I love my new Leatherman 830012 Charge XTILeatherman 830012 Charge XTI.

 I am the proud owner of an original, basic, Leatherman that has served me well since 1998. 

In that GO INSIDE Magazine article you can read a really, really, stupid story about how I spewed blood on my bedspread trying to doctor a brand-new Nike shoe with my new Leatherman.

That Leatherman also served as a drywall cutter for the Fire Department when we had a fire inside our apartment wall.

Plumbers were doing work trying to unfreeze a frozen pipe in the basement and they were using super-heated hot air to warm the building pipes.

Hot air spread into the walls of the apartment building and fire alarms were set off as things that weren’t supposed to smoke started smoking.
When the three fire trucks arrived, one Fireman “looked” into our wall with a heat imaging camera and saw something he didn’t like. 


His partner wanted to smash our wall with his axe but the Fireman told
him to wait.
Without asking first, the Fireman grabbed the Leatherman from my desk
and stabbed its blade into the wall. In five seconds, using four swift
strokes, he cut out a 12×12 inch drywall square from the wall.

He
handed me the panel and told me to save it for later.
Next, he took our fire extinguisher and spit its guts into the wall
cavity and put out a smoldering, sparkly, stud fire that the
super-heated air was singeing and coaxing into a full-fledged flame.

That Fireman saved our lives, and the lives of everyone in our
building, because fires inside walls travel silently, swiftly,
unabated, and unbeknownst between floors. With the help of my
Leatherman, he also saved our wall from being destroyed by anxious axe
blows.
The Leatherman made such a clean and precise cut in the wall that our
Super was later able to reuse the cut-out panel to repair the wall
instead of replacing the whole thing.
Here’s what you get with your Leatherman:

    Titanium Handles

    Needlenose Pliers

    Regular Pliers

    Wire Cutters

    Hard-Wire Cutters

    Crimper

    154 CM Clip-Point Knife

    Serrated Knife
    Cutting Hook

    Saw

    Wood/Metal File
    Diamond-Coated File

    Two Large Bit Drivers

    Small Bit Driver

    Large Screwdriver

    Ruler (8 inch/19 cm)

    Bottle/Can Opener

    Wire Stripper

    Fixed Lanyard
    Ring
    Quick-Release Lanyard Ring

    Removable Pocket Clip

    Nine Double-Ended Bits

The
Leatherman 830012 Charge XTI will cost you around $100 and it is worth
every penny. I still have my old, trustworthy, Leatherman right here
diligently waiting to help put out the next fire.

6 Comments

  2. Hi Gone!
    This new Leatherman is killer. It is so much better crafted than the original but the original still has great value.
    There are several “Charge” styles available so make sure you compare around with what you wish to have.
    What I like best about the version I have is the hooked “seatbelt cutter” that will rip through thick nylon restraints. It’s a wicked evil looking thang! 🙂

  4. Hello Abraham!
    We are all hypoglycemic during the day — the hunger pangs we get telling us it is time to eat is part of that trigger.
    I am concerned with these young women who get entangled in a dangerous cycle of not eating and then forgetting when they last ate so they stay dangerously and consistently in a low blood sugar state.

  5. I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia about twenty years ago. First though, I was told I was just a bored housewife and need to get out more. ( I was a cub scout leader, soccer coach and mother of four.. the last thing I suffered from was boredom.)
    Then, it was depression, and weighing too much I need to diet. Finally, one of my soccer kid’s dad is a pediatrician and HE finally dragged me in and figured out that my sugar levels were dangerously, dangerously low.
    He sent me to a dietician who put me on a 1200 calorie a day diet. I was starving. It wasn’t until a couple years ago, when my husband who was diagnosed with diabetes was sent to classes that he found out for me.. the original dietician told me to eat lots of carbohydrates and protein. Sugar foods like fruits, candy, some vegetables were now a no no. Pasta, bread and steak were good. I was in fact eating totally wrong.
    So far it hasn’t turned in to diabetes and I hope it never does. I hope for them they are led on the right track much, much sooner than I was.

  6. Hi Sol —
    Thank you for your excellent post! Your story and the details of your experience are inspiring and important. I hope your warnings will be heeded!

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