Thread: Wade and Butcher FBU

Hey everyone, this is my first post so I'll introduce myself. I'm Matt from Kentucky, and I have been straight razor shaving for a few months now and not looking back. I live and work in a great arts community that is also known for its antique stores, and I found this great Wade and Butchers "For Barbers Use" wedge chopper at one of the local shops and purchased it today. It measures 9/8" at the toe and has very light patina with no pitting at all. The scales are mismatched black and blond horn I believe. I assume one of the scales was replaced at one time. I actually like the two tone look, it's a shame the scales will probably need to be replaced. It also came with the original coffin case, which is actually in great condition.

I plan on getting this professionally restored, cleaned and honed soon. In the mean time, here are some pics:

Great Find
It'll be an awesome shaver and looker.
Mike

Welcome to SRP. Great find for starters. AFAIC, if the scales have a few bug bites, a tight crack at the wedge end, and a good pivot pin area, I would leave the originals on there. Not everyone agrees with that approach but gussying up a 150 year old razor is only something I do when it is really necessary. I like it to be as original as possible. YMMV.

+1 to Jimmy
Clear Epoxy is your friend
Those would clean up beautifully IMHO
The pivot pins look good but the wedge end needs a bit of TLC

Thanks for the advice guys. The more I think about it I would like to keep the original scales. The pivot pins were a bit loose but I tightened them up a bit with a pin hammer and they are holding nice and tight now. Aside from the chips and slight crack at that wedge end they work fine. I've never worked with clear epoxy in any way before, so any advice on how to do that would be appreciated.

I cleaned up the blade a bit using wet sanding and it is looking pretty nice. I like a little patina to remain but it looks nice and clean. I don't dare try and hone it though, I not experienced enough yet. I'll leave that to an expert.

I've not done it myself but I hear that neatsfoot oil is great for rejuvenating horn scales. Some guys soak them, others wipe on, let set awhile and give a light buffing. Definitely a good idea to have an experienced honer do that part. Try member services in the SRP classifieds for a pro honing job.

Great find! I hope you keep it as original as possible, patina is your friend ;-). As a tip remember to do any glue or epoxy repair work prior to a neatsfoot soak as nothing will stick right once the scales are rehydrated by the oil. Enjoy!

Wow, great find! I have been on the lookout for one, but refuse to pay $300 for one on eBay. Just waiting to get lucky as well. Seeing folks on here always shows that I still have a chance, haha. Anyway, I'd clean up the scales with neatsfoot oil (Amazon's got it for a few bucks, I bought the Sole brand I think) and get her honed up and she'll be ready to go! Congrats man.

So I spent a good portion of my free time this week doing some work on this razor and got some great results. I wet sanded the blade to remove some of the staining on the blade, but managed to leave a good bit of patina so it still has that nice vintage look. I used neatsfoot oil on the scales which did a great job of bringing them back to life a bit.

I also noticed through cleaning that this thing had a really good bevel set already. It was obviously well taken care of by its previous owner. I decided to strop it a bit and see what it did, and after the initial stropping it was taking hair off my arm with ease. I the. Took it to the paste side of my strop and went back and forth a few times from paste to strop, and it was popping hairs off midway with great ease. I shaved with it yesterday and today and it shaves like a dream, such a smooth shave!

Thanks for the advice guys! Here are some pics after cleaning.Attachment 133636Attachment 133637