Which is your favorite Boker Kalashnikov?

Boker Kalashnikov knives have become nearly an iconic part of knife culture.  These knives are built as an interpretation of the extremely famous Kalashnikov AK-47.  First designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov back in 1947, the AK-47 quickly became the main staple for eastern bloc countries looking for automatic guns.  In fact, by 2009, nearly 100 million of these guns had been produced–an interesting fact is that almost half are considered to be counterfeits.  The Boker Kalashnikov knives have an AUS-8 blade that can be found with a black, sand, or satin finish.  Combo edge or plain edge are available in both the satin and black styles, the sand finished blade comes only in a combo edge.  The handles are either black, green, sand or grey.  The appealing thing about these knives is that they are fairly simple to convert from a button lock manual folder into an automatic knife.  Most knife sites will sell both versions–either a manual button lock or an already “converted” auto knife.  One thing to remember about the “conversion” process is that it does void the warranty from Boker. Now the Boker Kalashnikov is available in a new smaller size called the mini.  This series was given the 73 code.  So if you see a Boker 73 for sale, it is the smaller version.
I especially like the details on the Boker Kalashnikov.  The main pivot screw has the classic Russian Star on the top.  The knife comes in a box shaped like an AK-47 banana clip.  Very cool details.  But the knife itself is an absolute workhorse.  I carried one of these for about six months and was absolutely brutal to it.  I used it for everything and anything.  It withstood the test.  At the end of six months, it had several scratches on the blade but it still functioned perfectly.  Similar to the AK-47, the Boker Kalashnikov knife is a deceptively simple design which makes maintenance, cleaning, and tune ups a breeze.  If you haven’t ever had one of these spectacular knives, you should definitely consider getting one.  If you already have one or two or more, you already know, the Boker 74 and now the Boker 73 series are knives to be reckoned with.