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Since then, the USA has been replaced by the word "TOOL", and many of the newer models simply say "LEATHERMAN" now.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

Early to mid 80's

POCKET SURVIVAL TOOL, from the early- to mid-1980's (note inch ruler)

Leatherman PST Chronology

The original PST was a standard catalog item from 1983 when it was introduced to 2004 when it was discontinued. In those 21 years there were many subtle and not-so-subtle changes made to the legendary tool. Most were evolutionary sort of things that made the tool better, like the stronger plier head pivot in 2000, or the hard wire notch added in the early 1990's.

I'm trying to compile these changes and put together some sort of chronology time line. (With Roadie doing the actual time line art work of course!) 

What follows is a list of PST features and my best guess as to when they were implemented. It starts with the original riveted tool of 1983 and then ends up with some of the final changes of the early 2000's. The dates are only educated guesses.


PST CHRONOLOGY:

1] 1983 Made in USA for Cabelas
•   Knurled screw construction
•   No lanyard attachment
•   Small diameter plier pivot
•   Only LEATHERMAN cast into plier pivot
•   No hard wire cutter notch
•   One handle stamped: LEATHERMAN TOOL, US PAT 4238862, PORTLAND OR
•   Other handle marked CABELAS
•   Inch ruler only, no metric
•   No date codes
•   Drop point knife blade
•   Knife tang not stamped (blade etched LEATHERMAN USA)
•   Milled awl blade
•   Off center screwdrivers pivot IN
•   Can opener has left hand cut

2] Early to mid-1980’s
•   Knurled screw construction
•   No lanyard attachment
•   Small diameter plier pivot
•   LEATHERMAN USA cast into plier pivot
•   No hard wire cutter notch
•   One handle stamped: LEATHERMAN TOOL, US PAT 4238862, PORTLAND OR
•   Other handle stamped POCKET SURVIVAL TOOL
•   Inch ruler only, no metric
•   No date codes
•   Drop point knife blade
•   Knife tang stamped LEATHERMAN USA
•   Milled awl blade
•   Off center screwdrivers pivot IN
•   Can opener has left hand cut

3] Late 1985 – early 1989 Made in Japan concurrently
•   Riveted construction
•   Hollow base rivets
•   No lanyard attachment
•   Small diameter plier pivot
•   Staked plier pivot
•   Only LEATHERMAN cast into plier pivot
•   No hard wire cutter notch
•   One handle stamped: LEATHERMAN TOOL, US PAT 4238862, PORTLAND OR
•   Other handle stamped POCKET SURVIVAL TOOL
•   Inch ruler only, no metric
•   No date codes
(Note some Japan tools appear to have handles obtained from the same source as some USA tools)
•   Drop point knife blade
•   Knife tang stamped LEATHERMAN JAPAN
•   Milled awl blade
•   Off center screwdrivers pivot IN
•   Can opener has left hand cut
(Note Japan tools appear to have several of their blades obtained from the same source as USA tools)

4] Changes to tools produced in Japan:
•   Solid base rivets
•   Lanyard attachment added
•   One handle stamped: LEATHERMAN in large font. Also stamped TOOL, US PAT 4238862 (no PORTLAND OR)
•   Other handle left blank

5] Still more Japanese changes:
•   US PAT 4238862 replaced by REG’D TM 1325473
•   Can opener has right hand cut

6] Mid-1980’s changes to USA-made tools
•   Added lanyard attachment
•   Handle stampings: US PAT 4238862 no longer appears. (LEATHERMAN TOOL, PORTLAND OR remains)
•   Other handle blank

7] Later-1980’s changes
•   Handle stampings: REG’D TM 1325473 added
•   Ruler becomes inch/metric
•   Switch to saber-clip point knife blade
•   Knife tang stamped LEATHERMAN USA
•   Ground awl blade replaces milled awl
•   Can opener switched to right hand cut

8] November 1992:
•   Date codes added

9] Mid-1990's?
•   Opposite faces of handles stamped for the first time, with LEATHERMAN TOOL
•   Clip portion of knife blade made shorter (no longer a Saber)

10] 1996
•   Hard wire notch first appears
•   Handles no longer stamped with REG’D TM number

11] 1998??
•   New off-center screwdrivers pivot OUT (0997 earliest seen)

12] 2001??
•   New plier head has larger pivot (0601 earliest seen)
•   Hard wire cutter notch has cast in indicator arrow
•   Knife tang stamped LEATHERMAN only (USA dropped)

13] 2002?
•   LEATHERMAN TOOL cast into plier pivot (USA dropped)

14] 2004
•   PST Discontinued (1004 latest date code seen)