Amalgam

After almost 30 years of carrying one flavor of Endura or another, and purchasing a new one before each overseas deployment, I decided to stretch my legs a little and order the Amalgam as my current deployment knife. I couldn't be happier! This beautiful knife is very ergonomic and comfortable in hand, and the flat grind eases through most materials, especially food, better than a saber grind.The flipper is a nice feature, and with a little practice, can be opened or closed very quickly and neatly. The lock construction and placement took a little getting used to after years of working with Spyderco back locks, but the aforementioned practice makes short work of getting the hang of it. The quality of materials is top notch, and the overall design is very pleasing to the eye - uncluttered and clean. The carbon fiber/G10 scales are grippy and positive as well as aesthetically pleasing.One of the best features for my purposes is the extremely light weight of this very workmanlike and capable blade, along with the threaded inserts for positioning the pocket clip to the most favorable location on the scales. All in all, I would say that if you're looking for a knife that can do it all with style, the Amalgam is the one.

This is a classic SpyderCo knife, in folding bush-knife form. Like all SpyderCo knives, it's extremely sharp, holds that edge well, and can be opened one-handed. This is the pocket knife that I typically carry on a daily basis. There is one caveat: it's larger than a normal pocket knife, and so the blade may not be legal in some municipalities due to its length: at 3.8 inches long, it's definitely not legal where the limit is 3.0 inches.

Narrowed my purchase down to the Amalgam, Shaman, a protech, and a Chris Reeve. Glad I picked this one.I can't find a single issue worth mentioning, so I'll mention the three I've seen most in video reviews and forums:"The choil is too thin."It is thin, but not so much that it hurts to use. I have large (men's xl glove size) hands with long, thin fingers and the knife fits me perfectly, choil included."The detent is too weak."The detent is dialed in well for being a flipper/thumb/spydie-open amalgamation, in my opinion. I haven't had it fall or shake open yet."The flipper tab hits your fingers when you close it."Maybe the first few times you shut it, but it becomes second nature to move your finger as the blade falls shut. Practice for 2 minutes and you'll never have this issue.If you're still not convinced, Nick Shabazz has a good review you can look up. Lays out the pros and cons well.

Knife is super sharp and works well. The design flaw is that it has a bump on the bottom of the blade that you can use to open it (flipper style), but the blade lock open tab is in the same place.So when you have the knife open and want to close it, you press the unlock tab and start to close it, then the flipper bump smashes into your finger if you don't release the lock fast enough.A minor annoyance, but could have been designed a bit different to work better.

CPM-S30V steel. I haven't had to sharpen it but it has spent a lot of time in my pocket in humid environments and it looks great. This blade is perfect. It has the obligatory Spyderco oversized thumb ring although it is much smaller than the standard, but the flipper that doubles as a grip-arrest is what sets this knife apart. This is a flipper for a big hand and it feels just right. It flips perfectly and the high liner lock is a very nice touch... and it works perfectly. This knife has all of the special touches. As I'm writing this it is already sold out and has been for a while. But if you buy one on the secondary market I hope you feel proud to own one, as I do.

This is a high quality Spyderco. I have read that the detent was weak. They must have fixed that. This one feels like about a two pound pressure to release. The blade is razor sharp. The only thing that feels a bit awkward is the compression lock. A minor issue as far as I am concerned. Buy it, you'll be happy you did.

The concept is good. I love Spyderco and the prospect of having a flipper with compression lock and a top of that carbon fiber (with G-10) and a Spider hole was marvelous! I like the design visually and once opened is OK in the hand but:1. The joy of a flipper is a smooth opening. However, everytime that I opened it my finger hit the liner lock. It is not painful, just not comfortable.2. Closing it with one hand is a main advantage of the back lock. However, be prepared to be impacted by the tip of the guard/choil, which protrudes through the back lock (it hits the tip of your finger, not a good sensation).3. The spyder hole is always reliable… not in this case. The action is awkward. The movement of the thumb is not natural because part of the scale is on the way and it has to be avoided.I believe that the downfall of this design is the attractiveness of the design itself: all in one is not always well done.The knife is interesting. If you are willing to overlook the quirks in pose of “have it all" go for it (by the way, mine had not a weak détente. Is the problem fixed or with time the détente would become weak?). I’ve found that many people learn to love this knife and work around the issues.I returned mine because I didn’t want a “good concept" knife but an enjoyable knife. Opening and closing my knife smoothly is a must.

I love this baby. It’s big and light. It’s everything combined that I love about my manixs2+yojimbo2+shamen. I love the flipper action. Blade shape helps cut everything, replaced yo jumbo for self protection. Replaced manix2 rex45 for weight. This thing is light and feels oh so good. Only gripe is I wish it had a light weight wire clip style pocket clip similar to manix.People complain about the tab sacking you in finger when closing. After a day you get used to motion. If you have this knife your a knife person meaning you have good finger dexterity. So it’s muscle memory.