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The Mysterious W&B For Barbers Only
I've been collecting straight razors on and off since the 1980s and have seen many W&B 'For Barbers Use' on the tang, more 'The Celebrated For Barbers Use' etched on the belly of the blade and very few 'For Barbers Only' stamped on the tang. Years ago, in a lot of a dozen razors, i picked up my only FBO and the blade was cracked. Bummer. I put it on ebay with an accurate description and photos showing the crack and someone bought it anyway.
Well this past week I got a beauty off of the bay. Near mint and since I honed it shaves like a dream. The seller is an antique person and described it as having plastic scales. I went for it anyway and they are horn and darn near perfect. The blade is a 9/8 and goes well with my 10/8 CFBU and 8/8 FBU. In the past I had surmised that W&B called these For Barbers Only but figured out they were losing sales by excluding those who might buy one that weren't barbers.
So they began stamping or etching them FBU in hopes of broadening their sales base. No telling but it intrigues me. If any of our resident, or visiting straight razor historians can enlighten me I'd be grateful. Here is the eye candy. The FBU top is 8/8, the FBO middle is 9/8 and the CFBU at the bottom is 10/8.
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