Thread: To Restore or Leave Alone

Leave as is, hone and shave. I beautiful Wade & Butcher, regardless of the exact age.

The scales look like horn from here too. Later or not (and I think it is because of the hollow grind and longer tail), it looks like it could be a good one.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Leave as is, hone and shave. I beautiful Wade & Butcher, regardless of the exact age.

I bought a Wade & Butcher at an auction. I've heard good things about the steel. The scales are made of wood and have warped to the point that the blade is difficult to close without catching the edge. I am a tinkerer, so I thought I would experiment and make a new set of scales.

Can anyone tell me a source for scale materials? Something really nice like maybe Abalone?

>>>>>

After a little more research I realize that abalone may be too rare to find. I'll keep looking for other materials.

Originally Posted by Crotalus

I bought a Wade & Butcher at an auction. I've heard good things about the steel. The scales are made of wood and have warped to the point that the blade is difficult to close without catching the edge. I am a tinkerer, so I thought I would experiment and make a new set of scales.

Can anyone tell me a source for scale materials? Something really nice like maybe Abalone?

>>>>>

After a little more research I realize that abalone may be too rare to find. I'll keep looking for other materials.

Again the scales may be horn which is prone to warping & was the standard scale material on those razors.
If you're a tinkerer & they are horn you could attempt to reshape them. Fixing warped horn scales - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Laminated veneer abalone can be bought from Masecraft http://www.masecraftsupply.com/Merch...y_Code=LVSACRS

I'm pretty sure the seller already did some cleanup and/or restoration work on it.
To what extent or how well, I can't say.

I ripped a bunch of African pear wood for scale making. I have enough to do a seven day set. I'm thinking of getting some WBs that need restoring and make myself a matching set.

Oh BTW it turned out the scales on the WB that started this thread are indeed horn...

I was just thinking, they sure do look like horn as well.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Again the scales may be horn which is prone to warping & was the standard scale material on those razors.
If you're a tinkerer & they are horn you could attempt to reshape them. Fixing warped horn scales - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Laminated veneer abalone can be bought from Masecraft http://www.masecraftsupply.com/Merch...y_Code=LVSACRS

I saw that link and how to tell if they were horn or not. Even if I straighten them out I doubt they will every look like anything. I have very little money in the razor, so I thought it would be a good one to learn on.

Thanks. Info much appreciated.

Originally Posted by Tsunami

I bought this the other day. The seller said thus: "I purchased a group of Civil War items at auction recently, and this is part of that collection.

At every auction I've attended, the auction house will group items into lots when a consigner drops off many small items. My guess is that they put together similar vintage appearance things and then called it a "Civil War lot". They will justify that if there is one legit Civil War item like a mangled button or Minie ball in with the rest. Just part of the game and gaff for new auction goers.

Unfortunately, attribution is everything and without independent verification showing that razor was actually part of a soldier's kit, there is no history attached to it, just their story. (As an aside, the Civil War tale is rampant at gun shows and thrown out a lot to bump up values.) Regardless, your razor looks like a really nice one to me. I am new to this but that one would certainly go in my "keep" pile if I ended up with it.

I gave the scales a light sanding to clean the gunk off. It did enhance the mans name of Edwards