Thread: Question about Wade and Butcher "shoulder"

I have a question about the shoulder/tang on a Wade and Butcher blade. The blade is a 6/8" with The Celebrated Hollow Ground Razor on the blade and the usual Manufactured by Wade and Butcher Sheffield on the tang. It's 6/8" now but the tang is quite thick and it looks like it was probably 7/8 or larger but has been worn away. It has some hone wear on the spine. Sorry for the long description, just wanted to give a good idea of what it is until I can post pics.

Anyways, on the side of the blade with the stamp, the tang/shoulder has what I think is referred to as a stabilizer. The other side of the razor does not have it. It doesn't appear to have been ground away, the blade is very uniform under 5x, 20x and 100x magnification. The bevel is just starting to get into the shoulder so i'm thinking it's possible someone might have removed the stabilizer on the back to make it easier for sharpening or whatever. Or did some of them only have the stabilizer on one side? My guess is it was removed then polished pretty well, although the grind marks look original and the same front and back. Thanks, will post pics tomorrow.

A picture would confirm it but it sounds like a Macrotome to me, unless I missed something. It's flat on one side and hollow ground on the other?

No, it's hollow ground on both sides. It's one of the "celebrated hollow ground" models. Did Wade& Butcher make macrotomes?

I believe all microtome blades are asymmetrical, with one side being hollow ground and the other more like a wedge, so it's doubtful yours is for a microtome. However, that shoulder/stabilizer on just one side is odd. Can you show picture of both sides?

It could be a regrind. I have seen one W&B that was hollow ground on one side and wedgelike on the other, but it was the only one I've seen. It could have been a microtome, or maybe only one side was reground (for who knows what reason).

Does it look like this?

No, both sides are hollow ground. I'll post pics tommorrow.