December 2008
All My Son Wants for Christmas is Chains
It’s Christmas morning 2008. I‘m watching my 5-year-old son, Samuel, go crazy over his new 12V powered 4-wheeler that Santa left for him on the lawn. While watching him, I open a gift Santa brought for me: a new Leatherman Crunch! WOW! JUST WHAT I WANTED! (And hinted to my wife about a few months back). It's snowy and icy in New England this time of year and anyone who 4-wheels around here knows what that means: chains.
So, after my son does a couple laps around the yard on his new ATV, it quickly becomes apparent to us both that chains are a must for this not-so-powerful 12 volt, not-so-4-wheel-drive, and plastic tired, all terrain machine. I immediately look to my brand new Leatherman Crunch with its Vise Grip-type feature for help. Samuel, my Leatherman, and I go to the work shop and, using the Crunch, fashion 32 feet of lightweight steel chain, the type you use to hang fluorescent lights, into tire chains for the 4-Wheeler. I had to break and re-crimp over 100 links in the process of making those tire chains and used the Crunch for the whole job. It worked great and the locking pliers feature really does work like a real pair of Vise Grips! Thanks to my gift from Santa, Samuel and his gift are now blasting through snow, ice and over huge snow banks at speeds in excess of 7 MPH!
Finally, after a job well done, I used my Leatherman to pop the top on a bottle of Christmas Ale while watching my son enjoy his Christmas present. Thanks Leatherman, for making a great tool and helping make a great Christmas memory for Samuel and me.
Shaun G., Leatherman tool carrier since 1992
Dalton, MA
OK, you voyeur, you. Enough of reading other people's stories. It's time you told your own tale of gripping heroism or even just neat DIY'ism. We know there's a Shakespeare in you somewhere. Don't make us use the Steens to find it.