Thread: An Observation on quality control

I recently bought a Wade & Butcher at the local flea market that had the name stamp almost off the tang and only partially readable. This got me to thinking. Having been a knife maker since before 1980 until last year, I have always been concerned about quality control. That included my name stamp. If the stamp didn't go on properly, it had to be ground off and re done. Of course a razor factory made and stamped blades by the thousands and likely wouldn't take the time to do that. Question is how important was it. And if the makers mark was not of crucial importance then what was. I noticed that this particular blade is really hard also. Could it be that it was a second and they sold them anyway? That doesn't seem good for business. Was the company in trouble and quality suffered. I have seen others over the years with the makers mark messed up. I have a Torry like that now.
Just an observation.

I have an older W&B. THE tang stamp on it is faint as you describe.

It appears to me to be etched rather than stamped as do others I've seen. My thinking is that due to the sheer numbers of blades that were produced it was quite possible that some got etched lighter than others. Maybe the acid was getting weak on that day or they were hurrying to meet their production quota. Hard to say, but if you think about it, that was a production operation and their mission was to produce as many razors as they could in a given time.

The first Case Bros Little Valley, NY pocket knife, circa 1900, I ever saw had 3 blades and all were stamped with the company logo. The master blade had a different stamping than the two smaller blades, it being larger. The stamping on the master blade was off center and part of it didn't make it onto the tang. I've since noted anomalies like this on a few blades from various manufacturers from bygone days.

Just IMHO, those folks back than considered these cutlery items, knives, razors or whatever, utilitarian tools and the thought that someday people would be collecting them and paying premium prices for them would probably amaze them. When the guy who stamped that pocket knife examined it for QC he probably didn't even consider the off center logo an issue. Functionally the knife was fine and that was, apparently what they focused on.

What Jim said, For the mass producers such as W&B,straights were as common as beercan openers (for those that remember them

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

...beercan openers (for those that remember them

A bit of a hijack, but can anyone enlighten me to as why beercan openers were also called church keys? I have always wondered...

Originally Posted by Noswad

A bit of a hijack, but can anyone enlighten me to as why beercan openers were also called church keys? I have always wondered...

WIKI sez..

Church key initially referred to a simple hand-operated device for prying the cap (called a "crown cork") off a glass bottle; this kind of closure was invented in 1892.[9][10] The first of these church key style openers was patented in Canada in 1900.[11] The shape and design of some of these openers did resemble a large simple key.[12] In 1935, beer cans with flat tops were marketed, and a device to puncture the lids was needed. The same churchkey opener was used for piercing those cans. It was made from a single piece of pressed metal, with a pointed end used for piercing cans—devised by D.F. Sampson,[13][14] for the American Can Company, who depicted operating instructions on the cans themselves,[15] The church key opener is still being produced, usually as an attachment to another opener. For example, a "butterfly" opener is often a combination of the church key and a serrated-wheel opener.
There is sparse, and often contradictory, documentation as to the origin of the term "church key". The phrase is likely a sarcastic euphemism, as the opener was obviously not designed to access churches. One explanation is in Medieval Europe, most brewers were monks. Lagering cellars in the monasteries were locked, to protect aging beers and the monks carried keys to these lagering cellars. It may have been those keys, which remotely resembled the early church key openers, that gave the "church key" opener its name.[16] Another motive for assigning the device such an ironic name could have been the fact beer was first canned (for test marketing) in 1933[17]—the same year Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Cullen-Harrison Bill.[18] This act, which predated Repeal of Prohibition, amended the Volstead Act, making 3.2% low-alcohol beer legal. Some experts have posited the term "churchkey" was a way to "stick it to" the religious organizations who had effected Prohibition in the first place.[19]
Another key opener with completely different design was patented by J. Osterhoudt in 1866.[20] Instead of piercing the can, it was used to tear off and roll up a pre-scored strip on the side of the can, just below the lid. It was also called "key", because of resemblance to a door key. Such openers are attached to many small, thin-walled cans nowadays.[21]

It would be interesting to know at which point they were etched or stamped. It would appear some were etched or stamped before final shaping and some after. It would be nice if they were all deep and legible.

I to have a lot of doubt about the quality control and finish on many vintage razors, including the top makers, i think it's a case of the most important element of those razors were the steel, because as Mackie in the first post said regarding the stamp, i would take it a step further and say they look what they are old razors that were mass produced for working class people, i've always thought how much better modern custom knife makers are than these so called craftsman of the past, i dont think they would hold up in quality build design or steel to some of the modern custom jobs you see on the forum, give me a Butch Harner and a Buddel anyday over a Wade & Butcher or Filarmonica.

Jamie.

Now Now Mackie, you are really going to make waves with this post, because you are trying to say that these stamps were not actually done correctly, and perfectly deep by the makers ????

My my I always thought it was those crazy restorers that were erasing them wow what a concept you have brought up


BTW this has been a topic of discussion among those of us that restore razors for a long while, that we should try and never erase the "Makers Mark" completely, but it is rather hard with many of the ones that have a weak stamp

You have to remember the custom makers of today can't be compared to a highly trained worker of the past. Now take a custom maker from the 1800s and compare THAT to a modern custom maker and I think you may change your mind.