Leatherman=USA

navihawk

navihawk

Joined
Feb 21, 2006
Messages
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I read in a thread that someone said leatherman was getting crap from China, so I emailed them. This is their answer....

Dear Steve,

Thank you for contacting Leatherman Tool Group, Inc.
Leatherman products are made in the USA of US and foreign components. We changed our markings because the state of California has a unique, little known statute which is different than Federal regulations. It requires that 100% of the parts in a product, no matter how significant, be made in the USA. Currently we have processing done on some parts in Austria, Mexico and Switzerland. It varies by product.

Thank you,
Name omitted by me.
Customer Service
Leatherman Tool Group, Inc.

Makes me wonder if some of the parts are made by Wenger or Victorinox.
Anyways, rest assured that Leatherman is NOT China crap.
 
Steve,
Thanks for posting this. It has been stated before, but some people here like to ignore it when they have a chance to bash leatherman as a company.
 
Yeah, if only I had a few thousand dollars just lying around waiting to be used... :D
 
Personally, while the innovation of Leatherman has sky rocketed in the last 3 years or so, I feel that their QC has slipped. I've owned leatherman tools from 1999 to the present. However, I just don't feel that they are as "good" as they were pre-2004 revamp. Serviceable and great values? Sure. However, just not as good as they were in terms of fit and finish...IMHO.
That said, I WILL be giving the Skeletool a try:D
 
Steely_Gunz said:
Personally, while the innovation of Leatherman has sky rocketed in the last 3 years or so, I feel that their QC has slipped. I've owned leatherman tools from 1999 to the present. However, I just don't feel that they are as "good" as they were pre-2004 revamp. Serviceable and great values? Sure. However, just not as good as they were in terms of fit and finish...IMHO.
That said, I WILL be giving the Skeletool a try:D
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with that,but I think their QC went down a notch in sacrifice of innovatively trying to stuff a boatload of things into an attractive package.
You have to admit Leatherman is years ahead of the others as far as nice looking designs.I look at my OBS(old body style)Wave as a knife firsthand.
Maybe their QC will get back up to snuff once they get going on particular designs.I remember I had an earlier version, that the saw and file stuck out too far.I took a diamond file and put a notch into the linerlock to fit the little stop.They corrected that one after a while.
While I was at it I put a nail nick into the big screwdriver and can opener.
I used to carry a Gerber for several years, and thought it was great. One flaw though with tools with knives on the inside is the handle gets in the way of cutting. It acts like a stop and limits how much blade you can use affectively, a major fault IMO.
 
navihawk said:
I read in a thread that someone said leatherman was getting crap from China, so I emailed them. This is their answer....

Dear Steve,

Thank you for contacting Leatherman Tool Group, Inc.
Leatherman products are made in the USA of US and foreign components. We changed our markings because the state of California has a unique, little known statute which is different than Federal regulations. It requires that 100% of the parts in a product, no matter how significant, be made in the USA. Currently we have processing done on some parts in Austria, Mexico and Switzerland. It varies by product.

Thank you,
Name omitted by me.
Customer Service
Leatherman Tool Group, Inc.

Makes me wonder if some of the parts are made by Wenger or Victorinox.
Anyways, rest assured that Leatherman is NOT China crap.
Click to expand...



dunc5 said:
I doubt that very much .

Dunc
Click to expand...

None of my several Leatherman tools, pre and post 2004, look, feel or perform like "China crap." What causes you to remain skeptical?
 
I don't mean to speak for dunc, but i think he meant he doubted that parts were made by vic or wenger
 
It was mentioned some of Leatherman's parts are made in Switzerland. But that doesn't have to mean they are made by Victorinox/Wenger, necessarily. Though I wouldn't be surprised if some parts, like the wood saw, were made in Switzerland. I would also assume the corkscrew on some (at least earlier) models to be made in Europe, too.

Though Victorinox now owns Wenger (as of approx. 2 years ago), if parts were manufactured at one of those plants, I'd guess it would be by Wenger. Years ago, Wenger manufactured the Swissbuck line for Buck knives, although the steel, fit/finish more resembled Wenger's. The only noticeable differences in that case were the main clip point blade and the handle design.
Jim
 
Leatherman "proudly endorses" anti-gun candidates. I will never buy a Leatherman again. I don't care where it is made.
 
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navihawk said:
I read in a thread that someone said leatherman was getting crap from China, so I emailed them. This is their answer....

Dear Steve,

Thank you for contacting Leatherman Tool Group, Inc.
Leatherman products are made in the USA of US and foreign components. We changed our markings because the state of California has a unique, little known statute which is different than Federal regulations. It requires that 100% of the parts in a product, no matter how significant, be made in the USA. Currently we have processing done on some parts in Austria, Mexico and Switzerland. It varies by product.

Thank you,
Name omitted by me.
Customer Service
Leatherman Tool Group, Inc.

Makes me wonder if some of the parts are made by Wenger or Victorinox.
Anyways, rest assured that Leatherman is NOT China crap.
Click to expand...

I am very happy to see that LM does NOT import parts from China as I very often see the words "China" and "crap" together. For the very same reason I hope that the Swiss army will continue to buy their knives from Vic and/or Wenger, a Chinese-made "Swiss" army knife just would not be the same (referring to a previous thread about the new knives for the Swiss army, see also the article I posted in my earlier thread today)
 
navihawk said:
Makes me wonder if some of the parts are made by Wenger or Victorinox. Anyways, rest assured that Leatherman is NOT China crap.
Click to expand...

I doubt it. And even if it's not made in China their leather sheaths are crap. Compare the typical LM leather sheath to the ones from SOG. The quality doesn't even come close.
 
The only SOG I had was the switch plier.That ballistic sheath was not as good a quality as the old wave ballistic sheath. I have the old wave and my leather sheath is decent. I don't like the new ones.
 
The SOG leather sheathes are really awsome compare to the new Leatherman sheaths. No doubt.

That said, Leatherman turns out a decent product, and this is not the first time that I've heard the claim that the discontinuance of the made in usa tag was a result of a legal action by CA.
 
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