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Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 8:20 pm
by curlyhairedboy
S30v has been growing on me a lot!

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 11:39 pm
by gundamaniac
It served me great on my Buck Vantage, and I recently switched to carrying a plainjane Paramilitary 2 to acclimate myself to Spyderco's S30V. It's been good to me so far. But I do understand the lust for exotic steels. I have a Shilin knife with clad Cowry-X and love it, though I have to admit I've only used it to cut food so far.

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 11:49 pm
by knivesandbooks
S30v is one of those steels that I love coming back too. After binging on super steels or simple old-timey steels, I'm always pleasently surprised by s30v.

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 4:31 am
by gundamaniac
I got a special delivery this week, thought I'd share some pictures while I'm watching a new sneak preview video on Nick Shabazz's channel (the Brouwer looks great, the Mantra 3 makes me think of a beefed up Delica, and the McBee looks impressively small and yet somehow still ergonomically well thought out). I'm pretty curious as to how the Amalgam is gonna be received with the good bad and ugly :D

Anyway, special shout out to Alex for all his help and patience dealing with me, and thanks to him, Eric, and the rest of the Spyderco team for fulfilling this knife nerd's dream. :spyder:
Having Eric's signature on the blade really means a lot to me; I have a lot of respect for him and his designs, and he was very encouraging to me in whatever limited conversations I've had with him. So if anyone from Spyderco is reading, thanks again guys!
09_28_18_02_25_58_IMG_20180927_201420.jpg

I also got a little nostalgic and thought I'd dig up the different models I made for comparison with the earliest iteration at the bottom and the final result up top. It's kinda fun to look back and trace the evolution of the design.
09_28_18_02_25_56_IMG_20180927_200151~2.jpg
09_28_18_02_26_00_IMG_20180927_200725~2.jpg

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 5:12 am
by Rutger
gundamaniac wrote:
Fri Sep 28, 2018 4:31 am
I also got a little nostalgic and thought I'd dig up the different models I made for comparison with the earliest iteration at the bottom and the final result up top. It's kinda fun to look back and trace the evolution of the design.
Nice to see how a design evolved.
I have to say i like your original prototype in white the most. I prefer the more rounder shape. The final version has more straight and blocky lines which do nothing for me personally. I also prefer the wire clip and while i don't use a lanyard myself i do find a bigger hole more pleasing to look at. I can see you had to change some things to make the spydie hole more accessible.

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 6:09 am
by SG89
Watched Nick's video, this knife has definitely moved to my must-buy list. Such a well-thought out design, thanks Mr. Lai and Spyderco.

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 6:16 am
by TkoK83Spy
Spydergirl88 wrote:
Fri Sep 28, 2018 6:09 am
Watched Nick's video, this knife has definitely moved to my must-buy list. Such a well-thought out design, thanks Mr. Lai and Spyderco.
Same thing happened to me. This wasn't really on my radar...until I watched the video. Now I'm intrigued for sure!

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 6:43 am
by MacLaren
I will be at Smokey Mountain Knife Works today.
I'm gonna check one out. Looks like it would fit the hand like a glove.

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 7:42 am
by afalcone
So what does all of this mean for shipment dates??? Seeing that video made me even more excited to get my hands on mine.

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 11:15 am
by p_atrick
I too was impressed with Nick's video. Well done @gundamaniac!

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:12 pm
by curlyhairedboy
gotta watch that when I get a chance!

it's getting closer...

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:18 pm
by TkoK83Spy
I'm starting to realize that most likely, for MOST of us...the steel we use really doesn't matter. Whether it be 8cr13mov, S30V, M390, etc. Most probably don't use their knife enough, or touch it up almost daily to maintain peek sharpness, that new and fancy steel is almost irrelevant, besides for the collectability factor (which we all have) Obviously the rust proof steels are a different story for different environments. Long story short...I'm totally fine with this being released in S30V.

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 3:02 pm
by MacLaren
Well, I was at SMK today. Checked out all the Spydies, I don't think they had one, may not have dropped yet.
But, I walked away most impressed by one that I never thought I would have. The Caribbean. Very nice Spydie all around indeed.

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 7:23 pm
by gundamaniac
Rutger wrote:
Fri Sep 28, 2018 5:12 am
Nice to see how a design evolved.
I have to say i like your original prototype in white the most. I prefer the more rounder shape. The final version has more straight and blocky lines which do nothing for me personally. I also prefer the wire clip and while i don't use a lanyard myself i do find a bigger hole more pleasing to look at. I can see you had to change some things to make the spydie hole more accessible.
Thanks. I did like the organic flow of the curves on the original prototype and how ergonomic and hand filling it was due to its curves and width. I still remember doodling the design on two sheets of graph paper in class - one with the blade and one with the handle, so I could make rearrange the sheets to visualize the blade open and closed to make sure it fit in the handle properly. And then scanning the sheets and tracing my sketches in CAD and refining the details like pivot, stop pin, opening hole, lock placement, etc. It was a lot of fun.

You're definitely right that the current design is straighter and more angular. Fun trivia though- there are no straight lines in the profile of the handle, just curves with really large radiuses. I don't have a logical reason for it; I guess I just felt it was somehow /too/ blocky and angular if actual straight lines were used. I'm weird like that :rolleyes:

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 5:02 pm
by jstn
I've been imagining my grail knife for a few years now. The PM2 is close, as is the Manix 2, but they both lacked some things I desire. I imagined a Manix 2 with a compression lock, a more sturdy tip, and a flipper. Voila! That is pretty much the Amalgam. I think this will be "the" folding knife for me. It cannot come out soon enough.

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2018 3:14 pm
by afalcone
Any updates to speak of?

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2018 8:53 pm
by Slash
It look like nice design and all. Why choose 30v over 35vn?
Isn't 35vn a bit tougher, less prone to microchipping and easier to sharpen?
Sorry for dumb questions. Just a but confused.
If you're getting 30v at a huge discount vs 35vn, why not pass it on a little bit more to us?

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 4:09 am
by curlyhairedboy
speaking only for myself, I'm happier to have this in s30v rather than s35vn. These days I avoid a lot of knives in s35vn.

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 4:36 am
by dakine
Got a chance to handle this at Blade Show west, definitely getting it.

Re: Let's get hyped for the Amalgam!

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 1:54 pm
by gundamaniac
For what it's worth, Spyderco didn't bring any prototypes or production samples for upcoming knives to BLADE West, just current production items, which meant that a lot of the midyear catalog items were not at the show. But they did have the Amalgam in the display case. ;)

As far as S30V vs S35VN is concerned, that's a question better left to Spyderco. I did find it interesting that the Native 5 switched from S35VN to S30V as a CQI change. I've never used S35VN myself so I can't really comment on it's performance and similarities/differences as compared to S30V.