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Over The course of my life, two things have never strayed far from me: a pipe full of tobacco, and a knife. My love affair with knives started when I was just a boy when one of my uncles gifted me a pocket knife for my birthday - much to the dismay of my parents. I carried that knife everywhere, whittling sticks, carving my name on trees, and especially on Boy Scout outings where (at the time) if you showed up without a knife, you got left out of a lot of activities. Ever since then, I've always stuck a knife in my pocket before leaving the house for any reason. You never know when you're going to need it, and I've always felt naked when I forget one.
Several years ago I decided to try my hand at making knives. And, as anyone who's heard the story will tell you, it turns out I didn't know very much about making them. Despite owning dozens of knives, I needed to learn the basics of knife making, right down to what steel is good for what. I took a step back, concentrated on other endeavors (namely pipe making) and decided to allow myself time to grow. Since then I've done loads of research into metallurgy, pored over historical texts, read and re-read books on knife making, and hammered and ground down hundreds of pounds of steel. I've sought advice from established makers, participated in swaps, gained valuable feedback, and honed and refined my skills.
Now, all this time later, I feel that I've gained enough artistic insight, as well as the engineering knowledge, to make knives that are worthy of the most demanding situations. Each one of these knives has a bit of me imbued within it - strength, humor, charisma, and introspection. I work on them one at a time, giving each blade full attention until it's completed, sheath and all. For that reason, production sometimes comes slowly. However, when your knife is used as a daily companion, you should expect no less.
As for the name? It actually started off as a joke, like any other nickname. Someone with whom I had conversed with for years and had developed into a good friend, but never met face to face, finally saw a picture of me one day. He quipped that he would never again make jokes "at the expense of that Oversized Ostrogoth". Being of Germanic descent, I found the description especially humorous. I adopted it and used it in my signature block on several forums and email lists. When I was looking for a name for my knife business, it was an obvious choice. So thanks, Frank - I owe you one.
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