Just got a Leatherman Style and Style CS, and immediately ripped them apart to turn them into the mod project they were intended for: a mini Skeletool.

Someone made a topic on multitool.org about turning a Style CS into a miniature Skeletool by replacing the scissors with pliers. It’s an easy job if you have a pair of spare pliers from a Squirt, which I happened to have from my dismantled P4. I ordered a Style CS and Style from Amazon through a friend and they arrived today.

Replacing the pliers is an easy job. You unscrew the pivots, slide them out, remove the scissors and put on the pliers. It’s a bit hard to get the pivot through the last hole since the springs will put tension on it pushing it to the side, but using a small pointed screwdriver of some sorts (like the T6 driver you need to unscrew the pivots) you can force it back on track and push it through from the other side. I also had to trim off a bit of the handle springs that make the pliers snap into place because they were flexing out so much they touched and make a little “bump” when you closed the plier head completely. This was a very quick job with the Dremel and doesn’t ruin any functionality.

I also removed the main blade and put in the scissors from the Style. These are the same scissors as on the PS4/ES4, so much smaller and handle based compared to the stock Style CS scissors. They’re thicker than the other tools though (nail file/blade) so you need to fit it in place of the blade to avoid the plastic handle bulging if you try putting it where the nail file is.

Lastly I used my Dremel to remove some plastic bits that separate the tweezers from the nail file in the other handle. That left me enough room to fit the blade in there instead of the file and tweezers. I used my Dremel to round off the tip of the blade as otherwise the tip would stick out a bit and be dangerous. I also added a nail nick to make it easier to open in the new location.

All in all the mod took about an hour, including picture taking, so it’s a rather simple procedure. Just switching out the scissors and pliers is much faster of course. Check out the pictures and video to see the finished Mini Skeletool in action.