Thread: Wade & Butcher Comeback

So to buy a new W&B razor that is not made in Sheffield, will be high, paying for an over priced imitation, that right??
Good luck on your venture, i signed up but I personally think if you had such a high regard for W&B you should have left it where it was.
I hope i am wrong but all i see is dollar signs in your eyes.

Originally Posted by GabrielMartin

So to buy a new W&B razor that is not made in Sheffield, will be high, paying for an over priced imitation, that right??
Good luck on your venture, i signed up but I personally think if you had such a high regard for W&B you should have left it where it was.
I hope i am wrong but all i see is dollar signs in your eyes.

Not too nice there, Gabriel?

The man is working to accomplish something within the realm of what he enjoys.

In fact, there is a lot of 'England' in SA, AFAIK. He has stated it will be a lower-production custom affair. We have no idea as of yet what the prices shall be.

Don't write yourself off as not being able to afford one and insult the idea just yet......

We should all encourage his efforts and applaud them until we see how things go. JMO

Just stating a fact. There may be a lot of England in SA but SA aint England and it wont be Sheffield steel.
Sheffield steel is hard good stuff as i'm sure your well aware of.
In buying the W&B name, he is making "original" Wades more valuable which in turn making them harder to buy from sellers on Ebay and the likes that already ask a fortune from selling original Wades.
As to your comment on my not affording them, i have a few good original Wade & Butcher razors that have cost a fortune but a fortune differs from one to another.
I was referring to the working man being able to afford, after all, it was the working men that made the original W&B razors that this he is trying to revive but it simply wont be the same, nothing to it.
The blood, sweat, tears and even their lives went into making the razors.
So please, dont try to make me out to be the bad guy here, i am entitled to my opinion, i do wish him luck but his razors will be nothing like the originals. Period.

Forgive any misunderstandings, Gabriel, but your post #58 came off, to me anyway, as quite rude and a direct affront to MichaelC and his endeavors. He was good enough to come here and state his business plan and seems to have truthfully done so. He has stated emphatically that 'Made in Sheffield' shall not apply. He also related that he shall be sourcing steel from Sweden. Honesty?

TBH, he has weathered much similar static over his Zulu hones in the past, yet they have quite the following these days.

My suggestion to take a 'wait and see' would be much better than slinging mud at something you, nor I, nor anyone else has physically seen, nor held in-hand.

BTW, most old Sheffield steel is not so hard. JMO

G-day!

Well that depends on how hard your biceps are

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Forgive any misunderstandings, Gabriel, but your post #58 came off, to me anyway, as quite rude and a direct affront to MichaelC and his endeavors. He was good enough to come here and state his business plan and seems to have truthfully done so. He has stated emphatically that 'Made in Sheffield' shall not apply. He also related that he shall be sourcing steel from Sweden. Honesty?

TBH, he has weathered much similar static over his Zulu hones in the past, yet they have quite the following these days.

My suggestion to take a 'wait and see' would be much better than slinging mud at something you, nor I, nor anyone else has physically seen, nor held in-hand.

BTW, most old Sheffield steel is not so hard. JMO

G-day!

Yes, was going to mention, Sheffield steel if anything is comparatively a much softer steel than the Japanese or Swiss razors by far....Sheffield steel is like silk....the edge that an Escher puts on my W&B's is ferkin' sublime...

Try some 20th century American steel!

I have an all original, pins, scales etc. , Wade & Butcher from the 1820's that was handed down by my grandfathers.
Will one of Michael's razors carry the same status in my collection, No,, at least not for another 200 years.

But,,,,

I can't wait to see the product when he is finished & if I like what I see,, I'll buy it.

Hey Gabriel,

No worries man, I totally get your opinion and indeed you are welcome to it as there are likely many who feel as you do, and again it is completely understandable.

I must tell you, it has been something I've grappled with since having this idea 2 years ago.. To revive the brand or to leave it be.. it is a difficult decision - make no mistake.

But as I see it, there really is no way of bringing back the 'original' W&B... we have to all accept that William and Samuel Butcher are long past away... their Butchers' Wheel is now a heritage site, their workmen, their suppliers, have all passed away many years ago. Indeed their complete way of life and the market their company thrived in is no more.

What remains, however, is the name, the brand marks, their razor design legacy, and History's recording of that original company changing hands to to where it still lays in sleep to this day. And that alone is something to be quite excited about.

As Charles Turner said to me early on in our correspondences: "...Companies and names should live and breathe. They should certainly take a nod to their history then move ahead..."


I ask you all then, what is a Brand? If it can't be the physical hands that made the first product, and it can't be a building or a long-gone workforce, then what makes a brand what we hold it to be in our minds?
To me, it's an ethos. It's the philosophy that guides the How and Why of the products, and indeed it's beyond the products themselves as mere physical goods...

Like it or not, W&B razors were always essentially mass-produced implements for shaving (imperfectly crafted even on their most expensive models). You can bet William and Samuel Butcher did not have this nostalgic gloss over their company and products as we do - how could they? For them it was just a production business - successful, but a business like any other. But Time and Generations have evolved the Brand into something greater than that, something we are still actively discussing in 2016..

My simple aim is to marry that intangible ideal we have of 'Wade&Butcher', with physical goods that are more than deserving of carrying the name.


Regards,
- Mike

Originally Posted by GabrielMartin

So to buy a new W&B razor that is not made in Sheffield, will be high, paying for an over priced imitation, that right??
Good luck on your venture, i signed up but I personally think if you had such a high regard for W&B you should have left it where it was.
I hope i am wrong but all i see is dollar signs in your eyes.

Excellent! I got literally got tingles down my spine reading this.