May 2012

The Odyssey of a Knife

I have been a Boy Scout for almost ten years now and have seen my share of tight fixes. When I started back in Cub Scouts I had just a simple Swiss army knife, you know one of those tiny key-chain knives with the one inch blade and those tiny little tweezers. It worked for whittling small saplings, pulling some splinters and filing my nails (I'M NOT A GIRL), but that didn't work for long.

Over the next four years I went through many cheapo knives and multi-tools; constantly on the quest for "The Knife," but I didn't find it until November of 2007. That was the day when my dad and I went to our local Sportsman's Warehouse when they were having some kind of sale. I had wanted to save up for a good multi-tool because my dad had a cool Gerber knife, and I had decided on a Leatherman because one of my greatest mentors had the original PST. After selecting a Backpack and other items, my dad let us go look at the knives, and I went straight to the Leathermans. They had in stock the Wave, Fuse and Blast, and since I had with me $50 (all of which was from selling Boy Scout popcorn) I looked at the Blast because I wanted to get the most tools for my money. It didn't take long until I decided to buy it, and since I was carrying my new backpack that had ACU camouflage on it the salesman showed me the oxide black version of the blast. He told me that it was designed for the Special Forces, and since I have always been somewhat of an army geek, I bought it in a heartbeat.

I have never ever regretted that decision and I never will. For the next four years it saw me through every camping trip and job that I required of it, and in those four years I only had to sharpen it five times to keep it razor sharp. I've knocked myself unconscious with it in my pocket; I've fallen face first into a campfire with it on my belt. I built a bunker in my backyard with it in my hand; I've hiked the wilds of Kansas with it in my pack. And I've slept out under the stars with no tent while it was by my side, and it has never, ever let me down.

Then last summer (the fifth year of its life) the scissors broke. They were the second most used tool on it, and since I had used it almost every single day until then, I felt a small hole in my heart not having my Leatherman by my side. So I got online to find out how the warranty of Leathermans worked. As I'm sure you all know, if anything happened to my knife within the first 25 years of my ownership of it, they would repair it or replace it free of charge. Eight days after I sent it to the factory, I received a package in the mail from Oregon with a brand new, RRRAAAZZZOOORRR sharp, oxide black, Leatherman Blast.