Thread: Wade & Butcher for Barber's Use

I picked up this razor off ebay with no scales (measured 8/8). The blade seemed like it should be an easy restore. Upon arrival, I started on the 80 grit compound to remove the pits and along the way I was severely disturbed by some of the metal around the pits crumbling off. There was pitting along the edge as well and I was uncertain as to if this was going to work out or not. I used calipers to measure along the length of the blade as I could feel the spine width was very uneven. The variance in width was .035 inches at some points of the spine. I spent a lot of time evening out the spine on a 220 grit stone, then rebuffed through 600 grit, put on 3 layers of tape and went to the hones to see if I could get a decent edge. The middle of the blade on the show side was not getting an even bevel, so I added a 4th layer of tape in the middle. I was able to get a good sharp bevel along the entire length of the blade, so I gave her a test shave to see if I should finish the scales and the restore or if I had wasted my time. The test shave was amazing, so she is all finished up now, dressed in Black G10 with a Red Wedge. Certainly not the best work, but I'm sure glad it was salvageable...she's now about 9/10. Here are the pics:

Before:



After:






Thanks

Glenn

Nice work! Sweet razor!

Wow !

Beautiful & HUGE

Well done

Really nicely done, you've done well considering the starting point. Looks great and certainly worth the time spent.

Are you finding that pitting gets revealed as you hone into the steel?

Originally Posted by ace

Are you finding that pitting gets revealed as you hone into the steel?

Not now. What I was experiencing was that some of the pits appeared small on the surface, but as metal was removed, the underlying pit was cavernous, like a cave with a small opening but a giant chamber. All the steel now is clean.

Thanks

Glenn

Sweet job, well done! I love the profile of the blade, looks great.

Wowww Glenn...Nicely done brotha . I love how she cleaned up

Well done, thanks for sharing!

Cleanup is great, and the scales are nicely matched to the blade. The honing seems a bit harsh, though, particularly at the toe and heel where it becomes particularly apparent that the smile is gone from the razor... Not a game-ender, by a long shot, but perhaps something to focus on in the future.