In my K2 article views, there are no icons, only text links. Is there an option in K2 to enable icons, or do I have to find some icons at the internet and hack the php view files?

Is there any more dynamic method for this than to hardcode item.php ?

You can change your css file...
There are no icons because may be in backend admin you choose not to load the K2 styles.

You do not need hack k2 code, you can change root/templates/youtemplate/css/template.css
You can using my css

div.itemToolbar ul li a.itemPrintLink {
background: url("../images/print_icon.png") no-repeat scroll center center transparent;
display: inline-block !important;
height: 16px;
width: 16px;
}
/* Disable text: Print *
div.itemToolbar ul li a.itemPrintLink span {
display: none !important;
}
div.itemToolbar ul li span.itemTextResizerTitle {
background: url("../images/font_size.png") no-repeat scroll center center transparent;
display: inline-block !important;
height: 16px;
margin-top: 5px;
width: 16px;}

div.itemToolbar ul li a.itemEmailLink {
background: url("../images/email_icon.png") no-repeat scroll center center transparent;
display: inline-block !important;
height: 16px;
width: 16px;
}
div.itemToolbar ul li a.itemEmailLink span {
display: none !important;
}