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When I was a boy, I had a hard time reading. Don't think it had anything to do with smarts (though I'm sure my family would have a thing to say about that!), but I just found that if I wasn't interested in something, I just didn't apply myself. But there was one story that had be enthralled.
It was the story of "Tamburlaine The Great". My father had a picture book of the story, and even before I know what the words were, he would read it to me, as I gazed at the pictures, so that by the time I could read, I had it memorized! Tamburlaine was a Mongol conqueror, who lead an amazing army that conquered an empire from India all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. I especially was enamored with him since he had such power, yet was actually handicapped (as I felt was I, since I had such trouble with reading). An early battle injury left him partially paralyzed (His name actually meaning "Timur the Lame"). Although he was notorious for his cruelty in war and for the many atrocities committed by his armies, Tamerlane was also a lover of scholarship and the arts. That was rare for bloodthirsty rulers of that era (the 16th Century), and he was noted for his patronage of Turkish and Persian literature.
In homage to this "rough crude leader" with his imperfection, both, physically, and with his savagery, yet being a man of such artistic soul and heart, I created my very first knife with the "warrior" Bowie style blade, and adding a flat ground using the ancient technique known as "Steinpoliermittle", which leaves the top edge billet in its original raw and "savage" form. This is truly a unique one-of-a-kind knife, demonstrating both the beauty and the savagery of a complex man, and complex times in our history.
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