Amateur Expectations

[hath]

Greetings CNC-

Hi I'm new to the forum and this is a first time post and guessing that newb doesn't even begin to describe it. I want to apologize in advance as my questions are pretty broad sweeping and in need of, for the most part, very general advice.

I have a leatherman gizmo type product that I want to begin tinkering with in shaping out some hit and miss prototyping. I'm guessing the tool would be similar atleast in size and material to that of a small leatherman tool. With a project of that scale in mind could anyone help to point me in the right direction as where to begin? General questions which come to mind I guess would range from tools, books, feasibility given so little experience, materials etc. I'm curious as to whether something similar could be built from small hand tools or if working through a machine shop would be a natural must.

Any suggestions including 'skip it and buy a book on CAD instead' would really be appreciated. Thanks!