Leatherman launched a new tool maintenance kit, which looks perfect for keeping your multi-tool and other EDC gear in perfect working order.
Here’s what the new Leatherman tool cleaning and maintenance kit comes with:
- Leatherman blade sharpener
- Double-ended pick
- Cleaning brush
- Parts mat with raised lip
- Microfiber cleaning cloth
- Lubrication oil with needle applicator
- Cleaning swabs
Everything stores neatly in the included case, which has room for a multi-tool (sold separately).
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The zippered case has a carrying handle, as well as a loop.
The Leatherman blade sharpener appears to be a branded version of the Work Sharp Pivot Plus knife sharpener, which has a strong reputation behind it.
Price: $69.95 for the maintenance kit, $14.95 for the blade sharpener
Discussion
You might be saying “but I can get all that for a little less.” Great! What do you think about what Leatherman included in theirs?
This kit is for multi-tool users who don’t want to have to figure out what they might need, or where to source it from.
It’s a convenient starting point, in my opinion, with a mix of reusable, disposable, and consumable tools and supplies.
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The blade sharpener, though – you can score the Work Sharp-branded model for quite a bit less at sporting good suppliers.
I hope that Leatherman eventually sells the components separately; I like the look of the case, but I have most of the included cleaning and maintenance tools and supplies already.
This is a logical direction for Leatherman to head into, especially given how popular their tools are with outdoors enthusiasts, hunters, and others who can benefit from regularly maintaining their gear.
John
$29.99 I’d buy it- that’s crazy.
Stuart
Recommend an alternative?
Mike
No tray or case so not apples to apples. But is is half the cost at 29,99 and the tuf cloths are fantastic for cleaning knife blade or tools that are gunked up and I believe the can be “revived” with mineral spirits.
https://sentrytactical.com/sentry-every-day-gear-care-kit/
TomD
Buy a new leatherman instead? Ship it back to them for repair under warranty?
The sharpener isn’t a bad deal, to be honest.
Jared
It’s missing a torx screwdriver, but looks good otherwise. I bet that’s intentional though – they do not want to encourage people to take their Leatherman apart.
The Worksharp blade sharpener isn’t bad if you use that style – but I sure wouldn’t. Those carbide-based sharpeners scrap too much metal away and aren’t capable of achieving “maximum” sharpness.
I might be over thinking it though – maybe it’s acceptable for a blade on a multitool, especially when you can warranty it if it wears away.
If you want a (relatively) inexpensive sharpener that does a good job, the Worksharp Precision Adjust sharpener seems like the way to go. No reason it wouldn’t work on a multitool.
Jyme
What is the country of origin of the contents of this kit? If this is made in the United States, that is still somewhat high but I’d still be willing to buy it. If this is imported and more specifically made in China; that is severely over priced. For whatever reason the country of origin isn’t mentioned anywhere with this product.
Stuart
They don’t say.
Dean
That isn’t a good sign as that usually entails a product is imported. Just so everyone knows, I am not one of those “angry” individuals that are common on various social media platforms; I’ve personally met Tim Leatherman back in the 1980’s and have purchased EVERY Leatherman tool since the first one that went in product in the 1980’s. If this were made in Portland Oregon or in the United States, I’d have no issues supporting Leatherman in purchasing this, but I am not about to spend $70 on a set that is worth maybe $25.
Every Leatherman tool I’ve bought I’ve used professionally and in my industry time is money. Believe me, I want to support Leatherman, but this with being not made in the United States still the greatest country and at this price point I am going to pass.
Theo
Agree 100%. I’d be more than happy to support Leatherman but I am not about to buy a MADE IN CHINA product when American made variations exist of every item in this set.
If any Leatherman representative is reading these comments; I can assure you that country of origin matters especially with this high price with this product. If this were American made, similar to the Leatherman Garage these would be very successful.
Nicholas
^These gentlemen get it and if anyone from Leatherman is reading these comments; hard working, blue collar with a very strong love for our country and domestic manufacturing are your audience. No disrespect but this kit could be much better especially if made in the United States of America products were sourced instead of likely imported products you can pick up at the dollar store.
Hard working individuals want quality products which Leatherman products are and we aren’t afraid of hard work. Those social media obsessed kiddo’s with their Tic Toc’s and smart phones aren’t the one’s buying your products, they can barely put down their phones long enough to tie their shoes.
Nathan
Been buying Leatherman since the 1990’s and since I no longer travel internationally professionally I always keep my Surge on my right side and Crunch on my left. I’ve helped many people with broken down vehicles this way. This kit would be worth $70 if as mentioned before this was USA made hence being of higher quality. Seriously I cannot stress enough with knives; if you are in a major car wreck and you are the first on the scene you definitely want a properly sharpened knife. When seconds count, help is minutes away.
This set could have easily had products that were proudly made in the United States and would been a major seller I am sure.
Jeffery
Stuart, based on the sheer amount of posts of people wishing this set was made in USA, do you have a Leatherman contact to pass this onto? I’ve emailed and called, yet alas I am a nobody so this likely reaches one person then is quickly forgotten about. There is definitely a market for this bag if the components were cheaply made in China items you can get anywhere. Heck I’d even buy it and spend the $70 if this was made in the USA or even if the vast majority of this product was.
Compared to these other commenters I am freshly graduated, but I am very interested in tools and the outdoors. Most people my age aren’t and they are more interested in social media which in my view is almost always a waste of time especially Tic Toc.
Stuart
I don’t have a direct contact there anymore, but I’m sure they’re going through the comments.
The fact of the matter is that you have one group of people saying “I wish it was made in the USA” and another group saying “it already costs too much money.”
Maybe they’ll see how well this kit sells and then see how things go from there.
Channellock started with imported screwdrivers before launching their USA-made line. Milwaukee started with imported screwdrivers and pliers before launching their in-house manufactured USA-made tools.
IF there’s room in the market for Leatherman to offer USA-made cleaning and maintenance accessories, this kit is likely a necessary first step.
MM
Those two groups aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. I’m clearly of the opinion that the kit, as it currently stands, is overpriced. But there are two ways to fix that. One is to lower the price. The other is to improve the quality of what the kit contains. If the kit were USA made and had a bit more thought put into it then I’d have no problem with them charging $70, or even more for it.
Scott K
Leatherman replied to someone’s comment on Instagram saying this sharpener was designed in collab with WorkSharp. Seems surprising that they didn’t include the sharpener in the kit given the cost.
Stuart
From what I can tell, it’s simply a rebranded Work Sharp product, and it *is* included in the kit. It’s shown in the first two photos.
Scott K
Thanks for clarifying- the pricing breakdown gave me the impression it was only sold separately.
Stuart
Ah, sorry. You can buy it separately too.
demure
Looks like they got a leatherman branded version of countycomm’s part tray.
Tim D.
Exactly what this looks like. I’ve got a larger version, and it is a nice tray.
I don’t think the size tray included in this kit would be of much use. Brush your leatherman with the provided brush and you’ll fling oil and grime well beyond that tiny tray.
D3t
That’s what I thought when I saw it too. If they would add a Torx screwdriver it would be golden.
Tim D.
“You might be saying “but I can get all that for a little less.” Great! What do you think about what Leatherman included in theirs?”
I think their choice of oil is strange. I’ve never found that oiling my leatherman pivots has helped. Honestly it’s usually caused my sticking issues to worsen.
To me it’s ridiculous to sell a “maintenance” kit when the company is clearly against people taking their tools apart. This kit should include tools for disassembly, especially a spanner wrench like you can find on ebay for the leatherman chicago screws.
“This kit is for multi-tool users who don’t want to have to figure out what they might need, or where to source it from.”
This is exactly what it is. You could source the parts yourself, but by the time you got a comparable set and paid shipping to get it to you, you’d honestly pay very near or slightly more than their price. I think the main issue with folks that read toolguyd is we already have most or all the stuff included.
I do like the bag, although it would likely just sit in my drawer at the house.
MM
This seems like a great way for Leatherman to separate a fool from their money.
For starters most of the kit is entirely unnecessary. Want to clean your multi-tool? Great, the sink and dish soap work just fine. If you don’t actually want to do the scrubbing yourself you can even chuck it in the dishwasher.
Second, even if you did want to purchase dedicated multi-tool cleaning supplies this is dreadfully expensive. A no-name dental pick costs a dollar. An old toothbrush is free, or if you really have to go buy something you can get it for a buck or two. Cleaning swabs are similarly dirt cheap, and I’d bet that many people already have a bunch in their bathroom. Oil: sure you might want to lube a pivot now and then. But who doesn’t have some kind of oil or lubricant product around the house already for misc tasks? The case: What’s it for, exactly? It’s rather large and complex for simple storage, and I doubt anyone is using this often enough they need a quick-and-easy-to-grab kit. The sharpener might be useful to some, but that hardly justifies the price of the kit especially when you can buy either that same sharpener, or a different one to suit your choice, separately.
Tim D.
I was thinking brake cleaner and remoil would be a heck of a lot cheaper. But it’s basically a cleaning kit + sharpener.
You can use the super practical approach, but someone being super practical wouldn’t be buying a $100 multitool in the first place. Just carry a $5 knife, $3 pair of pliers, and a $2 screwdriver.
If you went to Amazon/Countycomm and tried to build this kit yourself, you’re looking at: $18 sharpener, $25 edc pouch/organizer, $5 dental pick, $2.50 gun cleaning toothbrush (you’re clearning results with an already used soft toothbrush could be debated), $7 needle oiler, $8 tray(not counting shipping). Your’e at $65.50 even with your free q-tips and a cloth from home.
My biggest issue is most people already have a lot of what they need to clean up a multitool. They should have focused on actual maintenance, not just cleaning supplies.
MM
If you tried to clone the kit exactly you might run up a high bill, but that’s sort of my point: a lot of the kit is largely unnecessary and/or redundant. In my opinion the pouch is unnecessary and the tray is outright useless–like you wrote above, the supplied tray is far too small to contain the mess generated by brushing out a multi-tool.
Let’s assume you had zero of the items in the kit. For $14 on Amazon you can get a gun cleaning kit including a pouch, brush, dental pick, and swabs, and a plastic squeeze bottle for oil. A Smith’s Pocket Pal sharpener is $4.
Tim D.
You’re not wrong about the gun cleaning kit. I’d say that you’ll have to spring for the $11 smiths if you want a serrated sharpener, and we all know leatherman is darn near incapable of making a knife blade without serrations.
My point with practicality is that I don’t need a $100 benchmade knife, but I appreciate quality and enjoy having “nice” things. The same could be said for someone who wanted to spend(waste) $70 on this maintenance(cleaning) kit.
MM
I’m with you about “nice” things, but I don’t think this kit is all that nice.
The tray is uselessly small. The brush is just a generic cleaning brush you can find all over the place, likely all from the same factory overseas. I haven’t seen the dental pick you get in the kit in person, but I’m betting its a cheapo no-name brand and is not a high-end German or USA made instrument, as a high end dental pick costs $50 or more by itself. The sharpener, as others have already covered, is a fast/convenient pull-through type. If this was a nice wooden case with a Japanese waterstone, artist’s type brush, fancy oiler, etc, then I could see that being appealing for some. But this just seems like bottom of the barrel goods with a rather premium price to me.
Jared
Don’t put your multitool in the dishwasher MM. 😄 I’m not sure what it is about dishwashers, but they are super hard on sharpened edges and polished metal. It seems like it shouldn’t be that big of a deal – just some hot soapy water spray, but the effect is always bad.
My theory? Abrasives in the soap.
If you want a simple but highly effective cleaning method, I’ve recently taken to putting some folding knives and other tools in my ultrasonic cleaner. That works awesome. Just a single drop of dish soap in the water is all that’s needed.
I tried that with my (largely useless) Leatherman “Tread” recently and it came out remarkably brighter and shinier – and that was after washing with soap, water and a bristle brush.
I usually put a drop of 3-in-1 on the pivots after I do an ultrasonic bath. I know some prefer to keep pivots dry to avoid attracting dust, but when I can clean again with almost no effort… it’s not worth worrying about.
One caution – you can scratch up delicate surfaces in a hurry with an ultrasonic cleaner. E.g. I ruined a pair of glasses by not paying attention. They tipped over so the lenses were sitting on the plastic tray and came out completely covered in fine scratches – it was like looking through lenses coated in Vaseline.
MM
You don’t have to worry about me putting anything in the dishwasher, Jared, if I need to clean a knife I’m going to blow it out with shop air, and if that’s not enough I’ll use the ultrasonic cleaner.
But since the topic has been brought up, I don’t believe there are any abrasives in dishwashing detergent and the “harshness” of a dishwasher is a bit misunderstood. I’ve used dishwasher detergent in my ultrasonic cleaner before on numerous occasions if I happened to run out of my preferred cleaner, Simple Green. It doesn’t foam up so it works well in the Ultrasonic. Anyway, I’ve used both the liquid and the powder type and neither leaves behind any kind of grit you can feel. You can dissolve the powder in a glass of water and observe it dissolves completely with no residue in the bottom. And that makes sense, if it was abrasive it would quickly ruin the mill in the bottom of the dishwasher that grinds up the food waste before it goes down the drain pipe. Where the dishwasher can be harmful to things is if they are allowed to bang against other objects in the dishwasher. It can also cause galvanic corrosion if two dissimilar metals are in contact with each other. However you can clean things safely if you make sure that they can’t touch against other things in the machine, like using the silverware basket, or running the machine with only one object inside (clearly not very water/energy efficient though). I wouldn’t do that with anything super nice or delicate, but a multi tool? Sure.
Ultrasonic cleaners are great, I’ve had an industrial Bransonic for a long time now. But as you found out with the glasses they can damage parts by having them rub against each other (or the tank/basket/etc.). They can also cause galvanic corrosion if you are cleaning dissimilar metal parts in contact with each other. My trick for cleaning delicate parts is to float partially filled disposable plastic cups in the ultrasonic with one part to each cup, that way the parts can’t touch each other. But for something with a super delicate surface like glasses you have to make sure that they don’t even come into contact with plastic. I normally hold my glasses by the earpieces and swish the lenses/frame around in the cleaner, it takes no more than 10-15 seconds to get them clean.
Mitherial
As most long-term regular Leatherman users probably own most of these things anyway (other than the tray and case), the real target audience may be “people who want to buy a gift for the long-term Leatherman user in their life.”
That being said, the I could see the real Leatherman enthusiast wanted a nicely branded cleaning kit to complement their 62 different multitools. That is not me, but I have certainly splurged on overpriced branded items in the past (I’m looking at you Milwaukee)
RCWard
I don’t think you need a special kit for maintaining a Leatherman type tool. If you have a knife kit it will do just fine and work for both.
JD
If a Leatherman buyer doesn’t have any the stuff to maintain the tool laying around the house/garage then they probably won’t need to maintain it in the first place. I’ve used multitools for years and I’ve never needed a kit like this. If you need a sharpener then buy that item. If you need lube buy wd-40 or use CLP of your choice.
Nathan
Sorry you have to maintain a leatherman? huh when did that happen?
Seriously though I sharpen mine and that’s about it. I think they’ve been oiled maybe twice – but they don’t get used alot. I don’t carry it and then use it for nearly any use.
I’d get the sharpener maybe – I mean that would be handy out and about and it’s portable. LIke a camping kit pack would need one. the rest I can do without.
I see the appeal perhaps but I don’t know I have a need to do any of that with my letherman device or well any knife I carry either. sharpen yes – oil on occasion – clean with a brush in a tray with a carry case – not one bit.
Stuart
I clean mine on occasion. Sometimes the pliers and saw get really gunked up when used on outdoors projects.
Steve
$85 to maintain my doesn’t-do-anything-really-well-but-comes-in-a-convenient-package-tool? Nah!
Bob
This kit is aimed at Leatherman fan boys. Nothing wrong with that. Lots of folks are (insert brand) fan boys and girls and like branded accessories. This kit delivers the goods at probably a healthy profit margin. I think it’s a win for the company and the fans. Not for me but I get it. If you spent $400 on that goofy bracelet tool $70 for a cleaning kit is cheap!
Shop air, rubbing alcohol and a dab of remoil is my go to for EDC knives.
Ct451
The pocket sharpener is fine if you like that sort of tool. You can ruin all cutting edges with it so good luck.
The rest will probably require more cleaning than the tool itself. You need disposable pieces of cloth or paper towels if you spray WD-40 on anything like that dude in the video.
Brad+Justinen
Dunk or drench in WD-40. Wait a minute or two. Wipe it down, open it up and blow out remaining WD-40 and debris with compressed air. Good for another year.