Category: Engraved Leatherman Tools

We went on our yearly tour of the Leatherman plant in Portland Oregon this year. It’s amazing how fast this company is growing. They had to increase the production area. To do this, they had to move the shipping department to another building 3 miles away. That new location is rented, and it houses the warehouse of the tools, the shipping area, customer service, and the custom laser engraving area.

Back to the main building, the small Leatherman museum is in the front office

and open to the public. Here are a few pictures of the prototypes that Tim Leatherman made in his garage during the birth of his brilliant idea.

You know, necessity is the mother of invention. The Leatherman idea started when Tim and his wife toured Europe in the 1970’s, using a used car he bought there. It kept breaking down, and Tim would fix it himself. He really needed some pliers, but didn’t have any. It would have been nice if he had something like a Leatherman tool. Many months later, Tim perfected some prototypes

in his garage, and started a very successful company. Too bad Gerber Knives turned down his proposal to produce his tools. Too bad for Gerber, but not for Tim.

Here are 2 stories of how a Leatherman tool came to the rescue.

 

So that’s how a tiny tool company developed into a world renown producer of engraved Leatherman tools with your company logo. Tim has done a lot for the future of personalized pocket knives and tools.