Welcome to Knife of the Week! Each week the Offgrid Editorial Team will highlight one of their favorite knives. These will range from time tested classics to the newest cutting edge designs. You won’t find any glorified box openers here, each featured knife will be a purpose driven outdoor, bushcraft, survival, or tactical tool that is ready to work when you need it the most! This week’s feature is the Scallywag Tactical Scorpion Pro.
Skallywag Tactical Scorpion Pro Specs
- Type: Multi-Purpose
- Configuration: Compact Fixed Blade
- Blade Length: 2.75-inches
- Blade Grind: Flat Grind
- Blade Steel: 440C
- Blade Coating: Ceramic Gunkote
- Handle Length: 4.5-Inches
- Handle Material: Textured G1o with orange and green liners.
- Sheath: Kydex
- MSRP: $75
Top: Original Scorpion. Bottom: Scorpion Pro
Evolution of the Skallywag Tactical Scorpion to the Scorpion Pro
Subscribe Today and Save!
Skallywag Tactical is a company that was founded by “doers,” people who have military and law enforcement background, seasoned outdoor adventures, and craftsmen with a with a discerning eye for quality. This experience has led to a line-up of utility oriented designs for both tactical and outdoor use.
The Scorpion Pro takes an existing design from Skallywag Tactical’s budget oriented Buccaneer line, and levels it up with improved materials, and premium touches all without breaking the bank!
The Scorpion was designed as a do all camp chore and EDC knife. The flat grind, fine point and compact size make it ideal as a camp cooking as well as, skinning and game prep. The flat grind also provides excellent all around slicing capability for your EDC tasks and the fine piercing point combined with a nice size handle makes it a good option for self-defense in trained hands.
The original model features a glass filled nylon handle, 420 stainless steel, and PVD coating in the hammered portion of the blade. The Scorpion retails at a budget friendly price of $45.
Scorpion Pro Upgrades
The Scorpion Pro retains the utilitarian design, but ups the ante with stronger steel, a superior blade coating, and some aesthetic changes that really make you feel like your holding a knife that costs twice as much as it does!
For starters the blade steel has been upgraded to 440C. while this is an older steel, it is proven time and time again to be an excellent choice for hard use knives and doesn’t come with the higher costs and difficulty machining of modern super steels.
The Scorpion Pro retains the aesthetically pleasing hammer tone finish of the original, but exchanges the partial PVD coating for a durable matte ceramic Gunkote that covers the entire blade. Not only does the coating look great, but it also helps to prevent rust damage to the steel when exposed to liquids and other corrosive elements.
The handle of the Scorpion Pro also receives significant upgrades. The nylon handles are replaced with G10 that is nicely machine textured and a orange or neon green liner was added. Just as with the blade coating these additions do much more make it look great, it also adds more durable handle material and greatly enhances grip retention when working wet.
Finally the sheath has also received an upgrade. The Scorpion uses a soft ballistic nylon sheath, but the pro now comes standard with a dual layer kydex sheath, with the interior color matching the handle liner color, which is a premium feeling touch.
Kydex is a far superior option to the original nylon from both a durability standpoint and a functional standpoint. The kydex sheath allows for multiple mounting options including belt and pocket carry to a more discreet IWB carry and the ability to mount it to other gear.
Overall Impressions
Overall, the Skallywag Tactical Scorpion Pro is an impressive compact knife both in form and function. The utilitarian design makes it ideal for a wide range of tasks and the upgrades from the original model takes something that was already good and made it great! For $30 dollars more than the original model, there is no doubt that the Scorpion Pro is the best of the two.
Don’t let the $75 price point fool you, this is a high quality tool that performs on par with many knives that are double the price! If you are looking for a solid all arounder the Scorpion Pro will not disappoint and if you are new to Skallywag Tactical it makes a great entry point into their line-up.
To be completely honest, it is hard to come up with anything negative to say about my experience with the Scorpion Pro. While many knife enthusiasts may snub the steel choice, 440C is a solid budget steel that offers good edge performance and blade durability. It will easy sharpen up easy both at home and in the field and the coating provides excellent corrosion resistance.
Sure the edge won’t hold up as well as a premium CPM-3V, but it is all but impossible to find premium steel options in this price point. The blade shape and grind makes it a great slicer and the 1/8th inch steel stock makes it plenty durable.
The tip is on the fine side so I would not expect the same durability as you’d find in drop point style blade, but provides far better piercing capability. At the end of the day no knife is the right tool for all jobs, as long as the Scorpion Pro is used to do what it does best, which is piercing and slicing, I would not concerned with durability.
Beyond the materials themselves the build quality of the Scorpion Pro far exceeded my expectations for the price. The sheath fit is excellent, the handle scales and hardware sit flush, and the blade grind is even and plenty sharp out of the box. The design ergonomics are excellent, it is very comfortable in my medium/large sized glove hands, and remains comfortable in use.
While I would not rely on the Scorpion Pro to be my dedicated bushcraft/woods knife, it makes a good companion to larger outdoor knives and truly shines as a dedicated EDC knife – and at just $75 it is well worth adding to your line-up!
Check out the Scorpion Pro and Skallywag Tactical’s Full Line-Up Here
Check Out these In-Depth Off Grid Knife Reviews
Blade Magazine
Need more Knife Content? Check out Blade Magazine for the latest and greatest knife news!
STAY SAFE: Download a Free copy of the OFFGRID Outbreak Issue
In issue 12, Offgrid Magazine took a hard look at what you should be aware of in the event of a viral outbreak. We’re now offering a free digital copy of the OffGrid Outbreak issue when you subscribe to the OffGrid email newsletter. Sign up and get your free digital copy
