2 Leatherman Charge Ti's - is one fake...or just different?

B

brabzzz

Joined
May 20, 2007
Messages
2
I've just recently bought a second Charge Ti. Now, if it were my first, i'd be pretty happy with it. It works, it looks well built.

BUT, upon close comparison, they're kinda different, including the supplied leather cases. I've taken seven pics of the two side by side, highlighting various things. Any chance any Charge Ti owners and other knowledgeble folk fancy a look and care to venture an opinion as to whether one is a well made fake, or they're both ok but Leatherman just changed some details?

Cheers for you time,
Michael


 
They both appear genuine to me. A lot of the differences you noted are probably due to the two tools being worked on by different people on different days. Plier heads are rough forged to start with, then contoured and finished by hand on a belt sander. It's unlikely that any two plier heads ever made would be identical if shown side-by-side like in your last photo. Same goes for the different spine contours on the knife blades you noted in pictures #4 and #5.

IMO, the biggest "real" manufacturing difference is shown in picture #3. The frame marked PAT PEND must be the earlier one, the marking must have then been dropped after a patent was issued. Nothing unusual there. But I do not know why Leatherman would then change the length of the dimple? On the inside of the handle channel, the dimple bumps outward, evidently keeping the plier/knife safety mechanism aligned.

Seems like the short dimple works as well as the long dimple, so why retool and change it? (Oddly enough, I'm holding a Charge Ti right now that has the PAT PEND markings and has a short dimple. A third variation.)

Bob
 
Hello,

Out of the nine Charge tools in my collection, five have PAT PENDING and the long dimple. The other four don't have PAT PENDING and have the short dimple.

Why retool? Either longer dimple punch life or to utilize a smaller (less force) press.

Joe
 
Thanks guys! :) I suspected that might have been the case - i bought the pat pending one a long time ago and the non pat pending tool was purchased much more recently.

If one of them was a cheap chinese knock off, i'd actually be damn impressed with it!!!
 
They've started to jiggle the designs a little bit every year or so. :( Don't know why, shouldn't fix what isn't broken, unless they've been retooling their plant.

If it has been a few years, there may be a few minor variations- my EDC SuperTool as the spear point serrated blade, the spare in my car (I adopted it from the TSA's shelter) has the sheepsfoot serrated. *shrugs*
 
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