Thread: Identify Issue with Wade & Butcher Blade

Hi,

I'm new to razor collecting and learning through some "hard knocks". I'm curious about the heal of this Wade & Butcher blade. It looks like someone ground out a defect. I don't think it should be that round.

Also, if anybody can give me a general age of the blade I would apreciate it. The broken scales were black Bakelite, I think. Blade dimentions are 11/16" by around 3" long depending on were you measure. It's etched "Manufactured Wade & Butcher Sheffield England <circle B> <arrow> <cross>" On a scale of 1 to 16, the hollowness is around the 3rd degree (from illistration on pg 29 in Standard guide to Razors 2nd ed.)

I don't think this blade is very collectible. It has some hone and use wear, it's rather plain, has some pitting that didn't buff out, and is probably only 60 to 80 years old. Of course, the scales are broken and will have to be replaced. If it takes a good edge I'll just use it as a daily shaver. What do you think?

It's a shoulderless grind. They are like that on purpose. I like the way they look, and having no shoulder makes honing a bit easier (or at least I don't have to pay as much attention).

I'm pretty sure the heel is meant to be like that. It certainly fits within the design.

Yep, mine are all like that and I really like them. Much easier to hone.

Looks great, nice blade. Clean it up, scale it and you'll have a winner.

It's an excellent blade , and IMHO is well worth restoring . If you can't do it yourself there are people here that can do it for you . I would estimate it's age ca. 1900-1920 .

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

It's a shoulderless grind. They are like that on purpose. I like the way they look, and having no shoulder makes honing a bit easier (or at least I don't have to pay as much attention).

What he said!

Great! Thanks for the responses. Glad to see that the heal is correct.

So it may be around 100 years old?! It's amazes me that there are so many of them still around, and they're relatively inexpensive considering any new razors of the same caliber will cost at least ten times as much.

I'm pretty good with my hands so I plan on trying to make some scales out of Micarta or G10.