Leatherman PST 0195

Just got this one today. 14.99 total cost on eBay. Lightly used, broken in nicely.

"USA" ground out

Here the "USA" is ground out. Apparently these were ground out on some tools at about the time of "that" court case. Best theory I've heard is that a large quantity of castings saying "USA" were still in stock in Oregon when the ruling / decision to drop the USA was made. Looks like they just ground it out to save getting any more fines.

Since then, the USA has been replaced by the word "TOOL", and many of the newer models simply say "LEATHERMAN" now.

Blade Clip Point

The middle style blade is nicknamed the "saber" because of its big sweeping clip point. Later on they made the clip point smaller (top picture)

Plier Head Pivot Diameter Difference

Sometime around the year 2000?  they switched to the stronger, new style plier head.

Early 2000's

No REG or PAT number, from early 2000's (inch/metric ruler)

Late 80's thru 90's

LEATHERMAN TOOL, standard font, from late 1980's thru 1990's (note inch/metric ruler)


Some of the 1996 tools have no saber blade/no hard wire notch/handles stamped with reg number. Some 1996 have yes saber/yes hard wire notch/no reg number. 

This indicates that 1996 is the year all three of those changes were made.

Mid 1980's

Large font LEATHERMAN, from the mid-1980's (inch ruler)