September 2009
Never Travel Alone
First of all, this is ridiculous that I'm writing a blog-style entry about a product. I've never done this before, nor do I ever intend to do anything like this again. Then again, the rest of this is going to sound ridiculous too, so let's get started. My favorite possession is/was my Leatherman Wave. I started owning them when I was in college beginning in 2001. The quality of the blades and the ease of use of the Wave made me fall in love with it quickly. I continued to use it while helping my grandpa out with construction and camping. It got to the point that I wouldn't go anywhere outdoors or on a construction site without it.
Then I went to a region just north of Tibet in China. Utility tools aren't really sold in that part of China (at least I never saw anything like it), let alone high-quality utility tools. Being a pastoralist society, the locals there immediately saw the use of a tool like this. Men were offering to give up their most prized possessions in exchange for this tool. I liked my Wave too much to give it up and I couldn't afford another one, so I held onto it. It was the saving grace of the biological study we were performing there; single-handedly making the grid we used to study plants.
I don't know if you've been to China, but I'll assume you haven't. Throughout most of the country, they don't have Western toilets - only at select Western hotels and tourist sights. Toilet paper is sold, but not usually offered in the bathrooms - you have to bring your own. What is in place of the Western toilets is usually a porcelain-coated hole in the ground. So I was using these facilities one day with my Leatherman in tow (I truly regret this decision) when, of course, it fell into the toilet. Gravity was my enemy. I was heartbroken. I went back to my room and asked myself how much I wanted my Leatherman back. The answer: badly enough. Without too much explanation, I layered two plastic bags around my hand and retrieved it. After sterilizing it in water for several days, I went back to using it like it never fell in.
After that trip to China, I spent two years in Senegal, West Africa in the Peace Corps. The Leatherman endured, with the miniature scissors somehow cutting through nearly fifty large tin tomato cans that we used to make mud stoves, a MUCH more efficient way to cook than the traditional method. The scissors could have kept going as far as I could tell, I just ran out of work. It also was a crucial part of the creation of several gardens - twisting and cutting iron wiring used to attach the bamboo fencing to the wooden posts.
I've been separated from my Wave for the past three or four months because I let someone I didn't really know borrow it when she went to Thailand for a month on a rural volunteering trip. I haven't seen her since she got back because she moved out of town before meeting up with me. So today, I set my foot down and decided to buy another one - a newer model. I really do miss the old one, but I hope this new one works just as well. That's why I came to visit this site was to register this new Wave online. I've always wanted to tell the Leatherman company how enthusiastic I am about their product and all of the crazy stuff I've done with it so seeing this here gave me the chance.
Thanks Leatherman for these great products. I'm a loyal owner, and I intend to remain that way for the rest of my life.
Nicholas
Tucson, AZ
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.