The AK-47 bayonet can be commonly bought for under $20 from various sources. The knife is famous for being likely the strongest knife ever made that is still practical. The blade is thick as all hell and never rusts. Brought down from greatness by its own strong blade being difficult to bring to an edge, this knife is still very popular in the USA for its absurdly cheap price and astounding reliability.
The two most common variants of this blade are the Romanian production model and the East Germany model. While functionally the same, the two are starkly different in materials used, their sheaths and other minor details. I have purchased one of each, the East German bayonet from JGsales in 2010, and the Romanian bayonet from Amazon in 2012. I will outline my experiences with both and their differences.
Romanian on the left, East German on the right.
Immediately you can tell the difference in quality between the two. The Romanian model's handle is made of wood that, over time, has rotted during storage. The German model's handle is made of a black plastic that's extremely strong and does not age at all, it seems. The blades between the two are nearly identical, and seem impervious to rust. I'm not exactly sure what kind of steel they're made out of, but whatever it is, it's the most rust resistant metal I've yet run across.
Closeup of the handles' condition.
The blades are thick and unyielding. These things feel like an AK-47, all right. I don't think you could break one of these blades with anything short of an industrial laser. I've proven before that you can jam one right through a cinderblock with no damage to the point at all, and I was amazed. The bane of the design, however, is this massively thick blade. The blades are absurdly difficult to bring to a proper edge with anything short a dremel and an afternoon worth of time. With but a sharpening stone, you'll have some problems.
Comparison of the blades. Even under a hard look, the craftsmanship of the steel is identical between the two.
An interesting note about the blades is the hole in them as can be seen clearly above. This is because the blade will actually fit into a feature on the sheath and turn into a wirecutter. I've actually used the wirecutter feature more than anything else on this knife, interestingly enough. The East-German sheath is insulated with plastic all around it. The Romanian sheath comes with a rubber sleeve that is a bitch to put on. This is to allow you to cut electrified wire. I'd trust the East-German model far more for this purpose.
East-German bayonet & sheath setup for wirecutting.
Besides the insulation methods of the sheaths, there are still some differences. The East-German sheath is in perfect condition after all of these years due to the plastic insulator, I'm assuming, covering most of the steel innards, whereas the Romanian sheath is a veritable rust bucket by this point.
East-German sheath on the left, Romanian sheath on the right. Note the rust on the Romanian sheath.
All in all I would do well to avoid the Romanian bayonet and stick with the East-Germany variant. When they were stored, the Romanian bayonets must not have been handled with as much care as the East-German ones, and they have not fought off time quite as well. As far as the knives themselves go, both will work, but the East-German one is all around of better quality. Despite the Romanian knife's better price, I'd say the East-German one is worth the minuscule extra cost.
East-German bayonets & sheaths. $20+S&H
Romanian bayonets & Sheaths. $8+S&H
Thank you for reading.
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