Thread: The Butcher Shop

This is a great restoration.

Originally Posted by freeman

Can I play too?

Oh, good God, Freeman, that's BEAUTIFUL!!

I'm in

Before:


After:

Well I still only have the one W&B that I recieved from my mother-in-law. It was owned by my wife's great uncle who came to the US from Scotland. Here is the before Pic of the razor:





And here is the pic after being rescaled by rayman and polished by sham:



Unfortunately it lost most of the writing on the blade from polishing but I anticipated this since it was pretty well faded to begin with. It gives a fantastic shave and it will stay in rotation...especially since its one of only three razors I own. But hey, birthday comin up!

I am amazed by the breadth of the W&B product line. It's like they never made two razors the same in all their history LOL. I will have to clean mine up now, just to see what it's like.
So, how do I get the dark oxidation off without removing the etching on the blade?

Originally Posted by bigstick

So, how do I get the dark oxidation off without removing the etching on the blade?

It's very possible that you won't be able to. If you want to try to save an etch, I would suggest you start off with the highest grit sandpaper you have and slowly work your way down.

In the end I loaded up a chamois patch with chromium oxide and spent several episodes patiently hand polishing the blade with a good result. Not 100% gone, but much reduced and the etching still legible.

Mid-sized, heavy grind W&B with Barber's (Sheffield's) notch from approx 1866 - 1870. It looked its age when I won it for close to nothing on the bay. Scales were totally rotten and the blade was in a poor condition. I had her thorougly cleaned and restored, fitted with a set of new dark horn scales, a white bone spacer and bullseye pins. According to Steve over at razorpsharpening UK, she was a real tough cookie to sharpen tough but, whatever he did, it came out well. Shaves are smooth as silk so far.

I'm afraid but the pictures below are not of the quality I initially wanted to post but can't find batteries for the camera right now, so took the pics with the phone. Sorry for that. One can only really only just make out the W&B markings on the tang. The black box seen on the pictures is the razor's original box with the W&B markings, which I will try to clean up a bit myself on a rainy Sunday one day..

I purchased this today after seeing it for some time in an antique store I frequent. I finally gave in and purchased it. The printing on the spine is clear but the etching on the blade is so faint I can only read it in just the right light and angle. Can anyone help me with an approximate date on this one?



There is a dent in the blade that I hope won't be too much trouble to hone out.



I forgot to point out that the writing above the words, "Fine India Steel Razor" does not look like simply "The Celebrated" like the razor in WIKI with the same subtitle. It is almost impossible to read at all but it appears to say "Wade & Butcher..." and I can't make out the rest. Anyone tell me what it might say?

Originally Posted by pstrjp

I forgot to point out that the writing above the words, "Fine India Steel Razor" does not look like simply "The Celebrated" like the razor in WIKI with the same subtitle. It is almost impossible to read at all but it appears to say "Wade & Butcher..." and I can't make out the rest. Anyone tell me what it might say?

Date would be pre 1890 but I can't be more accurate

Possibly reads
"Wade & Butcher's Celebrated
Fine India Steel Razor"