Spyderco Amalgam: An underrated knife

AF said:
I don't like the choil on the Amalgam. Too much edge is sacrificed.
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That's my complaint about the Smock, where the choil not only takes over a significant portion of the edge but also has a (to me) "dangerous" upright leading edge.

Compared with the Smock virtually nothing is lost to the choil on the Amalgam, given the 1/2" difference in the length of the blades.

PS: In response to others, I've never had a "lock stick" problem w/the Amalgam or any other Spyderco compression lock knife. The blade always drops free and, even if it has a flipper tab, I can just release the lock and flip it open w/a flick of the wrist.

PPS: It's about time to rotate the Amalgam out of my pocket. Not because I don't like it but because other knives deserve my attention.

Think I'll replace it w/the Tropen - another of my favorite Spydercos - which has all of the features that people either love or hate . . . a 4" upswept blade, flipper, compression lock, Emerson type tab opener and the fearsome 1/2" partially exposed blade that critics go on and on about.

Personally, I love it. ;)
 
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If I got an Amalgam, I'd do this to it, and I'd carry it tip down in my right back pocket with a deep carry clip:

Spyderco Amalgam mod.jpg

And from what I hear, I'd probably strengthen the detent as well.
 
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sgt1372 said:
That's my complaint about the Smock, where the choil not only takes over a significant portion of the edge but also has a (to me) "dangerous" upright leading edge.

Compared with the Smock virtually nothing is lost to the choil on the Amalgam, given the 1/2" difference in the length of the blades.

PS: In response to others, I've never had a "lock stick" problem w/the Amalgam or any other Spyderco compression lock knife. The blade always drops free and, even if it has a flipper tab, I can just release the lock and flip it open w/a flick of the wrist.

PPS: It's about time to rotate the Amalgam out of my pocket. Not because I don't like it but because other knives deserve my attention.

Think I'll replace it w/the Tropen - another of my favorite Spydercos - which has all of the features that people either love or hate . . . a 4" upswept blade, flipper, compression lock, Emerson type tab opener and the fearsome 1/2" partially exposed blade that critics go on and on about.

Personally, I love it. ;)
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I don't understand the smock. It just looks uncomfortable and that your hand is so far away from the blade. So I don't own one. No desire. The amalgam however is such a great knife. A slicing machine. Big, but light. So comfortable to hold and use. I didn't like the choil at first myself but, I got over it. It doesn't look any bigger than a hinderer with a choil, and people seem to love them.

I love the flipper as well... Don't see why people grind it off. So you have to move your finger. Or close the knife in 2 stages. Doesn't bother me.

And the tropen... That knife literally has almost everything and the kitchen sink. So crazy... Lol
 
I bought a Smock and that led to the Amalgam.

Smock is much faster deployment due to lower blade mass. Button lock is just plain fun and Smock is one of those you have to handle it to like it knives or your like me and buy a lot of wharncliffe knives.

Amalgam is ergonomically an awesome knife with a very symmetrical design when closed. I would love to see this design evolve into a under 3” knife. Still need to pick up a Tropen or Kapara to see how they do in the real world.
 
Snacktime said:
I bought a Smock and that led to the Amalgam.

Smock is much faster deployment due to lower blade mass. Button lock is just plain fun and Smock is one of those you have to handle it to like it knives or your like me and buy a lot of wharncliffe knives.

Amalgam is ergonomically an awesome knife with a very symmetrical design when closed. I would love to see this design evolve into a under 3” knife. Still need to pick up a Tropen or Kapara to see how they do in the real world.
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I also picked up a Smock, my first Taiwan Spyder. The thing just screams quality. The Smock led to the Tropen, and then to the Amalgam. I've gotta say the Tropen is fantastic. The action on it is smooth as glass. I was worried due to the negativity centered around the exposed blade, however my fingers are so large they don't fit in there... Very happy with these Taichung knives.
 
Older thread that I think needs to be resurrected. I have a couple of other Taichung Spyderco’s which are fantastic and this thread lead me to pick up an Amalgam too. I love the quirkiness and quality of my Smock. Same quality one would expect from Taiwan but I am even more impressed with the ergos of the Amalgam. Haven’t had a chance to use it it yet but I think it will see a lot of carry.

Got to get used to a bigger knife and of course moving my finger away from the flipper tab when closing it.

orctYPY.jpg
 
Buellrider said:
Older thread that I think needs to be resurrected. I have a couple of other Taichung Spyderco’s which are fantastic and this thread lead me to pick up an Amalgam too. I love the quirkiness and quality of my Smock. Same quality one would expect from Taiwan but I am even more impressed with the ergos of the Amalgam. Haven’t had a chance to use it it yet but I think it will see a lot of carry.

Got to get used to a bigger knife and of course moving my finger away from the flipper tab when closing it.

orctYPY.jpg
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Moving your finger becomes second nature quickly. It trained me to be able to do the same thing with my shaman. Love my Amalgam though, still my favorite spyderco! The Shaman is hanging right with it however, but the amalgam's thinner edge has the upper hand in the slicing department!
 
soc_monki said:
Moving your finger becomes second nature quickly. It trained me to be able to do the same thing with my shaman. Love my Amalgam though, still my favorite spyderco! The Shaman is hanging right with it however, but the amalgam's thinner edge has the upper hand in the slicing department!
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I have already gotten pretty good at closing it without it hitting. I can see it being a great slicer, the blade is fantastic.
 
soc_monki said:
Moving your finger becomes second nature quickly. It trained me to be able to do the same thing with my shaman. Love my Amalgam though, still my favorite spyderco! The Shaman is hanging right with it however, but the amalgam's thinner edge has the upper hand in the slicing department!
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What I like about the Amalgam and other compression lock knives is that you don't even need to use the hole to open it.

I open them w/a wrist flick while releasing the compression lock w/my index finder. The blade flies out but you have to properly time the release of the compression tab so that the blade doesn't bounce back. Just takes a little practice.
 
sgt1372 said:
What I like about the Amalgam and other compression lock knives is that you don't even need to use the hole to open it.

I open them w/a wrist flick while releasing the compression lock w/my index finder. The blade flies out but you have to properly time the release of the compression tab so that the blade doesn't bounce back. Just takes a little practice.
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I can open my amalgam by just flinging it down, and the blade comes whipping out! That's the only thing I would change on the amalgam. A heavier detent. But it's no worse than my Benchmades, so it's no big deal.

I'd probably make the choil smaller too while I'm at it, but it doesn't bother me much either! I love having a big, comfortable, and light knife! Wish we could get a sprint run of it...
 
I'm guessing there's a good number of buyers that are waiting on a sprint instead of getting the original run. I know I'm one of them. I don't mind S30V, but I'm willing to wait for other options.
 
I came >this< close to sending mine back because of how poor the lock access is on this knife. The cut-out in the scale is too small, the lock tab isn’t centered in it, and Taichung apparently loves to round over the edge of the tab so your finger gets no traction on it. That stuff isn’t too terrible on a gentlemanly folder like a Sage 5, but the Amalgam is a different class of knife and it really calls for a less fiddly lock design.

I hogged out the scale as much as the liner would allow, and it saved the knife for me. I wasn’t happy about having to do it, but the Amalgam has a lot of virtues and I hope it sees some CQI in the near future.
 
boing said:
I came >this< close to sending mine back because of how poor the lock access is on this knife. The cut-out in the scale is too small, the lock tab isn’t centered in it, and Taichung apparently loves to round over the edge of the tab so your finger gets no traction on it. That stuff isn’t too terrible on a gentlemanly folder like a Sage 5, but the Amalgam is a different class of knife and it really calls for a less fiddly lock design.

I hogged out the scale as much as the liner would allow, and it saved the knife for me. I wasn’t happy about having to do it, but the Amalgam has a lot of virtues and I hope it sees some CQI in the near future.
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The more I use mine, I am inclined to do the same. The lock release access is so small, seems I can only get the tip of my finger on it. Not anything like the PM2. Any pictures of the mod you did?
 
That /\/\ looks really good. The Amalgam could be really amazing with a few tweaks. Hopefully Spyderco does indeed CQI it.
 
soc_monki said:
I can open my amalgam by just flinging it down, and the blade comes whipping out!
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I can do that too if I loosen the pivot but I think it's too loose when I do that and it's easy enough to press the compression lock tab in order to release the detent pressure from the blade to flick it open. Of course, then it doesn't "drop shut" but I don't think it's as important to be able to do that.
 
boing said:
Spyderco, take notes. :)

w49q3Fv.jpg
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Thanks for the feedback on the lock access and tab size. Most of the feedback I've seen on the lock has been on the placement relative to the flipper, so this has been interesting.

boing, does that expanded lock cutout cause any ergonomic issues with grip? Seems like it would be fine with a saber grip which is how I use my knives most of the time, but given the amount of discussion on this thread already about compression lock ergos with a hammer grip I'm wondering if a wider lock cutout would exacerbate the issue and whether a larger tab would help if combined with the cutout mod. At the same time I'm also wondering if a larger tab could cause pinching against the corners of the cutout on the opposite scale when the lock tab engages.
 
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