History: Wave

The Leatherman Wave was a bit of a departure from all the tools before it. This tool had handles designed for comfort, had outside accessible tools and a different plier head and these three features turned the Wave into the Leatherman flagship model until it was discontinued in 2004 . It was given an update in 2004 and turned into the new Wave. This tool has inspired many of the newer models that Leatherman produces today as many of them have some of the same or similar design elements.

20th Anniversary Wave

20th Anniversary Wave

Jaws

• Stainless steel with needlenose/regular pliers and a wire cutter with a hard wire notch. This is the first tool that came out with this style plier head and several of the other tools later got this plier head as an upgrade.

Handles/Frame

• Stainless steel handles. Each handle is made up of several parts and the outside 2 parts of each handle are a U shaped bend designed for comfort. This is the first model designed with comfortable handle in mind. Also the first tool to have outside accessible tools in the handles.

Blades and Tools

Blade Characteristics

• All the blades and tools have a shiny finish except for the file and at least the bottom portion of it has a bead blast finish.

Locking Mechanism

• The outside opening tools have a liner lock system but the tools on the inside do not lock.

Sheath

• The Wave had one of the finest sheaths that Leatherman ever made. It was a dark brown leather with Leatherman Wave written on it. It had a pair of pliers on the snap of the flap as well. The nylon version is also more upscale it was a harder shelled nylon, it had Leatherman Wave written on it as well and fit the tool as good as the leather version did and had a Velcro flap. They released another sheath that was similar years later but it is nowhere near the quality of the original sheath.

Dimensions

• Length open = 6.22 inches/15.8cm
• Length closed = 4 inch | 10 cm
• Width closed = 1.25 inch/3.2 cm
• Thickness = 0.75 inch/1.9 cm
• Weight = 8 oz | 224 g

Versions

• There were some minor changes made to the Wave over the 7 years it was produced. It had an A or a B in with it's date code on some of the latest versions of the tool. The Plier pivots drag against the handle channel on the older and drag against a ramp system on the newer. Also older models had USA on the plier head but the newer ones had TOOL.

Variations

• The Wave came in stainless steel and black oxide. There was a 20th Anniversary edition with black handles in both stainless steel and black oxide as well. The Danish variation has nail nicks in place of the holes making the Danish variation 2 handed opening.

Background

• Introduced in 1998. Made in the USA. Discontinued in 2004 when the new Wave took it's place.

Related Tools

• Of course this Wave and the new Wave are related but also this tool and the Pulse have the same plier head as well as some of the late models of the PST, Sideclip, and PST II. The Flair and the PST II also shared the same scissors as the Wave. It was the first Leatherman to have liner locks and outside opening tools so the Surge, Charge, Sidekick, Wingman, Skeletool, Skeletool CX, Skeletool RX, Freestyle, Freestyle CX, MUT, Signal and even the Leap and Rev are related to the Wave.

More Info

• Original wave owners club - in the Multitool.org forums
• Which do you like better. New LM Wave or old LM Wave? - in the Multitool.org forums
• Old Wave or New Wave, which do you like better? - in the Multitool.org forums
• Old Wave or New Wave? Poll - in the Multitool.org forums
• (old) Waviness - in the Multitool.org forums
• 20th Anniversary Wave , Some Differences - in the Multitool.org forums
• Original Wave Review at Multitool.org
• Wave Ad, Turboman
• Wave Ad, Handyman
• Wave Ad, December 2000
• Original Wave Manuel
• Original Wave at Leatherman Website