Thread: Wade & Butcher Special restore.

Before:





What I ended up doing.

A whole lotta hand-sanding, which badly faded both etches.

Because it was a more recent model (IE, about 1905-1910), the pins and collars were the two-piece style: a nail with a single washer on the other side. That means they weren't salvageable -- there was only a single washer per-pin.

Using an etch-resist pen, I carefully outlined the faded etches and bit them out again with some ferric-chloride. For good measure, I then carded in some black UV curing epoxy paint (used for etching circuit boards), cured it with a bright UV lamp, then carded off the excess with another razor (I've got a few of those laying around my workbench for some reason!).

I made new collars with proper locking washer beneath the larger, rounded one. For these, I used a custom-made punch die and some thin steel I snagged out of a kitchen white-board. I'd experimented with a sheet of steel I got at Home Depot, but it was too thick for these washers.

Then I put it all back together and got this:

Nice work Zack, love the lines of that blade and those rounded licorice scales, they do feel good in the hand.

Nice clean save.

That is one good looking razor. The etching you did sounds interesting.

I'm glad to hear someone was able to save an etching. Do you have any close up shots of the pinning?

Very nice restore Zak! Love those shoulder-less blades...

WP34

Originally Posted by MattCB

I'm glad to hear someone was able to save an etching. Do you have any close up shots of the pinning?

If you right-click on the images and choose 'view image', you can look at a high res version where some of those details are clearer.

They're not quite a perfect visual match, but they are exactly the same size, which is a tiny bit bigger than the older Sheffield brass washer/collar combos.

Nice work....

Beautiful razor! That is a very special W&B Special.....I like it!

excellent job on the reetching. you should really make a video of that if you could. lot of guys, myself included, would really enjoy and get a ton of help out of that.

Originally Posted by tiddle

excellent job on the reetching. you should really make a video of that if you could. lot of guys, myself included, would really enjoy and get a ton of help out of that.

The next time I've got one where this technique will work, I'll definitely shoot video!

It worked out okay on this one because the only part I really had to re-etch was the maltese cross and the tip of the arrow on the front. They're such simple designs, I could just freehand paint around them with the resist pen. More complex etches are going to require some home-brew photolitho process, but I'm 95% of the way there for that, and I'll do a video for that too.

Just beware, ferric chloride is not a super-friendly substance to work with, and if I'd shot video of the way I did it, I'd feel obligated to pay everyone's medical bills.

Yeah kids, do not drizzle etching solution around with a plastic tube over the (enamel) kitchen sink while wearing no gloves or eyewear. I came out okay because I was stupid enough not to think about it. Doesn't mean you will!