Thread: The Stub-Tailed Shavers

Originally Posted by Costabro

Attachment 103510

Ok. I can hardly contain myself. First of all, my apologies for submitting what I have come to believe is an 1830's Joseph Elliot into this thread filled with 18th century wonders. Having said that, I've scrubbed and cleaned the scales, soaked them in neatsfoot oil for 48 hrs, metal polished the blade and pins, and am going to hone it and shave with it once I get off work. I'm beginning to fidget and fuss and look for hidden computers at the job to get back to this site.....

p.s. As for polishing the blade, yes, I have left the original patina

This is my first post here on SRP. I was encouraged by another member to check the site for this club after mailing him the straight below for some restoration work. I purchased this Wade & Butcher straight with original horn scales about a month and a half ago.

I've been told it is a stub tail, and that it could date anywhere from the 1700's (prior to the American Revolution) to 1815ish. Any details that you guys have would be greatly appreciated!

I will post additional pics upon its return to me. I am so excited to use this beauty as I begin my journey into straight razor shaving!

Originally Posted by dapperjoe

This is my first post here on SRP. I was encouraged by another member to check the site for this club after mailing him the straight below for some restoration work. I purchased this Wade & Butcher straight with original horn scales about a month and a half ago.

I've been told it is a stub tail, and that it could date anywhere from the 1700's (prior to the American Revolution) to 1815ish. Any details that you guys have would be greatly appreciated!

I will post additional pics upon its return to me. I am so excited to use this beauty as I begin my journey into straight razor shaving!

I'm afraid you've been misled (probably unintentionally). That is a standard 1850-1880 Wade & Butcher that's had its heel reground, probably to work out a big chip. All the same, I'm sure it will be a fine tool to use.

Fair enough, seeing as though WADE & BUTCHER only existed under such a name from 1818-1890, if I have ready correctly.

Originally Posted by dapperjoe

Fair enough, seeing as though WADE & BUTCHER only existed under such a name from 1818-1890, if I have ready correctly.

Manah's got you covered.

The particular model you've got was made for quite a while, so it's difficult to pin down precisely.

Hi all,

Kind of hoping someone might have even the slightest hint of what I have here! I bought this earlier this year off the bay and have put off doing anything to it in terms of restoration until either a) I decide to leave it as-is or b) my skills are such that I'm confident tackling a 200-year-old blade without doing any damage. I think it is probably circa 1810. Any other estimates?

So I guess I really have two questions:

Any idea who made it?
What would *you* do with it? Attempt to restore and bring back to use? Or leave as-is and preserve it?

I started a thread about this razor back in April ( http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...ery-razor.html ), but figure this is probably the group of folks to ask.



The writing is obscured and can only be partially read: "Beach" followed by what could either be an "&" or possibly another symbol, and then below "...chwitz". It *could* possibly read "Aschwitz" but I cannot be certain. Only the very top of the "A" can be seen, and it could have been preceded by other letters that are no longer visible.

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

I'm afraid you've been misled (probably unintentionally). That is a standard 1850-1880 Wade & Butcher that's had its heel reground, probably to work out a big chip. All the same, I'm sure it will be a fine tool to use.

Did you notice by chance how the sweep of the edge matches the sweep of the spine? It may be a slightly later model but I doubt if it has been reground.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Did you notice by chance how the sweep of the edge matches the sweep of the spine? It may be a slightly later model but I doubt if it has been reground.

Yep. The entire spine has been reground. It originally looked like this:




Probably really a lot like that, which would've been why the owner took it to a grinder to turn it back into something usable. You can just barely make out that the stamp and tang are the same, but DapperJoe's has had a stabilizer ground in, which digs into the profile of the spine.

Originally Posted by Cangooner

Hi all,

Kind of hoping someone might have even the slightest hint of what I have here! I bought this earlier this year off the bay and have put off doing anything to it in terms of restoration until either a) I decide to leave it as-is or b) my skills are such that I'm confident tackling a 200-year-old blade without doing any damage. I think it is probably circa 1810. Any other estimates?

So I guess I really have two questions:

Any idea who made it?
What would *you* do with it? Attempt to restore and bring back to use? Or leave as-is and preserve it?

I started a thread about this razor back in April ( http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...ery-razor.html ), but figure this is probably the group of folks to ask.

The writing is obscured and can only be partially read: "Beach" followed by what could either be an "&" or possibly another symbol, and then below "...chwitz". It *could* possibly read "Aschwitz" but I cannot be certain. Only the very top of the "A" can be seen, and it could have been preceded by other letters that are no longer visible.

That's an impressive mystery. I dug around but I can't find anything. Seems unlikely to be the same Beach that's brought up in the other thread because that razor was made before he was born. I'd guess late 1700's to early 18-teens.

The scales might well be original. I've seen a lot of earlier razors, especially more luxury oriented English razors, that are scaled in that same wood.

Personally, I'd put some tape on the spine and give it a gentle swipe across a high-grit hone, just to see how much metal has to go to get it workable. If it's barely touching along the full edge, I would probably just give it a really thorough Flitz/Mothers/Maas polishing and leave it at that.

It's a fascinating piece.

dapperjoe, first of all, Welcome to SRP.

I've been told it is a stub tail, and that it could date anywhere from the 1700's (prior to the American Revolution) to 1815ish.

I'm really sorry. But somebody lied ...or, possibly, didn't know he speak about.
A part of your blade was lost.
Very approximate scheme:


Most likely, your razor was closer to this one:





And the razor was made after 1850. IMO.