I’m going to go ahead and start this off by introducing myself. I’m Anne. I’m the wife of the mind behind Auxiliary Manufacturing, Mike/Michael/Cool Guy.
To second this off, I had NO idea what this niche had in store for me. Mike started asking me to help him at shows and essentially be his ‘bathroom break’ person at shows. I’m a team player, I went along. Knowing nearly nothing about knives or the process that was involved in making them, I put myself into it. I thought “Okay, I can stand here and look cute while he goes to the bathroom or gets lunch”…. I had no idea that it would be so involved and amazing, being in this world!
From the top (short version):
Mike started his knife making in Chicago,IL. I worked full time to support that “Hobby”/“Career” as a manager at a bar/restaurant. It’s what we do, support each other in every turn. When he was offered an opportunity in Reno,NV to grow his business I jumped on board immediately. We moved and made shit happen. What I wasn’t ready for was how involved I would be. He needed my help more than ever after the pandemic hit and deals fell through. Mike ventured out on his own again and we needed to make every move count. We hit all the local gun shows, started getting involved with ‘Blade Show’, and any other shows we could. Ultimately we resided to doing the ‘Knife’ forward venues for obvious reasons.
So here we are today. We do the ‘Blade Show’ shows and a couple of other things along the way, and I couldn’t be happier to be doing them. Are they long? YES. Are they expensive? YES. Are they worth it? 100% YES!!!!
Getting into the actual Community of it:
I would like to make mention that whatever you think of the people that make knives or do iron work that you see on the internet that may lead you to believe that they are “hard” or “unapproachable” or “angry” or really any one thing, you’re probably wrong. I don’t say this to start an argument or disagreement. I say this because I have personally, and mostly mistakenly, walked up to a number of these individuals and had, not only amazing conversations, but have also been engaged by their perspective and thoughts. Who knew that a ‘monkey’ that just mashed metal could have a cognitive thought and feelings and such amazing opinions. I, as some random girl at a knife show(at least in the beginning), was shown the utmost respect and attention. If there are any other Knife Ladies out there, I’m sure y’all can attest to lack of attention at these kinds of shows. There is something about this community that wants to bring you (and yes, this is a universal ‘you’) in. This is a close knit community…they protect, they keep account. Ultimately, they (we) are a family!
“Knife Community Life” input is not over!!!
Anne Jarvis
OXOOOOXO