Thread: W&B with an unusual bellied grind, anyone seen its like before?

Hi, I was lucky enough to get to go through the collection of an elderly gentleman who picked up razors through the 70s and 80s but has since had them all tucked away into a closet for the past twenty years. One of the razors he had that I purchased from him was a Wade & Butcher 13/16 with black horn scales and an unusual grind to the blade. I was hoping someone here might give me more information on it, what it would be called, and such.

The blade has a belly or ridge running down its length. Above this belly/ridge the blade is ground down thinner so I do not think one would call this a concave grind but perhaps that is the closest match. I do not think anyone would call this a faux frameback. The belly/ridge on the face side is a fraction lower than on the back side but I assume this is accidental and not intentional and just a result of the handmade quality of the grinding work. How would this grind be made? Perhaps with grinding wheels horizontally instead of vertically and the blade run down between them?

The belly/ridge does give the blade some stiffness, it feels like a wedge when shaving, but overall the razor is quite light, like a full hollow ground. I very much like the razor because of this stiffness combined with light weight and am surprised more razors were not made in this fashion.

Does anyone else have a razor similar to this and what do you call yours, concave grind, something else? Thanks for any replies and information!

That is cool. I have never seen a W&B ground like that before. I have a vague recollection of seeing another mfg's razor with a similar grind. Might have been a Torrey IIRC.

I just did a write-up in the customs & restorations forum of a restoration I did on a Joseph Elliot with a very similar grind. I don't know the history though, but they sure do look neat

I reckon the proper terminology for this type of razor is "Double Concave"or "Double Hollow Ground", Cattaraugus and J.R. Torrey, both offered this type of razors as many others as well, certainly not a common grind.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...e-tobacco.html
http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...d-d-b-g-m.html

Here is another from way back when ;

http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...tml#post747682

Those are few and far in-between, I've only had one & I let it go. Don't make the mistake I did...unless you sell it to me

I just did a write-up in the customs & restorations forum of a restoration I did on a Joseph Elliot with a very similar grind. I don't know the history though, but they sure do look neat

Oh wow, I just found your post and the grind is very, very similar. Great job on that restore! I have a small collection of Joseph Elliot razors going. I wish I had been lucky enough to find one like that as well as my W&B!

Originally Posted by Martin103

I reckon the proper terminology for this type of razor is "Double Concave"or "Double Hollow Ground", Cattaraugus and J.R. Torrey, both offered this type of razors as many others as well, certainly not a common grind.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...e-tobacco.html
http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...d-d-b-g-m.html

Cool, thanks for the links! I think I like the term "double concave" better than "double hollow ground". I had marked the razor down as a concave grind in the spreadsheet I keep of my razor collection. I will amend it to double concave now.

So what are the chances that this style is a modification that were done to wedge razors that were being brought "up to date" by enterprizing grinders at some earlier point in time, but after the time of manufacture? a form of "regrind" as it were?

Originally Posted by Magpie

So what are the chances that this style is a modification that were done to wedge razors that were being brought "up to date" by enterprizing grinders at some earlier point in time, but after the time of manufacture? a form of "regrind" as it were?

It is possible as "concaving" razors was popular in late 1800's early 1900's and there is evidence of on the lower grind that the left side is higher then the right side on pic 2.