Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

[Texan42]

Mine shipped today! Excited!

[buferoe]

Hi Brian,

It was great having you last night at my place.
I hope you enjoyed it, I did.
Always a pleasure to show another Spyderco addict my Collection and talk about knives.
Lets keep in touch......:)

greetz,

Werner

[gundamaniac]

Hi Werner,
Thanks for having me over and showing me your collection! I enjoyed it very much and had a great time. Those are some fantastic pieces you have, and I'm definitely going to have to hunt for a couple models now that you've given me a chance to handle them, starting with a Manix 2 backlock and a micarta Goddard :spyder:
Yes, let's do keep in touch. You'll have to show me updates of the state of your collection :D
Cheers,
Brian

[sal]

Hi Texan,

Welcome to our forum.,

sal

[Texan42]

Hi Texan,

Welcome to our forum.,

sal

Thank you! I'm new to knives, well good ones. I bought my first " good" knife about 5 months ago...Spyderco Native 5 Blurple, I was hooked, went in the next day and bought the PM2 blurple, I'm now up to 21 knives! Amalgam will be home on Monday!

[Crux]

Hi Texan,

Welcome to our forum.,

sal

Thank you! I'm new to knives, well good ones. I bought my first " good" knife about 5 months ago...Spyderco Native 5 Blurple, I was hooked, went in the next day and bought the PM2 blurple, I'm now up to 21 knives! Amalgam will be home on Monday!

5 months and now you have 21 knives? You got bit by the bug.

[Texan42]

How can I get a stronger detent on my Amalgam?

[Texan42]

Hi Texan,

Welcome to our forum.,

sal

Thank you! I'm new to knives, well good ones. I bought my first " good" knife about 5 months ago...Spyderco Native 5 Blurple, I was hooked, went in the next day and bought the PM2 blurple, I'm now up to 21 knives! Amalgam will be home on Monday!

5 months and now you have 21 knives? You got bit by the bug.

for sure!

[curlyhairedboy]

How can I get a stronger detent on my Amalgam?

Depends on if you're willing/capable of disassembling it, AND if you're okay with risking the warranty if you mess it up.

[Texan42]

Called and spoke to warranty department today, ill be sending it in next week.

[gundamaniac]

Texan42, sorry you had trouble with the detent. What was yours like?

Kind of on the topic of detents, I got a 7777 in....that thing is on the other extreme of the detent spectrum. Stiffest detent I've ever felt...I keep slipping off the jimped flipper tab. The thing absolutely snaps open and shakes the knife when it fires. Gotta say, honestly, between the 7777 and the way Spyderco executes flippers, I prefer Spyderco's execution as did my colleagues whom I showed the 7777 to today. But the 7777 is a bit of an extreme example. My index finger is still throbbing from trying to break in the detent action. Yeesh.

[curlyhairedboy]

Yeah, the goal of tuning a detent (in my mind) is reliable opening in any position. Usually the hardest position is holding the handle vertically. If a flipper can reliably (10 times out of 10 tries) open and lock, the detent is strong enough.

Anything beyond that might be more of an individual preference thing.

[Texan42]

Texan42, sorry you had trouble with the detent. What was yours like?

Kind of on the topic of detents, I got a 7777 in....that thing is on the other extreme of the detent spectrum. Stiffest detent I've ever felt...I keep slipping off the jimped flipper tab. The thing absolutely snaps open and shakes the knife when it fires. Gotta say, honestly, between the 7777 and the way Spyderco executes flippers, I prefer Spyderco's execution as did my colleagues whom I showed the 7777 to today. But the 7777 is a bit of an extreme example. My index finger is still throbbing from trying to break in the detent action. Yeesh.

my detent is very weak. I've seen the video reviews and theirs seem to be noticeably stronger.....my blade opens pretty easily with a slight wrist action when knife is blade down. When I use the flipper tab I have to also flick my wrist to even hear the blade lock snap in place, otherwise I can barely hear it has locked. Maybe I'm just used to the positive actions of my other flippers ( non Spyderco). Either way ill need to send it in to the factory, its just that bad on my particular knife.

[gundamaniac]

Thanks for sharing Texan42. Just curious, are you preloading on the flipper at all? Let us know the outcome after Spyderco gets back to you!

[Texan42]

Just trying to flip the tab like I do on all my others. Will send it back next week.....ill let you know.

[V8dog]

I had a similar experience flipping an Amalgam at the store yesterday. Without the wrist, I wasn’t sure if it locked up (it did). With the wrist, it clearly locked up. Part of the issue may be that the lockup sound just isn’t that loud. With the extra velocity from the wrist, it’s a louder lockup sound.

I’m gong to buy one anyways. I will most likely adjust to the flipping action, and if I don’t, it’s a good thumb hole deployment knife. Nice looking, comfortable handle, and a lot of blade in an easy to carry package. Overall, pretty cool.

[Texan42]

I had a similar experience flipping an Amalgam at the store yesterday. Without the wrist, I wasn’t sure if it locked up (it did). With the wrist, it clearly locked up. Part of the issue may be that the lockup sound just isn’t that loud. With the extra velocity from the wrist, it’s a louder lockup sound.

I’m gong to buy one anyways. I will most likely adjust to the flipping action, and if I don’t, it’s a good thumb hole deployment knife. Nice looking, comfortable handle, and a lot of blade in an easy to carry package. Overall, pretty cool.

aside from the weak detent, I think its pretty perfect in every way. Great looking, well balanced, great blade shape and grind and way lighter in hand than you expect.....NEAR perfection.

[shunsui]

I posted earlier that my Amalgam shook open rather easily. I ordered a KYOCERA 1635-0625.094 Ball Nose End Mill to modify the detent hole.
https://www.amazon.com/KYOCERA-1635-062 ... B01MSM7KDD

First of all BIG thanks to M0DiFiEDZ for his classic video on all this detent mod stuff.
https://youtu.be/S5H96riLLS4

Also BIG thanks to Nick Shabazz for his video on the Amalagam:
How to disassemble and maintain the Spyderco Amalgam Pocketknife
https://youtu.be/nwqccMaeNpU

This is the stuff you need to do the job.


You can do the job with just hand force. No need for a drill or dremel tool.
I used a plain tap & die set collet to hold the KYOCERA 1635-0625.094

You'll need a T8 torx driver. I'd get a Wiha if I were you.
The Triplet 10x is an eye loupe to get a better look at your work.
The blue and white thing is just a carved up toothbrush handle I use for a sturdy pry bar.
I never even taped up the blade, but you might want to.

When you take the knife apart, you'll notice the detent hole is drilled all the way through the blade. This is handy because you can practice on the side that's not used for the detent and get a feel for the cutting tool.

Work slowly, cutting just a bit at a time, and reassemble the knife to test the detent as you go.

I tested the detent strength with a trigger pull gauge.

My original detent was between 7-11 oz. You could shake it open with one shake.

I did three grinds on the detent hole progressively increasing the detent strength:

15 oz
1 lb 7 oz
2 lb 4 oz

At 2 lbs 4 oz, the visible detent ball was about 80-90% in the hole. I didn't want to take it any further as I wanted the ball supporting the lock bar, rather than the bar flat on the blade.

Note that what I've done is enlarge the very top of the detent hole with a larger ball shaped cutting tool. The result is a bevel or cup at the top of the hole for the detent ball to nestle down in.
Keep in mind that everything here is rather small. Doesn't take much cutting to do the job.
I came close to overshooting where I wanted to be. Go slow.

This is the result



The Amalgam is a sweet knife. I wouldn't have gone to all this trouble if it wasn't worth it.
Mine cut better than any knife I've gotten out of the box. Wasn't going to send that back.
The added bonus is now I can modify my other ball detent knives more to my liking.

[Texan42]

I'm just not that brave, lol, nice job.

[ferider]

Very cool, just bought one for $149 with today's ebay coupon.

A question on the detent mod: why not just increase the lock strength a little ?

Just wondering. Thanks,

Roland.