Making a special find feel complete

I was reunited with an old friend earlier this week via the U.S. Postal Service. A knife I had owned for nearly 30 years was returned to me with a brand new sheath handmade by the knife maker’s daughter-in-law. I was quite pleased with the now complete package.

A little history here might help. Back in the 1980s, while I was working for Fish and Game at the Kitoi Bay Hatchery on Afognak Island, my wife and I happened to be in Kodiak on one of our three-trips-per-year visits to the “Big City.” We were staying at the Best Western out by the airport. One evening, I noticed a knife on display at the check-in desk and asked what the deal was.

I was told that one of the employees had purchased the knife while visiting up in the Seward area and had decided he really didn’t need it after all. The owner was selling it for what he had paid for it — $70. The knife was new and unused but did not have a sheath.

I was intrigued by this piece of custom cutlery. It had a plain hardwood handle with a small brass bolster between the handle and the blade and a thin German silver end cap. Thin spacers colored red, white, and blue separated the handle from either end fitting. The handle was only about 4 inches long but felt plenty long enough for a firm grip and good control of the cutting end. The blade was only about 3 inches long and had a sweeping curve, which I thought would make a good skinning knife. All the pieces were very closely fitted to each other and the knife just felt solid and “right” in my hand. The knife was handmade and the blade was stamped: “I.R.B.I., Irwin Campbell, Seward Alaska” in three lines.

I hemmed and hedged and offered $50 for it. No deal! Would $60 work? After all, it didn’t have a sheath. Still no deal. I gave in and paid the asking price. I was happy enough, but one always tries for a better deal when dickering over “used” knives! My first task after arriving home was to make a working sheath for the knife so I could carry it while deer hunting on Afognak.

Over the ensuing years, I probably skinned 25 to 30 deer and one elk with that knife. The sheath I had made worked well enough, but it just wasn’t the same as having one made by the knife maker specifically for that blade.

We left Afognak in 1990 and found ourselves here in the Mat-Su Valley. By then, I had a good assortment of knives I used while butchering moose and I don’t honestly remember if I ever used the Irvin Campbell knife on one or not. I thought about trying to contact the maker since I knew his name and that he worked in Seward, but just never quite got around to doing so.

Finally, this past summer, I took a contract job that had me coming and going to Seward several times. The I.R.B.I. knife shop is located at Mile 20 on the Seward Highway and I stopped in on one of my trips home. I met Virgil Campbell, Irwin’s son, and the current owner of the business. His son, Hunter, has started making knives as well, so three generations of the family have made knives for customers all over the world.

I also met Dawn Campbell, Virgil’s wife. She explained the history of the I.R.B.I. custom knife making business. She also informed me that Irwin had passed away a few years ago.

I told the story of how I had gotten the knife and Dawn filled in several blanks for me. Irwin had sold some of his knives, especially ones without a sheath, for $70 back in those days. The knife itself, while not unusual, was not a real common blade shape at the time — most blades Irwin made were longer because that’s what most folks wanted. Irwin’s wife made the knife sheaths. Dawn told me she had learned to make the sheaths from her mother-in-law and had taken over that aspect of the business as age took its toll on the previous generation.

I asked Dawn if she could make a sheath for my knife. She answered yes, but said she needed the knife itself so she could custom mold the leather to the knife’s shape. I told her I’d be sending it to her when I got home.

The returned knife and sheath look brand new. I had asked Virgil to go over the knife and make sure everything was still good. He polished the blade and the brass and sharpened the blade edge. Like I said, the knife looks brand new. The sheath is custom fit to the knife and has all the markings an I.R.B.I. sheath should have. I now have a complete set and I’m thrilled.

If you’re interested in this knife-making family, you can find out more by going to their website at irbiknives.com or by calling them at (907) 288-3616. I found both Dawn and Virgil to be really nice people (I didn’t meet Hunter) and enjoyable to talk with. Next time you’re driving to Seward, stop by the shop at Mile 20. You can’t miss the big knife sign outside the small log structure.

Now all I have to do is find a legal bull moose so I can become reacquainted with my favorite skinning blade!

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.