Thread: Petite Wade & Butcher

Hopefully, someone can tell me something about this Wade & Butcher razor! I've spent several hours looking on SRP, Ebay and elsewhere on the internet for anything like it.

The dimensions are:

- Scales = 5-1/2 inch
- Blade, tang to tip = 5-1/2 inch
- Blade, cutting = 2-3/4 inch

The razor has writing on the side shown in the picture, and nothing written or stamped on the other side.

This is definitely the smallest razor I have ever seen in picture or else! Very petite.

I don't know much about razors to start with but that looks like it's be ground to near death.

At first, I also thought it had been "ground to death"; that it had started life as a regular sized razor, and been honed down. But, careful inspection of the end of the razor, and the butt of the cutting edge of the razor, I believe, say otherwise.

I am attaching another picture showing the tip of the blade alongside another average-sized razor. You can tell from the width of the blade, how much smaller it is than a regular blade, that this is just a very small razor.

When you look at the contours and lines, I think they also indicate some honing wear. But, not "ground to death" wear.

i had one just like that it is made that small mine was 6/16 wide and it came from the factory like that it had never been honed .

I'm new, but it doesn't look ground to death to me. I thought it did at first, but if you look at the tip you can see it still has a spanish point. If it had been honed down to that size, I feel like that feature would be missing.

I'm new, so its just my 2 cents

There are several indications that it hasn't been excessively ground, such as the point mentioned by DPFlaumer. At the other scale side of the cutting edge, where the edge curves into the shank (if that is the right term), you can see rounding that appears manufactured. This rounding also indicates the blade's original size is about what you see.

I need to find out how to measure razors, (6/16, 5/8, etc) so I can get something more than just describing it as "petite." So, I'm off to internet school to educate myself...

I'm embarrassed to admit I never paid much attention to the size of razors. But, I found this on Wikipedia...

The width of the blade is defined as the distance between the back of the blade and the cutting edge. It is expressed in units of eighth of an inch.

Using this method, without any elegant measuring device like a caliper, this might be a 3/8 razor. It is actually 3/8 + 1/16 inch. So, maybe, a 4/8?

Originally Posted by LarryAndro

There are several indications that it hasn't been excessively ground, such as the point mentioned by DPFlaumer. At the other scale side of the cutting edge, where the edge curves into the shank (if that is the right term), you can see rounding that appears manufactured. This rounding also indicates the blade's original size is about what you see.

I need to find out how to measure razors, (6/16, 5/8, etc) so I can get something more than just describing it as "petite." So, I'm off to internet school to educate myself...

blade so narrow means it might have been used for finishing neck and/or mustache.
Also get Calipers for precise measuring blades, but I think a regular ruler will do just fine too
5/8= 0.625"= 15.875mm
6/8=75"=19.05mm
and so on.

Searching for Wade & Butcher 4/8 razors brought me to this link...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwiki/index.php/Wade_%26_Butcher_"Medium_Hollow_Ground"_4/8

A... Wade & Butcher "Medium Hollow Ground" 4/8... with 1/16th of an inch honed away.

Could it be a 'corn razor' ? Many companies made a small straight razor for cutting the corns off of a person's toe as crazy as that sounds.