Growing up, my love of making things started in my Grandparents’ woods where me and my older brother and his friends would make forts and shelters. Like any young boy, I loved the weapons and armor of the Japanese Ninja and Samurai or the Medieval Knights. That love of creating drove me and my close friend to start making our own weapons which consisted of scrapped together parts in his basement. After my dad finished a 4-year sentence in prison, we started going to a local flea market and this is where my love of knives was really born. I started collecting cheap, mass-produced knives and after seeing a video on Facebook of a guy forging a knife from a wrench, I knew I needed to try making my own. I was working at a local Subway at the time and saved up to buy a cheap Angle Grinder and a few other basic tools and found some scrap metal at my grandparent’s farm and just started cutting and grinding it into something that looked more like a prison shank than a knife. I became obsessed. I started watching hours of Knifemaking YouTube videos and absorbing Techniques, and Information and applied it to my knives. It was around this time that my father passed away due to a Heroin overdose, and I was crushed. My grades tanked and I had no interest in academics or much of anything at that point. My shop became my therapy, and I dealt with my grief the only way that felt right for me and dove into my hobby while scraping by in school and working at a local diner to fund it. After showing one of my knives to my friend’s dad Rich Stadler who Owns BilletSpin, He encouraged me to make an Instagram and start posting my work, I reluctantly agreed. That night I sold a Kiridashi to his friend for 80$ and the Bones of what became Fox River Blades were born. That loop of making and selling to fund my “Business” while working at a diner happened until my senior year when I got hired to work at a Machine shop doing minor tasks like checking tolerances on parts and then eventually operating a CNC Machine. Shortly after being hired there, I moved out and was in full grind mode. My days consisted of me waking up, going to school until noon, going to work until 8 PM and then driving 45 minutes to my workshop and working there until 1-2 in the morning and that repeated all week until the weekend when I was able to let loose a bit. While doing that I also went through a breakup and needed to get away and I made the last-minute decision to go with my family to Florida and on our way back I was paralyzed in car accident. After moving back into my moms and months of Physical therapy, I was finally able to get back to the thing I loved most. My Shop. I had to completely relearn how to live, from stuff like taking a shower, to cooking, to driving. After moving into my own apartment again, I reconnected with a girl that was the daughter of my old mentor Rich from Billetspin. We started dating and are now married a year later and despite everything I’m the happiest and most fulfilled I’ve been in my life. Going back a bit, I did a soft reboot on Fox River Blades in April of 2024. I started running it as an actual business as opposed to good side hustle. I released the “Fennec” after more than 10 prototypes and began the next stage of Fox River Blades. I upped my game in every aspect working on dialing the Design, Fit and Finish and Quality of our knives. I’m beyond grateful to everyone that supported me through everything. Love y’all - Jaden Schubert