Michael Janich Custom

Michael Janich is a world-renowned authority on personal-defense, edged-weapon tactics, and knife design. One of his go-to choices for a personal-defense knife is the Spyderco® Endura® 4 Lightweight, because it is affordable, reliable, completely ambidextrous, and has a matching folding trainer available for it. The only disadvantage to this knife when Janich carried it was that, right out of the box, its blade exceeded the 3.5-inch legal limit in his home state of Colorado. To solve that problem, Janich reground the blade of his personal Endura, in the process lowering its point to create more of a Wharncliffe-style edge that cuts with greater power and depth. He also removed the "jimping" (textured grooves) on the blade’s thumb ramp to work better with his preferred Filipino-style grip and polished the action to ensure smooth operation and rapid deployment.

Initially, Janich created only one “Jandura” for his own personal carry. When a close friend of his took notice of the knife, Janich gifted it to him and made another. After that friend exercised his “bragging rights,” Janich’s other students quickly expressed interest in getting their own. Ultimately, Janich partnered with Stay Safe Media and, for several years, offered a limited number of custom-modified Janduras for sale to the public. 

Now, through an exclusive arrangement with 5x5 Combat Solutions, the Jandura is back!

These remarkable knives begin as stock Spyderco Endura Lightweights with stout saber-ground blades. Every one of them is then personally modified and tuned by Michael Janich to replicate his original personal Jandura. The blades are shortened to just under 3.5 inches and the straight “clip” is crowned. Janich also removes the jimping from the thumb ramp and hand finishes the blade’s spine before hand “lapping” (polishing) the action to ensure smooth opening. The blades of these knives are also laser engraved with Janich's signature and the word "custom" to indicate their elite, limited-edition status. Every knife comes in its original Spyderco box, which is personally autographed and comes with a hand-signed certificate of authenticity with Janich’s personal “chop.” 

5x5 Combat Solutions is extremely proud to be the exclusive source of these highly collectible knives. Because they are individually customized, they will be available in very limited quantities. 5x5 will honor orders on a first-come, first-served basis and will maintain an ongoing waiting list.

Michael Janich’s original concept for the “JanDelica” was inspired by a request from one of his Martial Blade Concepts (MBC) students who worked in a U.S. Federal building in Washington, D.C. Per federal regulations, he was allowed to carry a knife provided its blade was no longer than 2.5 inches. Although finding knives that met the blade-length requirement was not a problem, short blades invariably meant short, difficult-to-grip handles that didn’t work for self-defense.

Janich’s solution was to take a Spyderco Delica® 4 Lightweight and grind the 3-inch blade down to 2.5 inches. The Delica 4 not only offered a handle large enough to grip comfortably, but also had a matching training version that allowed safe contact training with a partner—the key to developing usable skill. Janich modified several knives for his student, who promptly showed them off to his co-workers, who then asked Janich to grind some more. As word of these knives spread in the MBC community, students in Boston and Chicago—cities that also have 2.5-inch blade-length limits—also began requesting them. 

A few years later, Kahr Arms approached Spyderco with the idea of doing an exclusive knife branded with the Kahr logo. Janich mentioned the Delica “snubby” and suggested it might be a good complement to Kahr’s compact pistols. Kahr agreed and ultimately purchased three runs of knives with each run having different color handles. Unfortunately, only one production run of each handle color (black, denim blue and khaki) were ever produced, making the Kahr Arms Delica a highly prized collector’s item.

Now, thanks to an exclusive arrangement with 5x5 Combat Solutions, the JanDelica has come full circle. Michael Janich is once again personally customizing Spyderco Delica 4 Lightweights to create “snubby” versions with legally friendly 2.5-inch blades. Janich meticulously regrinds the blade to a clip-point profile, “crowns” the clipped section with a radius, and removes the jimping (textured grooves) on the thumb ramp. He then polishes the spine of the blade to eliminate any abrasive surfaces that could cause damage during high-speed, full-power application and hand “laps” (polishes) the action to ensure smooth, one-handed operation. The blades of these knives are also laser engraved with Janich's signature and the word "custom" to indicate their elite, limited-edition status. Every knife comes in its original Spyderco box, which is personally autographed and comes with a hand-signed certificate of authenticity with Janich’s personal “chop.” 

5x5 Combat Solutions is extremely proud to be the exclusive source of these highly collectible knives. Because they are individually customized, they will be available in very limited quantities. 5x5 will honor orders on a first-come, first-served basis and will maintain an ongoing waiting list.

              Michael Janich created his original custom-ground “Jandura” to make his Spyderco® Endura® 4 Lightweight legal to carry in his home state of Colorado. In addition to shortening the blade to a legally permissible 3.5 inches, he lowered its point to create more of a Wharncliffe-style edge profile that cuts with greater power and depth. He also removed the "jimping" (textured grooves) on the blade’s thumb ramp to work better with his preferred Filipino-style grip and polished the action to ensure smooth operation and rapid deployment. What began as a single knife for personal carry steadily grew into an exclusive arrangement with 5x5 Combat Solutions to offer a limited supply of authentic Janduras to the public. Building on that success, 5x5 is proud to announce a new version of Janich’s custom-ground knife—the “Gray Man” Jandura. Original Janduras begin as a stock Spyderco Endura Lightweight with a saber-ground blade and black fiberglass-reinforced-nylon (FRN) handle scales. The Gray Man Jandura, however, takes a more subtle approach. It is based on an Endura 4 Lightweight with a full-flat-ground VG-10 stainless steel blade and a gray FRN handle. The blade’s full-flat grind gives it an exceptionally keen edge and incredible edge geometry for low-friction cutting performance. Its gray-colored handle is also lower profile than “tactical black,” so it conceals more readily and is less likely to attract attention. Based on this starting point, Michael Janich personally modifies each knife to replicate the qualities of his original personal Jandura. First, he grinds a clip point on the blade to shorten it to just under 3.5 inches and crowns the clip with a hand-sanded radius. He then removes the jimping (textured grooves) from the thumb ramp and meticulously polishes the blade’s spine before hand “lapping” (polishing) the action to ensure smooth opening. Every Jandura blade is laser engraved with Janich's signature and the word "custom" to reflect its elite, limited-edition status. Every knife also comes in its original Spyderco box, which is personally autographed and comes with a hand-signed certificate of authenticity with Janich’s personal “chop.” 

5x5 Combat Solutions is extremely proud to be the exclusive source of these highly collectible knives. Because they are individually customized, they will be available in very limited quantities. 5x5 will honor orders on a first-come, first-served basis and will maintain an ongoing waiting list.