Date Ranges of Manufacture

My husband received a straight razor after his dad passed away and it has been passed down through the generations. We are trying to determine the approximate age. Here is the description:
The Celebrated
Hollow Ground Razor
Circle B Arrow Cross brand

The tang has:
Manufactured By
Wade & Butcher
Sheffield
Circle B Arrow Cross brand

The handle appears to be Bakelite and is black. It's not bone; almost positive it's Bakelite or something much like that.
It's about 6 inches long closed and including exposed lever handle and around 10 inches fully open.
There is an inward curve on the outermost end of blade.

Any information on years this particular razor was manufactured would be most appreciated.

Pictures are always a Plus!

Wade and Butcher were in business for many years! Check here:
Straight Razor Manufacturers and Dates of Operation

With there not being any Country of Origin only Sheffield, it's probably made back in the later 1880's or so, but that's just 'my' guess!

Thanks so much. I will check the link. Also trying to date Bakelite material to narrow the timeframe down.

The link shows this under Wade & Butcher:
WADE & BUTCHER
Successor to Robert Wade; succeeded by Butcher, Brown & Butcher
Sheffield
1818-1890

I think that narrows it down very nicely. Thanks so much for the link, cudarunner.

By the way, it's still in it's original box with an embossed design on each piece where the pieces meet to open/close. No paperwork inside or branding on the box.

Best regards,

tsarnold

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tsarnold

Thanks so much. I will check the link. Also trying to date Bakelite material to narrow the timeframe down.

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I don't trust them 100% but this might be of some help!

Bakelite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Do the handles have any grain to them ? W&B made many razors with buffalo horn scales (handles). To some people, if horn scales are shiny, they can appear to be plastic or Bakelite. They did make scales of Bakelite too though. If I understand your description the "inward curve" is probably what we refer to as a notch point or barber's notch.

Jimmy has some Very Good Points!!!

I hope that this link will be informative and helpful!

Scroll down and you will see the different grinds and then what Jimmy refereed to as a 'Barber's Notch'!

The straight razor - Straight Razor Place Wiki

I don't think I've ever seen a Wade & Butcher razor with the circle and arrow that was made before 1860. If the scales (handle) are horn (which has a faint grain to it, like Jimmy says), 1860-1891 is about the best range that you can get. If the scales are made from vulcanized rubber (which is a solid black material that smells faintly of sulfur if you rub your thumb over it), it's more likely to have been made after 1870 and before 1891.

Bakelite wasn't a very common material for razor scales. I'm not sure why, precisely, but of the hundreds of razors I've examined, only a few have used it. I can say, from experience, that it's annoying to work with due to its fragility.

Yes, it's the notch point/barber's notch. And the scale does not have any grain to it and it is shiny.

Thanks, Voidmonster. I should have thought of buffalo horn or other horn before Bakelite. Makes much more sense. Thanks so much for the information.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tsarnold

Thanks, Voidmonster. I should have thought of buffalo horn or other horn before Bakelite. Makes much more sense. Thanks so much for the information.

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I'm glad to help! It sounds like what you've got is vulcanized rubber, which went by many, many names. It was extremely popular in late Victorian times, even being used for jewelry and furniture. Though horn definitely isn't out of the question. When it's well cared for, it can be as smooth as glass.

And of course, I spend so little time with Bakelite that I don't know that much about it, so I missed that it wasn't manufactured until after the turn of the century, which would've let me completely rule it out!

A razor like that -- passed down through the family -- is basically begging to be honed and used, and while shaving with a straight razor is absolutely not for everyone, even trying it once with something of that kind of connection could be very rewarding. Professional honing isn't expensive, barely more than a package of replacement cartridges, and there are great learning resources on this forum.

The scales could also be made from xylonite, an improved form of Parkesine which was really a form of celluloid. Xylonite was very popular as a scale material in England, and razors were frequently advertised as being available scaled in ivory, horn or xylonite. Marketed by the British Xylonite Co from the last quarter of the 1800s right up to the takeover by the Distillers Group in the 1960s (and probably still available) it saw many uses as diverse as disposable collars and cuffs for shirts, hair brush bases, combs, pots, etc, etc. Interestingly, the Union Carbide Co and Distillers merged in 1963 to form the 'Bakelite Xylonite Co'. It was availabe in as many colours as you like, just like celluloid and took a deep, glossy shine.

Vulcanite (the 1840s product discovered by Goodyear, not the mineral!) was also quite popular, but available in a restricted colour pallette, browns and blacks being most popular. Sulphur was used to cross link the polymers in natural rubber and the products were cast in a mould. It didn't take as high a shine as many alternatives, but was fairly glossy. Simply called 'hard rubber' by some, it is also called 'ebonite'. Bowling balls, pipe mouthpieces, etc, were made from it and it was extensively used as an electrical insulator. Goodyear's patent ran out in the 1870s, but plenty was still made by other companies, one of which was the American Hard Rubber Co, producing up to the end of WW1.

Vulcanite quite often oxydises. This can be a light yellowish or brownish patina on the surface that is often removable with metal polish, or it can be more extensive - black pieces can go brown, particularly where exposed to sunlight, or a kind of pea-soup green.

Bakelite, patented 1907, 'General Bakelite Co' formed in 1910, has the same tendency to become brownish on exposure to sunlight. If you rub a tissue on it very fast it often discolours the tissue.


There are various rough rule-of thumb tests for various plastic-like materials:

Celluloid acetate - often smells vinegary (smell might not be noticed until material breaks down and releases corrosive acetic acid). Trade name 'Bexoid'.
Celluloid nitrate - often smells of moth-balls, Vick or camphor when rubbed (this variety is xylonite - smell might not be particularly noticed unless object has been kept in a confined space)
Bakelite - can smell 'fishy' particularly if very hot or of camphor due to phenol and formaldehyde content. Can also smell of carbolic.
Catalin - another form of bakelite sharing the same basic features as bakelite.
Casein - (aka 'Galalith', 'Erinoid') produced since shortly before 1900 by mixing casein and formaldehyde - slight formaldehyde smell if placed in hot water.

Horn, of course, will smell like burnt hair if touched with a red hot needle (somewhere inconspicuous, like on the inner surface). This test will not harm bakelite/hard rubber significantly, but it will melt vinyls, acetates and celluloid and may make some forms of early celluloid burst into flame.

Regards,
Neil