# Cris Anderson / Scorpion Forge 265mm Gyuto Review



## skiajl6297 (Jun 1, 2015)

I had the privilege of borrowing the following knife, and wanted to provide my thoughts for the group.


My impressions of this gorgeous knife follow below. This knife is outstanding, but I am not a laser guy. As you will see below, I still feel that way, even after using this knife.


This is the knife as I received it. Shes a beaut!




























This is the knife after Memorial day weekend. I put it through the paces in a home kitchen, cutting everything and anything I could get my hands on, including onion, pepper, grapes, strawberries, celery, carrot, tomato, as well as sausage, chicken, etc. Lets just say the family ate well this weekend, and the knife was well used.





































On receipt, I found the edge to be good. I did not want to do a full sharpening session, so I just stropped on diamond loaded felt. The knife performed well, and responded well to the felt, but was still not quite where I wanted it to be. I did a very quick stropping touch up on Jon at JKIs 6k diamond plate, and the resulting edge was sublime. The knife gets very sharp  very easily.


Positives:
I think this is a very impressive knife, good slicer and dicer, super sexy aesthetics, excellent fit and finish as expected, comfortable in hand, nimble for its size, and is longer than I expected, but doesn't feel as long as it is in use. The steel takes a nice patina and quickly becomes non-reactive. Hamon is beautiful. The handle is very comfortable, and really well finished. I found above average food release for a knife this thin as well, which was surprising, but speaks to the thoughtfulness of the grind, particularly in such a thin knife. The steel appears to be well treated, and takes and holds an edge well. Honestly, if anyone is in the market for a custom top of the line laser, they should buy one without hesitation  this knife is a truly unique piece of functional art.

Negatives:
I clearly personally prefer thicker spined, heavier weighted blades, and this knife didn't change my mind, even though I kind of hoped it would. I didn't get the same level of effortless falling through food that I like with sturdier knives, particularly in the front 50% of the blade. The knife benefits from a sturdy hand and a slicing motion. The blade was somewhat less flexible than I expected given its size, but still flexes more than I like in a gyuto, particularly towards the tip. IMO, the flexing doesn't effect the actual cutting, but the users perception of cutting and confidence in using the tip and front half of the blade. Again, this is just my feeling and preference, so not something I am prepared to say is any kind of flaw, just something I do not prefer in knives, probably due to my own technique issues. I am also confident/concerned that many owners will chip the tip of these knives, and it will not be an insignificant chip as it may be on a thicker spined knife. The tip of this knife is brutally thin! I would definitely recommend that these knives should require a saya. I would not want to store this knife without. (The leather saya included is simple but attractive, sturdy, and effective.)

Overall:
I wish I loved the knife, because it really looks like something I want to love. I enjoyed it enough that if Cris ever makes a thicker heavier version with same basic aesthetics as this vision, I would definitely give it a good hard look. But this knife is not in my wheelhouse due to my own preferences rather than any functional deficiencies of the knife. I also think that your cutting style will play a large role in how you feel about this knife. I think this knife will excel in draw cutting, push cutting, and slicing, but struggle somewhat with straight chopping motions, or weight through product cutting. As I said, if you like lasers, take a long hard look at this mans work. It is truly one of a kind.


This is the knife as it sits now after my cleanup. It cleans up really easily and looks darn good all polished up!























Please fire away with any questions or comments.


----------



## aboynamedsuita (Jun 1, 2015)

Beautiful knife, thanks for sharing your experience. Definitely one of the top contenders on my wish list


----------



## aboynamedsuita (Jun 1, 2015)

Should have asked, do you have the specs available such as blade height at heel, spine thickness, thickness XXcm from tip, etc.?


----------



## skiajl6297 (Jun 1, 2015)

This was from Cris on measurements (I don't have a caliper):

First, the spine thickness isn't really an indicator of the thickness of the knife due to my grind geometry...but, at the shoulders it's a bit over 2mm, 1.5mm mid blade, and .66mm 1cm from the tip. The thickest part of the blade at midblade is 1.8mm. Thickest part over the heel is 2.03mm. It's a hair under 50mm tall.


----------



## mark76 (Jun 1, 2015)

Nice review! Thanks! And a nice knife. Just a pity you're not so much into lasers.


----------



## chiffonodd (Jun 1, 2015)

skiajl6297 said:


> This is the knife as it sits now after my cleanup. It cleans up really easily and looks darn good all polished . . .



Yes it does! What is your clean up/polishing process?


----------



## skiajl6297 (Jun 1, 2015)

Iron oxide on felt to remove patina, accentuate the hamon, followed by 3k automotive wet/dry sandpaper to bring out the shine.


----------



## skiajl6297 (Jun 1, 2015)

Here is a video Cris did on polishing this knife up.

[video=youtube;_iaE5tKKYSs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iaE5tKKYSs[/video]


----------



## gic (Jun 2, 2015)

Great review, thanks

One ?: the steel is it 52100, 01??


----------



## chiffonodd (Jun 2, 2015)

skiajl6297 said:


> Here is a video Cris did on polishing this knife up.
> 
> [video=youtube;_iaE5tKKYSs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iaE5tKKYSs[/video]



Awesome, thanks for posting.


----------



## icanhaschzbrgr (Jun 2, 2015)

gic said:


> One ?: the steel is it 52100, 01??



Cris uses W2.


----------



## Karnstein (Jun 2, 2015)

That's one hell of a knife...thanks for the review, even if I doubt that I will ever end up buying any kind of (custom) knife from that price range.


----------

