Thread: One More Wade & Butcher

Wrapped this one up a few days ago. I looked at my photos and decided to finally use my software to adjust the color and exposure to better show the razors. So here's my 1st set of pictures using photo software. I'll get better at the photography part soon.

This is just one more basic W&B 6/8. The scales were trashed but the blade wasn't all the bad. Sorry, no "before" pictures since I wasn't really planning to do this one any time soon. I cut some experimental scales using Micarta and after some trial and error this W&B just sort of fell into the project since it fit the holes I'd cut.

Blade: Didn't need to use the greaseless on this one but it did need some time using 800, 1K, 2K, and 3K sandpaper and then on to the buffers using black, stainless, white, and red. Left a few small pits because they really didn't distract from the luster of the blade.

Scales: This was the fun part. I recently got into Micarta and this was my first real set of Micarta scales aside from experimenting with a few ideas that didn't work out for this particular blade. The stuff is easy to work with using the tools I have so I decided to exaggerate the curve of the scales just a little. Aside from shaping the scales all I really did was to round off the edges, sand and brush them a bit, and clean them up - next set should have some more creativity to them (contours on the face and/or inlay). It'll be a while before I claw up to Max's level (not bloody likely) but I'll experiment with some ideas that may pan out (or not).

Spacer: Really more of a wedge on this one - made from some scrap bloodwood. It's another little idea where I tried to turn an annoyance into something interesting. It doesn't look like too much in the photos, but as I was finalizing the shaping of the spacer and the scales, I managed to get some black from the Micarta onto the wedge (they were wet). Normally I'd remove the wedge and clean it up separately but decided to leave it in place. The idea is that as time progresses and the razor gets used and washed, the nice bright red of the wood will slowly come out. Hope I'm still using it when that happens - the red in that piece is really bold next to the blade Micarta.

Hardware: All brass pins and washers. Added a stabilizer pin because of the tight tolerances of the scales. They seemed to ask for a very precise spot where the blade comes to rest so a stabilizer pin worked well to ensure that.

Honing: There was a bevel on the blade when I got it but it was uneven at best. The sanding managed to wipe out much of the bevel so I reset it on the Norton 220 with one layer of tape then progressed up through 1K, 4K, and 8K Nortons. Next the Naniwa 12K, and Escher. The stropping started with 7 or 8 strokes on 0.5 CroOx, about 80 on felt, and then 60 or so on leather.

The Shave: Woah buddy! I had about 5 days of growth and this blade sliced through it as smoothly as any blade I've ever used. It sure got my attention - and a place in my rotation - sorry Monty (you may see Monty up for grabs again soon sporting a very nice John Jay).

Overall it wasn't all that tough of a restore but took a bit longer than it should because I was playing around with the Micarta quite a bit. What you see is actually the 3rd set I made for this blade - the first and second sets of scales "got away from me" but they'll show up in a few days with what I hope is interesting inlays.

Enjoy! Not really hard core razor porn but soft core at least.

Great job & a nice write up on the work done.
Thank you for sharing it.

Excellent work - thanks!

Very nice razor Very classy.

Maciek.

Did you use the micro mesh dry or with water/oil/Maas/etc?

Originally Posted by rbaker2778

Did you use the micro mesh dry or with water/oil/Maas/etc?

I tend to aways use micro mesh with water alone.