OK, here goes -- I would like to get my dad a really cool birthday present. I know that inside, he likes knives, because he used to give us some neat pocket knives when we were kids -- but I had not yet seen the light at that time, and did not understand. But now, I have been touched by the spirit, and can appreciate a wonderful edged tool on all levels -- practical, technical, aesthetic, and spiritual. The CUDA is, after all, a beautiful knife, designed to be a piece of art whether opened or closed (can one be said to be making art simply by opening a knife? I don't see why not...if ballet is an art, or aikido or swing dancing, I see no reason why the simple, elegant act of gliding a blade into place, just the right way, should not also be an artistic act...)
The CUDA is also an eminently practical knife, and truly meets Plato's standard of being both beautiful and useful together -- more useful, because it is beautiful, and more beautiful for being useful. It would be useful for my dad in particular because he sometimes has to go to out-of-the-way places to provide medical assistance, and needs to have a reliable, instantly ready tool for whatever arises. Furthermore, he is left-handed, and I am glad to see that Camillus has been thoughtful enough to make their top-level knife equally accessible for this underserved knife-using community.
On a technical level, I especially appreciate knives that add a clever mechanical feature to make their use more effective and convenient. That is one reason why I have liked the multi-tool developments over the last few years--yet they are often too complicated to just whip out and use right away. The CUDA, on the other hand, enhances the usefulness of a great linerlock knife by adding a simple mechanical feature for superior opening, eliminating all kinds of awkward twisting around, chafing thumbs on thumb studs, "axis burn", etc. We knifenuts like to brag about the knife as the tool that separates us from apes -- but doesn't that give short shrift to the lever?
After thousands of years, Camillus has finally brought the two together, where they have always belonged.
Lastly, on a spiritual level, I think we deserve the CUDA because it will be used for good works and because it is a wonderful common interest between generations in our family. So I humbly request a left-handed mini-CUDA in combo-edge with titanium nitride coating.
