I like big knives. Big knives make big cutting tasks small. I know a lot of guys like a smaller blade because they say smaller blades are easier to carry. And I can see their logic behind such statements, but I’m kind of wondering just how less difficult a smaller version of the Boker Kalashnikov would be. Because I don’t think it is. Now, I wear blue jeans every day. I have other pants, but I just don’t actually wear them. Because with my job I might have to jump on a motorcycle and do what I do… And I am not comfortable jumping on a bike while wearing dockers or some other flimsy pants. I tell you this because pretty much every red-blooded American person knows how the pockets of jeans are.

The Boker’s pocket clip is made for deep seating. And even with this bigger knife, going in deep… it fits just fine. Standing up, sitting down, jumping in and out of cars and on and off bikes… It’s not too big. It’s not caused any problems or discomfort. And I can still carry my car keys in the same pocket I carry my knife, like I always do. One of the reasons it’s comfortable while being so large is the thinner profile of the folded knife… it’s nice and flat.

This knife in particular is a BladeHQ exclusive called the Desert Warrior. Which gives you a copper colored blade coating with a green handle. BladeHQ has a lot of exclusives in this color combo from various makers… it’s their thing. I think it looks nice, but I’m not about to go nuts on it. Having lived in a high desert location for over a decade of my humble life, I’m not all that impressed with the desert. In fact, I could have easily have just taken a satin finished blade with a regular black handle. Because I pretty much don’t find coated blades all that special. Hard use makes all of them look shabby in short order. But the copper color does look nice on a new knife. We’ll see about this in a year or two how it has held up.

Being an Auto, it uses a very simple Button Lock. It’s slightly recessed and requires a firm and deliberate full in press for the blade to deploy. Having had an Auto deploy in my pocket and stab me – I appreciate the reduction in a possible repeat of that experience. It was very painful and it bled like a war wound… making a mess of a brand new Mazda Miata.

Size. Let’s look at it next to my Kershaw Launch 5. A Kershaw Emerson collaboration that was unfortunately a shorter run than I’d have liked. The blade is 4.75 inches long and the handle is a comfortable 5.8 inches. 10.6 overall when opened. And it weighs in at 6.4 ounces. It’s a Chonk, but it carries its weight well. It doesn’t feel heavy… but that is a lot of steel, so it’s no Benchmade Bugout.

The blade steel on this knife is “D2”, which is like saying “It’s made out of Steel”. D2, as I’ve said in other reviews is a broad spectrum description. There’s a whole range of formulas and hardnesses that can fall in that title. It’s a step up from AUS-8, to be sure. Really I put it on par with simple 440… in that the quality of the steel comes down to how well it was heat treated. But Boker does a good job of putting out a consistent quality… so I have no reason to question it. Manufacturing of this knife is done in Taiwan, so that is also a big step up. China will stamp D2 on blades made of aluminum foil, because China can simply not be trusted with anything.

Opening the knife is satisfying. It has a nice “Thwack!” It opens with some authority even for a big blade. But closing it isn’t like trying to reset a bear trap either.

Using the knife for cutting tasks in the kitchen is a lot of fun. The Bowie style blade is fully functional for food prep and well as any fantasy you might have of silent sentry removal. The blade actually reminds me of the AK-47’s Bayonet, which is pretty much where the knife gets its name from.

Other factors in quality such as blade play and blade centering and such… all good. I think this one of those cases where you are getting a bit more for the money you paid for it. The whole line is like that. Tough work-horse knives… Huh… Another good reason for the name. Well… there you have it.

I got this through BladeHQ. And you should too.