Thread: Found a W&B 7/8 w/ notch today. Debating a purchase.

cliffs: W&B 7/8 notched 1/4hollow. blade appears gray. minor black dots on it, i've seen worse. no red rust. blade lays flat on glass. does not pluck arm hair. pin is tight, feels of friction. scales are secured with two pins, seems plastic. has white/almond colored insert in bottom. $30

Went out to the flea market with the g/f today just goofing off. Didn't expect to find anything but ended up spotting a wade & butcher with a barber's notch. didn't get pictures because i didn't want to seem suspicious to the lady. now i've heard that sheffield razors are a touch problematic with the blade centering in the scales but this one seemed to be pinned well still. the sticker had it dated to early 19th century but the finger loop bit on the end of the blade didn't match the picture in the wiki of that time frame. I'm thinking this is early 20th century.

has black scales, blade is larger. very large. looks like 7/8 from the pictures i've googled. the pin was on well. had some friction when moving the joint. also, back to the scales, they seemed to be plastic rather than any natural material. also makes me think it's 20th century as pawn stars has told me that's when polymers were first starting to be used.

it would not take hair off my arm. the edge had a few black dots on it but there was no full scale corrosion on the blade. is it possible the black bits were some crookedness in the edge? had some minor pitting but nothing that was a deal breaker from the things i've seen done to blades that have been restored.(strazor.com) the blade had a smile on it. wasn't terrible in my mind but i'm new at this. how hard is it to correct this? it would stay flat on the glass show case. you could sort of feel it like it was sticking.

in the end the razor was stickered at $48. i beat the lady up and she went to $30. i guess my right hook isn't what it used to be her story was that she bought a bunch of razors together and only one of them has any value. makes sense. y'all think it's worth a roll or is it not possible to say without pictures? i really wanted to buy it just for the name but i ended up walking.

EDIT: i know in my previous thread i was talking about attempting to restore blades on my own. i don't think i would attempt that with this. especially if it dates back 200 years as claimed.

found some pictures with google that look very similar. like this but barber notch and 1/4 hollow max. corrosion is not as bad, pins are cleaner. $30 or no?

from what I can see in the pics, it looks in very good shape and should restore nicely.

Originally Posted by mainaman

from what I can see in the pics, it looks in very good shape and should restore nicely.

that's not the exact blade but the one i'm looking at is a bit nicer in my opinion. so hard to sit here and not buy it

Originally Posted by RonPopeil

that's not the exact blade but the one i'm looking at is a bit nicer in my opinion. so hard to sit here and not buy it

I somehow missed that part, if you can post pics of the actual blade it would help with the assessment.

Beware of "black dots" along the edge. Often they are rust pits that may chip on honing. You may lose some blade width in honing past them but how much of course depends on how bad they are. You will only really know on the stones.

hey internet, sorry i abandoned. ended up going to pick it up

it looks a bit worse under real lighting but that's mostly in the scales. pics will be coming later in the night. eating dinner right now

And pictures..






tried to show a bit of rust in this one on the blade above where the pin pivots.

Looks like a good pick up to me,and should be a fine shaver!