Thread: Wade & Butcher Comeback

Originally Posted by Wirm

W&B trademark. WADE & BUTCHER - Reviews & Brand Information - Big Dog Cutlery, LLC Mayfield, KY - Serial Number: 77737985

BIG DOG CUTLERY has their stuff made in China.

Originally Posted by aalbina

Hmm. I'm not sure that this site is legitimate. It's hard to tell but a whois lookup on the domain name wadeandbutcher.com yields some odd results. The domain is registered in Panama. They registrant uses whoisguard - which hides names of actual registrants. Some companies do this to keep spam down but it's not that common on legitimate sites. This could just be a scam to collect your email address by asking you to sign up for their newsletter.

Partial results from a whois query (the whoisguard name and org means they are protecting the actual name of the organization and the registrants name):

Name: WHOISGUARD PROTECTED
Organization: WHOISGUARD, INC.
Mailing Address: P.O. BOX 0823-03411, PANAMA PANAMA 00000 PA
Phone: +507.8365503

There is a phone number on the record, which I called, and it is not in service.

Seems odd.

Adam

As you said, the service they're using masks their information, including name, email, address, and phone number. You can't base any information off their domain registration. Domain privacy is pretty standard for normal use. I have it on my personal site, SRP uses it, and millions of other legitimate sites do the same.

It might be someone looking to cash in on an established name but I doubt it's for malicious email scamming. Pretty elaborate steps taken already to target a niche market.

Originally Posted by commiecat

As you said, the service they're using masks their information, including name, email, address, and phone number. You can't base any information off their domain registration. Domain privacy is pretty standard for normal use. I have it on my personal site, SRP uses it, and millions of other legitimate sites do the same.

It might be someone looking to cash in on an established name but I doubt it's for malicious email scamming. Pretty elaborate steps taken already to target a niche market.

I'm familiar with the practice. For any established company, it is generally not done. Small companies and private entities often entertain such a practice. Certainly not a red flag on it's own. A simple phony DMCA complaint to the provider will likely yield the hidden information. I've had to do that to uncover domain technical contacts and GoDaddy will send you the info pretty quick. Other privacy companies sometimes require an actual subpoena. I assure you, there is no way to truly hide this type of information on the Internet. Domain history can be traced back to the first registration. There is no such thing as privacy on the Internet.

A registration address out of Panama (the WHOISGUARD Address) for a company historically based in the UK is odd. There is already an entry in NOMINET, the official UK registry:

Domain name:
wadeandbutcher.uk
Registrant:
Alan Ezekiel
Registrant type:
Unknown
Registrant's address:
277 Boston Road
Hanwell
London
W7 2AT
United Kingdom

A phone number for the registrant for the .com address that is listed as land line in Slayton, Minnesota is odd. Which prompted my closing statement - this seems odd.

Given what I have seen in this industry - the minimal amount of effort required to set this up for an niche target audience who spends hundreds of dollars on straight razors... I have to respectfully disagree that it is pretty elaborate. I could have accomplished everything this site accomplished with about 15 minutes of effort and a maximum of $75.00.

It seems odd. We'll have to wait and see I suppose.

Adam

Agreed. Many sites I have visited the blades are 300 plus. Noted some at over a $1000. What puzzles me is who would pay a grand for a straight razor (people with money they don't know what to do with it!) I have been using a straight razor for 20 plus years and everyone has come from an antique store where I paid as little as $5 for the blade and $40 for the most expensive. Yes it takes work to prep the blade to get ready for a shave. My first one I honed on diamond blocks. When I finished up with the fine block I strop ped it and had to go back to work--talk about pull and drag and scrape, Ouch. I have invested into Japanese waters tones, five of them, I purchased some time later Arkansas stones--six of them. I picked up some funny stones from antique dealers for straight razors. One was smoother than the Arkansas translucent polish stone, the other was some where near a medium grit. I have other gadgets, but Arkansas stones seem to be the ones I stay with. I like the Japanese, but it takes too much time to prep them to use.
Not attempting to be nosey, but what is the most you have paid for a blade--if you don't mind? As I said all my razors come from antique dealers and have never bought a brand new one outright.

Would you please explain how/why the Japanese hones take too much time to prep?

Hi Guys,

I came across this thread and thought I should join in and just mention a few things. Firstly, this is my venture.

Secondly, I really thought I was giving myself some time with that coming soon page - but I think it rather pertinent now to just (hopefully) ease some of the concerns and give you guys some info for the time being. What I wanted to do and what I still will do (closer to launch), is put up a proper announcement thread where I can convey the whole story and the vision I have for Wade & Butcher, with an outline of where I want to go and what I want to do - so perhaps stick around for that closer to launch..

For now though, let me get down all the important points, so as to be upfront/transparent/clear:

I'm Mike My claims to fame such as they are:
Owner/Operator of Zulu Grey;
Designer by profession (I run my own design agency);
Wet Shaver and dedicated straight razor nut (like you) for the last 10 odd years;
oh and I designed the SRP Logo


Some Background:

I have a deep love for the Wade & Butcher brand, and I wanted to pair my love for the brand with my passion to create custom razors and start my own company – and so I set about investigating the possibilities of ‘reviving’ the Wade & Butcher brand. This led me to discover that indeed the actual company, well both companies (the parent W & S Butcher Ltd, and the primary US brand Wade&Butcher, which was incorporated into it's own Sheffield company in 1921) were in fact still ‘alive’ albeit dormant. The current owner, Charles at Durham Duplex in Sheffield (and Chairman of the Made In Sheffield brand), had privately bought out both companies from the family business for his own keeping, to one day 'do something with them', as he told to me.

So, I made contact and many discussions later over the last two years we settled on an agreement/partnership whereby I will bring the brand back to market through my own vision and at my own quality standards. Charles had attempted to investigate the possibility of bringing the brand back to market himself through mass production, but ultimately he agreed that that wasn't the best course for the brand.

To be clear, this will be legitimate Wade & Butcher in the year 2017, by that I mean it is from the original company that was sold to Durham Duplex in 1920 and that has been maintained and kept as a viable company in Sheffield for 95 years, and with it all the associated brand marks, names, razor designs etc. Others may be using the name, casually using versions of the symbols, it may even be registered in the US by another company.. but only the actual original Sheffield company, passed from hand to hand as it has done, can bear the name and the marks rightfully, on any newly created shaving cutlery. And so that is what I have secured. I want to properly and meticulously bring the brand back to market, but it must be done with great care and respect for the heritage of the brand and of course all the provenance must be intact.

So, what do we plan to make then? Well, this will not be mass-manufacture/production, not one bit. Historical W&B did that, it served the time and it made sense then, but as a modern heritage company my sights are set on turning Wade & Butcher into a more boutique, upper-tier brand. It will be custom, handcrafted - dare I say 'luxury' straight razors of truly impeccable quality. In many ways this is a labour of love for me personally, and it really will not be about volume. We'll be crafting new designed razors, as well as bringing back some classic 'heritage' models (with updated materials and small touches). It will be myself and potentially 2 other artisans here in South Africa, with a complete emphasis on small-batch, high-quality.

Our razors will be truly pristine, my aspiration is to far exceed the quality, the fit, the finish - that historical Wade & Butcher ever achieved, ever could achieve. Handcrafting individual razors with the best tools and materials of our day affords us this ability. There will be nothing cheaply or casually done - from the steel selection, to the packaging it will be done properly.

As I say, I just wanted to mention a little bit and get the conversation straight, but in time I will update our social media accounts and the mailing list with new info and more details on everything. Talk is good, but I do wholeheartedly understand that many of you will believe it when you see it - and my intention is to pleasantly surprise you.


Cheers,
- Mike

It may simply the stones I have. Instructions say to put them in water and let them soak up all the water they can before you use them. I have five grits, one is a fat 50,000 grit. That's the best I can tell you and it is what the instructions say for the stones to stay in good condition. I once kept them all submerged until scum begin to build up so I took them out, dried them and put them away until I need them. It's that I don't like them, it is more that I am lazy. What is your position on stones. I am in need of getting a decent strop which I am sure will be of a great benefit. Could you suggest a strop, length and width. I made strops from an old combine bailer belt. It is 5 inches in width and I cut them down to 12 inches and used stropping past on them, but haven't felt good about using them. Wondering if you might suggest something to do with them to make board strops with them. Guess I will have to clean them of and sand them down a bit. Anything you might have in mind that would be helpful would be great. I intend to buy some stropping past to use with my dermal to polish up some of my blades. I think I mentioned all the razors I have come from antique shops.

P.S. Have you ever used lapping film. I have. BestSharpeningStones.com carries 3M Lapping paper, I just bought 5 additional sheets, 1200, 8000 and 15,000 grade. I have used them on my blades to begin with, and it comes in very handy for taking down scratches of glasses lenses', Have done it and wow, how the scratches disappear. I am sure there are other uses for it. Check the site out and look and the microscope pictures of a razor done with Lapping film.

Thank you for the information, however, I am certain the price will be far out of my range. As I have mentioned elsewhere, I get my straight razors from antique dealers and have never paid more than $40 for a razor. Even $100 would be pushing it for me as there would be words between my wife and I should I ever dare spend $300 for a razor. I started using a straight razor 20 plus some years ago because I did not like the price the safety razors were going. I currently run eight razors when I shave, and it is a long time between stropping. You see, I grew a beard when I got out of the Viet Nam Era Conflict and have had it since, except that it is more full than before. I started with a Vandyke then when to a full beard. I was lazy about shaving. So, when I shave it is a cautious tale and sometimes is a two handed affair. My grandfather on my mothers side used a straight razor, and I think that is why I bought my first one and tried, Wow, talk about pull, drag and scrape. Well as time passed I finally learned how to sharpen one and have been going since.. I must admit though I have had some nasty cuts from those blades. Again thanks for the information.

Thanks for posting some extra information Michael.
I look forward to updates as they become available.
Big fan of my Zulu I received from you a year or so back. Hope to use one of your matching WBs on it sometime next year as well.
Good luck with your endeavor sir.