[mikeg]

I had a thought, what do you think of taking a leatherman tool and turning the phillips screwdriver into a v-tool, turn 1/2 of the pliers into a gouge, turn the flat tip screwdriver into either a flat chisel or shallow gouge, plus you'd have a couple of knife blades.

What do you think? Would the metal in it be suitable for the task?

mikeg

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Don't know...the metal in the knife blade is very good, holds an edge for a long time....but those are all components, so you wouldn't know if the other features were of the same quality steel?

[Kenny_S]

Sounds good. But I have to agree with Dave, I have several of the Leatherman's tools and a couple of other name brand ones also, but carry the leatherman because it seems to hold an edge on the knife part better than the others. The only thing I dislike is the way the handles are, Rough on the hands when using the pliers and cutter.
Interesting.

[AlArchie]

I don't own a Leatherman, so really couldn't comment untill I went and priced them.....heck at discount they seem to start at around 50 bucks. You can get one of those FlexCut folding jobs on sale sometimes for around $85. I don't think I'd take a chance on wrecking a good Leatherman unless I really wanted to play with the concept and didn't mind coming up short if it didn't work out.

Several years back, my wife got me a really nice Swiss Army multi tool, very similar to the Leatherman, and I sure wouldn't want to grind away at his one.

Al

[Claude]

Considering it would likely take several hours to do the grinding, honing, etc., it depends on how much you value your time. (I do cost-benefit analyses for a living...) You can buy one of these (or something similar) and be ready to go right out of the box:

[mikeg]

Hi-Ho, good point. I hadn't thought of the other components being of different metal and or quality.

Kenny, you've got a good point about using them when they're open.

Claude and Al, I know about the Carving Jack. I don't have one but I was thinking it could be done cheaper. Besides, the gouge and the v-tool seem 90 degrees off from the way I'm used to using them.

mikeg

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I have a carvin' jack and its a pretty good tool, with the exception, when you pull out a blade, the others come with it, then you have to make sure they are all down where they belong, or you will cut yourself on the corner of one of them....don't ask me how I know!

[wade clark]

I've got one too. It's a pretty good little tool, especially for carving when you're stuck somewhere waiting on someone else and just have a little time to do nothing. It'll never replace the tools I'd use at home, but it's a good tool just the same, even if a bit pricey.
Wade

[Kenny_S]

ALA, I got my Leathermans years and years ago and, Had one refurbish at no cost to me as there was a little problem with the first ones made. Expensive then, but nowhere the cost of the Carvingjack. They even charge you more for being. But then again, I would not spend time on converting one in to a carving tool. Not what it was made to for.
Glad you found the Carving Jack that cheap! I tried one out at the Tulsa Woodcraft store. Not a fan of it and for that money, can get more bang for the bucks buying other tools.
JMHO.

[dart]

It might work good if you could grind it without getting it hot to lose the temper in the various tools. Would you keep it together or take it apart and put handles on each tool? It would be fun to try it. I was thinking of using some Craftsman screwdrivers to make a few tools to suit my needs. I have read about the blacksmiths making knives from brand name tools. They anneal it and temper it tho.