.

Ken

Original Joe with a USA plier joint great little PST

garddogg56 wrote:Original Joe with a USA plier joint great little PST

I agree. Really, the original Leatherman did what it was named a true "Pocket Survival Tool" with just the stuff to get one out of a bind and still weighing little more than your standard pocketknife. They recently released a slightly different PST, a "collector's edition" that's about $200 (and given they had to make new components, and thus tooling, you think the PST would become a regular model at close to its original $50 price. Really nothing comes close, with SOG having got rid of the PocketPowerPlier and the Paratool a couple years back for newer, but inferior offerings.

Thanks for the great responses, guys.

Thank you, Phil, for the link. Mine does look like that one shown.

Thank you, Ken, for the nice pictures and the information on yours. Apparently yours is older than mine since it has no date.

cody6268, you are eligible for gold star status.
Thanks for that information. Much appreciated. I didn't think to look in the blade well.
Mine has no marking concerning PST. What is Marlboro Country Store?
I have never owned a Leatherman. Heard quite a bit about them on the forum. I was pleased when I bought this one for $35 today
at a flea market. I'm even more pleased now. The sheath was a bit of a giveaway but it looked like an older tool. It sure is well made.
Carried long but hardly used. Still tight. Attached picture of my date stamp. (1293)

Thanks Dogg, it is a dandy.

Thanks again for all the input and information, guys.

Until now I had never paid much attention to the markings on my PST. But after this discussion and gdogg's comment about USA marked on the pliers I was thinking "I don't remember seeing that on mine." Sure enough it doesn't have it. Then after examining it more closely I found the knife tang is stamped "Leatherman Japan"!

Which led me to the Internet for some research. I found a couple of posts about it, including a ~ 10 year old post from none other than supratentorial, who posts here occasionally also, quoting a letter from Tim Leatherman explaining the "Leathernan Japan" marking. Seems that in the early years after Tim Leathernan introduced his Leatherman Tool, the company couldn't keep up with demand. So apparently for about three years they outsourced some of the production to Japan. There were at least 4 different markings and some tooling variations that can be used to identify those manufactured in Japan, of which mine is one. Sometime mid-to-late 1980s all production was moved back to Portland, OR.

Other differences include larger letters used for the "Leatherman" stamped on the handle, and the imperial-only ruler markings - no metric ruler. And of course, no USA stamped on it.

Ken

Thank you, Ken, for that very interesting information. I wonder how many people knew that the Leatherman was made in Japan for three years. And thanks for the picture. Great stuff.

Ken, in the PST world of collecting yours is known as a riveted PST. There are several variations of the riveted PST. The PST was made from the fall of 1983 to 2004. Then last date stamp I know of is 1004.

DM11 wrote:Ken, in the PST world of collecting yours is known as a riveted PST. There are several variations of the riveted PST. The PST was made from the fall of 1983 to 2004. Then last date stamp I know of is 1004.

Thanks David! Like I said I never paid much attention to its details. But I'm learning now. Were the riveted ones only made in Japan? If so I'm guessing there were fewer of them made than other, non-riveted versions?

Ken

FRJ wrote:Thanks for the great responses, guys.

Thank you, Phil, for the link. Mine does look like that one shown.

Thank you, Ken, for the nice pictures and the information on yours. Apparently yours is older than mine since it has no date.

cody6268, you are eligible for gold star status.
Thanks for that information. Much appreciated. I didn't think to look in the blade well.
Mine has no marking concerning PST. What is Marlboro Country Store?
I have never owned a Leatherman. Heard quite a bit about them on the forum. I was pleased when I bought this one for $35 today
at a flea market. I'm even more pleased now. The sheath was a bit of a giveaway but it looked like an older tool. It sure is well made.
Carried long but hardly used. Still tight. Attached picture of my date stamp. (1293)

Thanks Dogg, it is a dandy.

Thanks again for all the input and information, guys.

Your welcome! Glad I could be of assistance.

The Marlboro Country store was a catalog where one could send proofs of purchase off of cigarette packs to buy items, mostly camping gear. In terms of knives and multitools, there were four SAK models (three had exclusive tool configurations)--the Troubleshooter, Trail Guide, Outdoorsman, and Standard (this is more or less a normal SAK model), a keychain tool on a leather fob, as well as the Leatherman PST. As well, there were two or three different Victorinox made watches also offered.


I have the Outdoorsman SAK, which I bought used for a pretty good price. Being as it was the fanciest SAK sold through the catalog, I'd hate to see someone's health after smoking that many cigarettes. A friend got that same model through the catalog back then, and he's not in that good of health.

Geeeez I haven't thought of my Leatherman tool until I read this thread. It lives in a drawer in the mancave with the M. Klein knives and other misc cutting things. I need to move this to where it will see some use.

Having read through the thread I now know more about this than ever before. Made in Oct 1997 (1097) date code. All made in the USA near as I could tell. Received this from my employer at that time, Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Co. It has the inch and metric ruler.

Thanks to Joe for kicking this off and for the informative posts afterwards. This place is great!

Mumbleypeg wrote:

DM11 wrote:Ken, in the PST world of collecting yours is known as a riveted PST. There are several variations of the riveted PST. The PST was made from the fall of 1983 to 2004. Then last date stamp I know of is 1004.

Thanks David! Like I said I never paid much attention to its details. But I'm learning now. Were the riveted ones only made in Japan? If so I'm guessing there were fewer of them made than other, non-riveted versions?

Ken

The riveted PSTs were all made in Japan. Approximately 350,000 were made. They are easy to spot as they have LEARHERMAN stamped in large font. Except for the ones that have POCKET SURVIVAL TOOL stamp on them. There were around 10 million PSTs made in the 21 years of its production. It went through a lot of little changes through the years.

I have an original Super tool, a micro keychain, and the new Rev. I gave my daughter my old PST to carry and she uses it all the time.
Leatherman makes great handy tools. ftd

Thank you, Steve, and thanks for the pictures. Your Leatherman and the sheath look unused. Nice stuff.

Thanks again to cody6268 and David for the great information. This place is indeed great.

Thanks fergusontd, for your comments.

Actually, I think my daughter carries a Leatherman too of some kind at work.

Got this one recently at a junk store for 10 dollars. Inside marked 0694. Glad to have it. : sorry about the lousy photos. I was in a hurry before church.

woodwalker wrote: ↑Sun Jun 01, 2025 3:41 pm Got this one recently at a junk store for 10 dollars. Inside marked 0694. Glad to have it. : sorry about the lousy photos. I was in a hurry before church.

Thanks for the post, woodwalker.
I'm glad you got one.

Joe the born on date is in the blade well cause the 25 year warranty starts on that date.

I have a passion for multi tools. Have had or do currently have about all early ones. I keep one in each vehicle and in every go bag. I like the early PST like these for everyday carry. I use mine daily. It was used to adjust a screen door today. The bigger ones weigh too much for me and have a tendency to pull my pants lower than the law will allow.

garddogg56 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 01, 2025 10:34 pm Joe the born on date is in the blade well cause the 25 year warranty starts on that date.

Thank you garddogg.

garddogg56 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 01, 2025 10:34 pm Joe the born on date is in the blade well cause the 25 year warranty starts on that date.

I think it's now 40 years, surprisingly (though when they first came out, I think it was lifetime). They apparently did it as a perk of the "insiders" program (basically, if you've got an online account with Leatherman, you're in), but apparently they'll warranty older ones anyway.

Almost all my older Leathermans are out of warranty--1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, but would technically be covered under the new policy.

Good to know thanx

There’s a book called “The Leatherman Pocket Survival Tool Inspection Report” by Brenton Covington that was published for those wanting to learn more about Leatherman PST component feature variations. Tim Leatherman wrote the forward and added a number of notations throughout. The Leatherman PST Inspection Report was created to help individuals discern and document 83 key variations to component features on the legendary PST. After examining your PST for each component feature variation detailed in this guide, you will have a completed 83-point inspection report on your individual tool. Only 100 individually numbered hard cover copies were produced for sale.