Made of Mettle is the unlikely success story of Tim Leatherman, who spent years in his garage engineering and designing the world’s first pliers-based multi-tool. Persevering through skeptics and hundreds of rejections, he finally brought to market the Leatherman PST, and changed, not only his life, but the lives of countless others around the world.

Not your typical documentary. Very little about the actual development and design of this iconic tool but more about the people and some of their amazing stories.

A Leatherman (I didn’t realize there was an actual person it was named after) is a family heirloom, much like the also iconic Zippo (I still remember my dad giving me a Zippo engraved with the emblem of the Canadian Navy ship he served on. I had that lighter for years and cried when I lost it). Not being mechanical, I never knew about the Leatherman until I moved to Nashville and a listener heard me talking about them on my podcast. He kindly sent me one and I excitedly opened it – and immediately sliced my finger open with the blade.

I still have it but I rarely use it. I think it’s cursed.