Thread: Wade and Butcher Lovers: I got another one. Have a look!

Members of the Butcher family were producing cutlery from about 1730. Wade&Butcher was established in 1818 and produced some incredible work throughout the 1800 and early 1900's. It is simply one of the favoured razor companies, with a solid reputation for quality work and quality english steel. Due to the long life of the company, W&B's are available in many styles and sizes.

I'll leave it up to someone else to say whether or not W&B is BETTER than any other company. I think that many of the razors made throughout the years were built to last, out of quality steel. Looking at older/antique razors, generally the English and German products are thought to be of better quality. Joseph Rodgers & Sons (1682-1971) along with W&B are two top English producers. Henckels ( 1731-present) and Dovo (1887-present) are examples of respected German companies. The lifespan of these companies alone helps to illustrate the quality of the products they made.

Matt

Originally Posted by phopwood

I know I am going to regret asking this but what is so special about wade & butcher.

The reason they were in business so long and produced such high quality knives is because the town has a steel quality by-law ensuring that all cutlery and such produced within the city limits had a certain minimum standard. The steel remains some of the very best for our purposes.

X

X,

Do you know if the by-law situation is the same for Solingen, Germany?

I got one on ebay about 2 month ago, came as 2 razors in a leather box, the other one was a taylor 1000, it is in fairly good condition.

So when did Wade & butcher go out of business.

I might spend some time honing it then, see what its like.

Peter

Blade Wielder,

What is the straight in the bottom right of your picture? The small one with the real curvy lines. Looks absolutely beautiful! Don't get me wrong, they are all nice looking razors, but that one just stands out to me. Very nice.

-Pary

Pary,

Judging by the razor's name, it's no surprise it caught your attention. It was 'De Pew's' 1882 patent, humbly titled, "The Perfect Razor."

Here's a better look at it:

Judging from the shape in the group shot, I thought it was the De Pew, a TRUE monkey tail! Those certainly are beautiful. So how does it shave? Easy to hold? Is it a perfect razor?

Regarding Wade & Butcher, the trade mark was purchased by Durham Duplex in 1953 and is still in use, though I'm not sure if straight razors are still being made. W&B also made large amounts of cutlery in various styles. I don't own any of these later W&B razors so I can't comment on the quality after the change in ownership.

There is also note of a small run of pocket knives in 1968 under the Wade and Butcher name, though these were primarily for the collectors market. The only knife noted is a 4", 3 bladed whittler.

I own a few monster W&B's and Joseph Rodgers and both are massive, with wonderful curves and engravings.

Damn nice razor!!!

Originally Posted by shavethebadger

Do you know if the by-law situation is the same for Solingen, Germany?

I don't know if the letters are the same, but Solingen too has a quality controll by-law.

X

Okay, I just shaved with it for the first time.

This razor was quite sharp when I got it in the mail, but I took it over the 8K side of my hone a few times and then to the strop.

And let me tell you, it shaved like a dream! Better than any of my other razors have managed. I had a couple days of growth and this thing gave me a very close shave after one southward pass. Naturally, I followed that up with a cross-grain and against-the-grain pass, leaving not even an indication that hair grows on my face.

I'm afraid I'm going to hang on to this one, Joe.