Tuxedo7,

As others have said, Sheffield was no different than any other place of manufacture - some blades are excellent, some are crap

Often, due to the visual methods used in the heat-treating process, there seems (within a given manufacturer) to be a lot of variance in the final blades hardness & temper. Some will be 'soft' others bastard hard !

I have two (2) W&B wedges - one is a very poor shaver, and the other (from Mr Neil Miller) is an excellent shaver ! (Luckily all my other Sheffields are very good shavers too )

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ