Well, according to my research so far, they appear to be the same tool. I mean literally. Liong Mah designed it, and Sal Manaro built it. Blade Art may have acted as a re-seller, I don't know, at least not yet.
Most of the info I got was from the Jerzee Devils forum here:
http://www.jerzeedevil.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-58514.htmlThe interesting parts are these quotes from Liong Mah himself:
Liong Mah
07-14-2009, 11:58 AM
Hello
Just wanted to introduce a new keychain tool I designed. Sal was kind enough to make this for me. It is made of .100 Thick titanium. Sal forged these. I did not realize how hard it is to bend titanium. Sal is a true craftman and I am Thankful he wanted to make these.
I got this made around mid January/February and did not see anything similar on the market. The reason for this is because for as long as I have been into knives and designed knives, I could not get any women to carry a knife. Most of the time it is because they are afraid the knife will be turned on them. So I came up with something that I feel it is not a weapon but if the situation calls for it, it can be use to protect the individual. This would be attached to the keys. So when you are going to your car or walking on the streets or on the subway at night you can have this in your hand.
So right now I only have a few and maybe Sal will have some more soon. Thank you for looking and your opinions are welcome.
Liong
So it appears that there are two misconceptions here- one, that while we thought Liong Mah copied the design from Sal, which he didn't according to the above. Given the amount of other pieces designed by Liong and produced by Sal, I would guess that this is just another piece of their at least on and off partnership.
Two, we have been downplaying the "tactical" aspect of it, as I could previously discover no actual documentation for it's use as a defensive weapon. Well, now we have it- it was indeed intended to at least serve as a potential defensive tool. Of course, as I said in my review, it
could potentially be used as a defensive weapon, inasmuch as keys or a stapler could be.
So, there is actual, documented proof of the Fridge Ninja's existence.

This is great, as this is exactly the kind of info that we should be putting in the Multitool Encyclopedia! Who would have thought that a spork wrench would have such a colorful past?

Def