Thread: Wade and Butcher markings

Hi, can anyone help with identifying which period of manufacture was this W&B straight? Thanks in advance


Garlo60

If it doesn't have 'England' stamped it would be before 1881 IIRC. Might be '91 ........ but I think '81.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

If it doesn't have 'England' stamped it would be before 1881 IIRC. Might be '91 ........ but I think '81.

Thanks for the info Jimmy.. Got this on eBay for a steal in June 2016. I am still trying to hone it to shave ready since then [emoji12] due to my lack of experience and honing stones. Only could afford a PHIG and a local 1200 grids stone

Garlo60

Originally Posted by GaryLbv1974

Thanks for the info Jimmy.. Got this on eBay for a steal in June 2016. I am still trying to hone it to shave ready since then [emoji12] due to my lack of experience and honing stones. Only could afford a PHIG and a local 1200 grids stone

Garlo60

Not sure what a PHIG is being that I'm new to Honing myself, however, I was able to get a razor to a rough shave ready by using wet/dry sandpaper. You can also look into Thorlabs.com. They have a wide variety of Lapping Papers that can be used in place of an actual stone. Hope this helps!

Can you enlighten me on using sand paper? What grits to use? PHIG (People 's Hone of Indeterminable Grits) is a Chinese natural stone, supposedly 12k grits
😊

Garlo60

1890s was the Madrid agreement so it's probably before then (otherwise 'England' would be required to be stamped on it for export). The B/Arrow doesn't seem to be used by W&S Butcher until after the 1850s or 60s (Voidmonster / Zak knows more about that). I'd peg it at 1880s but that's a guess.

Originally Posted by GaryLbv1974

Can you enlighten me on using sand paper? What grits to use? PHIG (People 's Hone of Indeterminable Grits) is a Chinese natural stone, supposedly 12k grits
😊

Garlo60

Hey GaryLbv1974,

How I used the Wet/Dry sandpaper and what grits I used are as follows:

Grits (In this order): Cheap Arkansas Tri-Hone Stone: "Medium"-> "Fine" -> 400-> 600-> 800 -> 1500 -> 2000
Note: I started with a razor that had a few chips in the blade which is why I started with the "Medium" side stone.

Process:
1. Honed on the Medium until the nick(s) were gone if not nearly removed (checked this by dragging the bevel across the tip of my finger nail, you'll feel the nick if there is one!)
2. Moved onto the Fine stone, focused on the amount of pressure I used, which was nearly nothing.

3. Now for the sand paper. I found a spot on the granite kitchen countertop where there was a nice area of granite with no imperfections and what seemed as flat as could be. The area I chose has a straight edge to it (rounded) but true. I wiped this area clean with some mild cleaner and a paper towel. Put some water onto the granite surface and laid a 10 inch long by 4 inch wide strip of wet/dry sand paper down, I pushed out as much water (and air bubbles) as possible with my hands. I lined the sandpaper up with the "straight" edge of the countertop. I then used a glass of water to hold the furthest end of the sandpaper down because once the paper is wet, it tends to curl after a while. I used the cup on the far end, and my left hand to hold the edge closest to me down. I then made sure water was on the surface of the sandpaper and using my right hand I started to hone the razor starting with 400 grit.

This was messy, it was time consuming...however after I finished with the 2000 grit paper, I had a fairly sharp shaving edge.

After that I used a pair of denim jeans and stropped the razor for about 20 passes. I then went back downstairs and opened up the yellow pages and used that to strop it (the paper and ink provide a very fine grit surface). I did this for about 30 passes. I was able to shave arm hair with no issues at all.

Note: I stopped at 2000 grit wet/dry paper only because I couldn't find anything higher than that, if there was anything higher in grit, I would have used it.

I hope this helps! I've since then purchased a set of Naniwa Stones, a 3" Latino Strop, and some Green Compound which makes life much easier. I only tried out the above method for two reasons: 1) Curiosity, 2) I'm impatient and more or less an instant gratification kind of guy!

Swerve

That razor was made a long-long time ago! 1880's Common Man's Wedge! Hopefully it is in good nick.
Should go well. Good Luck!

Originally Posted by Swirv

Hey GaryLbv1974,

How I used the Wet/Dry sandpaper and what grits I used are as follows:

Grits (In this order): Cheap Arkansas Tri-Hone Stone: "Medium"-> "Fine" -> 400-> 600-> 800 -> 1500 -> 2000
Note: I started with a razor that had a few chips in the blade which is why I started with the "Medium" side stone.

Process:
1. Honed on the Medium until the nick(s) were gone if not nearly removed (checked this by dragging the bevel across the tip of my finger nail, you'll feel the nick if there is one!)
2. Moved onto the Fine stone, focused on the amount of pressure I used, which was nearly nothing.

3. Now for the sand paper. I found a spot on the granite kitchen countertop where there was a nice area of granite with no imperfections and what seemed as flat as could be. The area I chose has a straight edge to it (rounded) but true. I wiped this area clean with some mild cleaner and a paper towel. Put some water onto the granite surface and laid a 10 inch long by 4 inch wide strip of wet/dry sand paper down, I pushed out as much water (and air bubbles) as possible with my hands. I lined the sandpaper up with the "straight" edge of the countertop. I then used a glass of water to hold the furthest end of the sandpaper down because once the paper is wet, it tends to curl after a while. I used the cup on the far end, and my left hand to hold the edge closest to me down. I then made sure water was on the surface of the sandpaper and using my right hand I started to hone the razor starting with 400 grit.

This was messy, it was time consuming...however after I finished with the 2000 grit paper, I had a fairly sharp shaving edge.

After that I used a pair of denim jeans and stropped the razor for about 20 passes. I then went back downstairs and opened up the yellow pages and used that to strop it (the paper and ink provide a very fine grit surface). I did this for about 30 passes. I was able to shave arm hair with no issues at all.

Note: I stopped at 2000 grit wet/dry paper only because I couldn't find anything higher than that, if there was anything higher in grit, I would have used it.

I hope this helps! I've since then purchased a set of Naniwa Stones, a 3" Latino Strop, and some Green Compound which makes life much easier. I only tried out the above method for two reasons: 1) Curiosity, 2) I'm impatient and more or less an instant gratification kind of guy!

Swerve

Thanks so much for sharing. I will definitely try it out [emoji1]

Garlo60

Without seeing the rest of the blade it's a bit hard to be sure, but the stamp is pretty indicative of late 1870's through 1880's.

William & Samuel Butcher's use of marks is enough to drive a detail-oriented researcher crazy. Those arrows have incredible variation, most likely because they weren't all produced in the same factory and some random worker had to make up a new stamp for a batch of orders.

The Cross/Arrow/(B) logo itself is an incredibly late addition to their goods, coming in no earlier than 1860 -- they'd been in business for 42 years prior to that!

There are many, many stamps and etchings used, and some get used on things besides razors (planes, files, saws, etc -- the Butcher Brothers produced a lot of different things). Some are only seen on razors. Same goes for slogans (Universally Approved, Set & Ready for Use, Fine India Steel, Fine India Steel Combined With Silver, etc).