Quote Originally Posted by UKRob View Post
I'm going to try an analogy here and see what people think. Not so many years ago there was a British car marque - Rover - that went bust. Up until the last few models it was classed as a premium make so the name itself held some value and ended up in China along with some plant, tooling and equipment.

If the Chinese owners of the marque were to introduce a modern vehicle, assembled in the PRC but badged as Rover, does that car have any link to the vehicles built in Britain? There may be a partial link in that some machine tools may still be turning out parts - but that's about it for me. The link has been broken because the company stopped trading and no-one involved in the original enterprise is involved.

So, here's how I see the W&B current proposal - as a company W&B has not operated or traded for many years. The plan to make custom blades, albeit with a W&B influence, in South Africa using Swedish Steel, is no more to do with Wade & Butcher than if you ask one of the USA craftsmen to make the same blade. The connection was lost when the company stopped trading, I can't see that stamping the name on a blade brings that connection back.

I hope no-one sees this as criticism of Michael's plans - it's certainly not meant that way.

I was going to keep out of this, buuuuuut good sense was never my strong suit...

This post is exactly the way I look at this venture... Not to take anything away from the new venture or principals.. The auto dealers say there is a butt for every seat, just that it is not mine...