Not too long ago I did the "Leatherman Factory Tour" here in Oregon.

I'm the big guy in back, yellow shirt lol


A forum-friend who has gone to many shows and got to meet the Brass and Exec invited me (to my delight) and let me tell you what happened and how it went.


A small group of us met outside the Factory in Portland (it's not far from the airport) and let me tell you, LM rolled out the red-carpet for us!
They did it on a special day (normally done on Wed) and really went all out for us (because we are forum folk and they are smart people! lol)

They had bagels and coffee and juice all ready for us proceeded by the tour of the factory. We got to see how each tool is made, from the big-ole roll of steel to the punching, cutting, shaping, polishing, fitting, assembling and the quality control at every step!


It was so cool! Tons of CNC robots and people all through the process. The "smell" of machining and that; "new-tool" smell (drool)
They have 3 main sections to the factory, because over the years they have been adding to the Factory, "original" and "add-on" and "add on"! big place!

They said Tim Leatherman bought the land himself and bought a lot! (man thinks ahead) back then in the early 80's it was not much around, but today! what a "boom" area. So after almost 2 hours of the tour they brought us back to the "Lunch-room" sectioned off for us and guess who's there to greet us?

The Man himself! "Tim Leatherman"!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />


He shakes all our hands and they have set up a "round-table" like conference area and we all sit down and he tells the "Story" the whole thing, how it started, how he first came up with the idea(s) and how hard it was to do!!

What a good story teller and talker he is, it was so cool. He answered all our questions (and I had a few) and showed us his personal tools and pictures of the first prototypes and he has demonstrations and then they bring in Lunch! (BBQ ribs and chicken drool)


We spent another 2 hours eating and talking and joking and we got to meet the engineers and designers and other cool brass, wonderful people I'm telling you. As we were finishing up the day, they give us each a brand new Multitool, their new "SideKick" and Tim Leatherman himself engraves each one for us! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

and they also give us a super cool flashlight! plus a coupon to buy more at their retails store.

It was a fun and super interesting time. They really made us feel welcome and were so generous to us (helps to be in forums!) You may not get the same tour if you go but if you can check it out, do it!

ohh and as we were leaving (in the parking lot) I showed the guys my Busse/SwampRat/Scrapyards! So they can see/feel some real blades! lol