PocketKNIFE

For when you have to open every motherfucking box in the room, accept no imitation. The Böker Kalashnikov 74 is a side opener that is, ah-ha-ha, fully automatic. Priced at around $60, with some variants as low as $40, this is one of the least expensive side opening autos you can get that's an actual brand name, and not just Chinese garbage. That makes is a good entry point for somebody looking to get into automatic openers.

Unlike all of the other stuff I've shown off thus far, the Kalashnikov is very much a switchblade. Just press the shiny button and it goes off bang.

Note also the decorative pivot screw commemorating Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK-47 among other things. Exactly why Böker is commemorating him is anybody's guess, since one thing he didn't design -- at least to my knowledge -- was knives. But they have a small range of cutlery dedicated to him, not just this knife.

And in fact, it goes off bang so hard it literally has recoil:

Snick.

This variant of the Kalashnikov, the 74, weighs 100.5 grams (3.54 ounces) and is 7-1/2" long open with a 3-3/8" flat ground spear point blade and a roughly 3" usable edge. It's 4-3/16" long when closed, and 0.662" thick (about 5/8") without the clip. The clip bulks it out to 0.828" thick (a shade under 7/8").

Said clip is a non-reversible deep carry with three little finger divots in it, and holds the knife tip up in your pocket with the fire button facing inwards.

If you're a lefty, Böker does make a small selection of left-handed variants with the button on the other side. This isn't one of those, though. Mine is the OG, and right handed.

And actually, about that fire button. Because switchblades/automatics are so tough to sell and ship due to various legal hurdles, Boker themselves actually sell these without the spring. As manufactured, this is just a regular button locking flick-opener. But Böker's authorized resellers -- Blade HQ, Blade Ops, Knifecenter, KnifeWorks, Cutlery Shoppe, and DLT Trading -- will sell you one how it's meant to be with the switchblade spring installed. And usually for much cheaper than Böker's list price, as well.

The blade on this version is AUS-8 although there are now D2 variants available. This knife is part of Böker's "plus" series and is made in Taiwan; it's not a German made knife.

The Kalashnikov 74's handles are solid slabs of aluminum, one each. There's a fine pebbly texture cast into each one. At first glance you might think they're polymer or glass filled nylon or something, but they're metal through-and-through. There is no liner spacer but the handle halves are spaced with three sleeves on the screws, and finally with a cross pin that the heel of the blade crashes into with quite a bit of force every time you open it.

One knock against it is that the axial play when open is actually quite poor. If the pivot screws are tuned such that the knife opens reliably under its own spring action, there's a noticeable amount of wiggle left in the blade. The pivot just rides on plastic washers and I'm not going to show you that, because reassembling a side opener after taking it apart is a massive pain in the ass. The clip can wiggle around on its single mounting screw, as well, which over time mars the black finish underneath where it meets with the handle slab. If you're keen you can probably spot it in one of the pictures above.

The Inevitable Conclusion

"The surest way to make every man or boy covet any thing is to make that thing difficult to obtain."

Switchblades are difficult to obtain, and due to that mystique they tend to be expensive. I like the Kalashnikov 74 specifically because it isn't expensive, and that's even in spite of the cheap blade steel and minor character flaws that illustrate its price tag. Premium materials and a premium feel in an automatic are the domain of knives that cost many hundreds of dollars, and that's something the Kalashnikov doesn't do.

It's good size, opening it is extremely satisfying, and the price is right. That makes it a knife you could, if you can get away with it, actually use and not just keep in its box until the day you inevitably sell it on.