December 2007
Surging through the Snow
A few days ago, I noticed my horizontal belt sheath's Velcro flap was open, and my perfectly-broken-in Leatherman Surge was missing; it obviously fell out somewhere in my travels. Where did I lose it, I wondered, it could have been at the parking lot at work, in the yard at home, in the car, somewhere in one of the myriad stores I was at during my last-minute Christmas shopping. I retraced my steps, but the Surge had vanished.....
Over the next few days, we had a few significant snowfalls, the driveways were plowed, walkways shoveled, if the Surge was out there somewhere, it was probably languishing in a snowdrift by now, if not picked up by some "lucky" passerby. So, yesterday, I decided to bite the bullet and purchase a replacement.
As I was walking out my door to go to my local sporting goods store, I noticed a gleam on the side of the walkway from the house to the driveway..... It was my Surge! It obviously fell out of the sheath at least 4 days ago, and spent all that time covered in snow, ice, and slush as well as "Rapid-Melt" Calcium Chlorate ice melter granules, suffering temperatures into the high single digits. I picked it up and gingerly opened it, expecting to see nothing but a rusty mess inside; after all, it had been sitting in snow, slush and ice-melter. I was startled to find that the Surge was almost completely rust-free. There was a small amount of rust on the left handle lock-release, the plier jaws, and the flats of the blade, but this was minor cosmetic spotting and the rust that didn't wipe off with a cloth easily came off with Flitz metal polish; there was no rust on the interior tools, on the file or blade exchanger, or scissors. I’d say there was less than 3% rust on the entire tool, and the rust was only cosmetic.
The serrated blade did need some minor touching up, but the plain blade was still as hair-poppingly Scary-Sharp as it was the day I put that Scary edge on it. I've read online that Leatherman tools had a reputation for rusting easily, but needless to say, I was *very* impressed with the durability, solidity and rust-resistance of the Surge. This tool has *NOT* been babied, it's been dropped numerous times, worked hard, and now, passed an impromptu rust test with flying colors. I'm not sure where the "rust-prone" reputation came from, but can emphatically say that it wasn't from the Surge series. So, the Surge goes back on my belt, with the holster in *vertical* orientation now, and will be put back to work, after it's relaxing snowy vacation. Bravo, Tim Leatherman; thank you for making such durable, reliable, and *rust resistant* tools.
Russ W.
York, ME
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.