Discontinued BLACKHAWK! Jani-Song
I got to flip a Jani-Song at SHOT Show 2014! Okay, let’s all just take a moment here. I was at the smaller of the two Spyderco booths talking to knifemaker Howard Viele’s son Gene, who was manning the space. There was a case of prototype knives which, like at the main booth, was strictly verboten to photograph. I swear one of my retinas nearly detached as my face accelerated toward the glass then abruptly stopped. “Is that a…Jani-Song?” I asked quietly. Mr. Viele said, “Yes, would you like to see it?” Uh-huhhh.
The elusive Jani-Song is Michael Janich’s practical re-design of the traditional balisong, or butterfly knife, from the Philippines. Said Mr. Janich in August of 2010, “The Jani-Song was patented while I was employed by BlackHawk. When my employment with them was terminated, I bought the patent rights from them. When Spyderco hired me, they purchased those rights, so the Jani-Song now belongs to them.”
I had spoken to Mr. Janich at the 2013 SHOT Show about the Jani-Song, but he asked for our conversation to be off the record. I honored that. Since the cat’s out, I will say that the Jani-Song was patiently waiting for further development, since Spyderco has many great designs and designers to consider when choosing which knives to put into production.
I asked Mr. Viele, a retired USAF senior master sergeant, to give me a ground school on the Jani-Song. He showed me the Continue reading
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