Thread: Help to ID a W&B

Need some help on this one guys.

I picked up a W&B on the bay that is about 15/16, has the correct stamp as far as the "Wade & Butcher" and under that the word "SHEFFIELD" in all caps (no logo though) and has a rounded point that extends slightly longer at the bottom than the top at the tip - almost like a very very slight french point if you can see it in the photo. It's damned heavy. The spine measures a full 1/4 inch wide and that width continues almost to the tip of the tang. While not a wedge, it's also not quite an extra full hollow ground, maybe a half hollow?. Also has 2 collars and the angles on the tang are correct for most other W&Bs I have. The cutting edge is around 2.75 incher.

The problem is that it's suspiciously similar looking to one of those big Pakistani blades. I can't quite put my finger on it but it just seems off somehow.

I checked all the W&Bs in the Wiki with no luck. A photo or two are below and I put a W&B blade that I'm restoring next to it just for comparison of the stamp. Can anyone tell me if this is indeed a W&B or is it some other blade that someone very expertly stamped W&B into? I've love for it to be a W&B but it seems so different from the W&Bs I'm used to that it's sounding alarms in my head. To make matters more suspicious, the blade is nearly immaculate and I won at a relatively low price. My bid was much higher but there wasn't that much interest for some reason. Sure hope I don't need to ship it back. The seller said it was in a box with quite a few other blades that he's gotten from the belongings/estate of a barber. If that's true (no reason to doubt him) it doesn't prove much though.

Any help is appreciated.

It certainly does look "wrong" to me, but if you imagine it with a barber's notch that was never cut, the profile is about right. I'm betting the immaculate condition is because this is a regrind- see how that shoulder isn't quite a ground-out shoulder like you see on a hollow?

strange one. if i try make a guess it should be W&B EXPERIMENT ONE.

Very cool razor! My guess is that it's big W&B Celebrated, probably Barber's Use that has been extensively reground and re-scaled, probably many years ago when more people knew how to do this level of work. The Celebrated Barber's Use has a thick spine and a double shoulder very similar to what I see in this razor.

- It was shortened to remove the barber's notch, a Celebrated is about 3.25" measured from the rear shoulder to the tip
- The W&B "hump" was ground flat, to straighten the spine. That's why the tops of some letters are missing, and why the diagonal grind line underneath the lettering on the tang extends closer to the spine than in a standard Celebrated. Even after de-humping, the tang is still huge!
- The shortening also helped remove the curved spine of the razor, which between the humped tang and slight upturn at the tip, form a "belly" on the spine of the original
- Both shoulders were deepened and extended up closer to the spine, to accommodate the more modern deeper hollow grind.
- The Celebrated etching on the blade was removed in all this regrinding

If these guesses are right, whoever did the work knew what they were doing, understood what the original razor was, and appreciated the fine old Sheffield steel enough to go to the effort. It's really nicely done, and looks great. It might have been custom work for a customer (the barber of the estate?), or a personal custom job by a professional grinder to salvage a damaged razor. No way it's a Paki knock-off, in my opinion. It's too sweet.

I'll still take more educated guesses - or solid findings - but thus far it seems safe to assume it's for real. Strange but real! I'll put it to the stones later this week and give it a test shave. If it takes an edge and shaves smoothly I'll deem it for real. Great detective work Slim and Ben! And Bud i really want to believe it's the first iteration - it sure is strange enough to be. In any event, if this sharpens up, holds the edge and shaves like my other W&Bs I'll repost to this thread to let you know.

Who says 150 year old razors are boring! :-) Thanks gents.

Slim and Ben - you guys were correct! No way it's a Pakistani knockoff and the steel is similar to all the other W&Bs I have.

I sharpened this up to keen with very little effort using 4K, 8k, and 12K stones and then the coticule, stropped it on felt and then leather, then lathered up and shaved.

I did one side of my face with this one and the other with a #13 Filly. The Filly was just slightly smoother but I expected that, so no complaints at all about this one. It's a W&B, no doubt about it. Very good detective work there and thanks gents!

Just to add to the clues, the top of the spine near the pivot pin still has some roughness from what I suspect was a previous layer of heavy rust. I guess that rust level is what prompted the regrind so very long ago. I agree after looking at it very closely that the regrind was a superb job - it was definitely done by someone that had done quite a few of these and knew what he was doing.

Mike

Cool, thanks! The proof is in the shave.