We need to go deeper cheaper.

This is the Böker 01BO007. No snappy names here; this knife’s designation is so bad, it even manages to mix the letter O and several zeroes. Various product descriptions on the web simply call this knife the “007.” It’s not much of a stretch of the imagination to guess why. I believe that at the time it was available this was the least expensive automatic knife in Böker’s entire product lineup. New, it was available for $33.

The “007” is a compact side opening automatic with single piece machined aluminum handles, with an AUS-8 blade. It’s 3-3/4" long closed and 6-3/8" long open. The blade is about 2-5/8" with a drop point profile and a bead blasted finish that makes it look rather strange in pictures when the light fails to catch it. It’s 0.115" thick with a subtly hollow grind and a noticeable belly. Böker, meanwhile, call it “3-1/8” long because they measure from the center of the pivot, which I think is rather silly. By the real world measure, i.e. the part of the metal that’s actually exposed and touchable, this knife would actually be short enough to count as “legal carry” in most jurisdictions. Except if it weren’t, you know.

Yeah. That.

It weighs in at exactly 69 grams (nice) or 2.44 ounces.

The 007’s slab aluminum handles are actually really thick in proportion to the knife’s overall size. It’s 0.509" thick, near as makes no difference to half an inch, without the clip. This definitely makes it noticeable in your pocket.

It’s noticeably thicker than the Usual Article, and feels even more so in the hand.

The handles are also an unusual color. They’re not silver. They’re not tan. The best I can come up with to describe is is “champagne.” It is exactly the color of the digital camera your grandmother bought in 2004.

Unlike your grandma’s camera, though, this has a pocket clip. It’s one way only, no alternate positions available at all, and sits on the side opposite the fire button. There’s also a lanyard hole on the end.

The fire button is the only real gripe I have about this knife. I don’t really have any problem with the cheapness showing through here or there, or even with the color that makes it look like it still has every photo it ever took still on the memory card it came with. It’s that the fire button rests in a little machined in depression which makes it sit exactly flush with the top surface of the handle and that makes it singularly difficult to actually press.

The button’s throw is about 1/8" total depth and you not only have to mash it below the majority surface of the handle, you actually have to press it so far that it goes down noticeably below even the surface of the valley it rests in. The best way to go about it is to get a fingernail down on it. If you have fat fingers or gloves on, good luck. And if you fail to smash it hard enough, which is likely, the lock plunger is slightly tapered so the the knife tends to actually only partially deploy about 1/4", like so:

When you’re using this as a fidget toy or a daily carry, this merely deeply irritating. But if it happens to you after the ruffian has told you to stand and deliver and you’ve already drawn your knife and said, “Aha!” Oh boy, is your face going to be red.

The Inevitable Conclusion

As part of Böker “Magnum” line, this is definitely a budget knife. Böker goes to great lengths to declare that these are designed in Solingen, Germany. But in the fine print they admit they’re made in China. That’s not inherently a bad thing; we’ve seen before that you can indeed get a fine piece of cutlery out of the Chinese. This one, though, is a bit middling.