Wade & Butcher FBU????????

Picked this up today in a little town called Fergus. The owner had just put it on the shelf, $15 so I snatched it up. Now here's the fun part, I believe it's one of those old regrinds Sharptonn was talking about in a recent thread. It's also lost a lot of the makers mark, but just enough to give a hint at what this razor is. I believe it to be a Wade & Butcher, for barbers use. What do you guys think???? You can just catch the last few letters on the tang.

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The scales, domed washers, wedge are all in great shape. I think this one will get a 3 day bath in NFO, MMP on the washers and blade and honing on my Y/G VTH from Hatzicho.

Looks like a very well done re-grind.
From the picture it looks like a small ridge/grind line at the shoulder.
This looks like it will clean up to be a very interesting razor.

Thanks for sharing...please show us the "after"

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Originally Posted by MJC

Looks like a very well done re-grind.
From the picture it looks like a small ridge/grind line at the shoulder.
This looks like it will clean up to be a very interesting razor.

Thanks for sharing...please show us the "after"

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I will for sure!

Yeah it looks like w&b fbu

I would agree with it being a W&B fbu. Dont see them squared off very much, normally they tend to have a barbers notch.

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Originally Posted by TrilliumLT

I would agree with it being a W&B fbu. Dont see them squared off very much, normally they tend to have a barbers notch.

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It looks like maybe it has been shortened past the barbers notch. But I'm no pro on identifying this sort of thing.

After some mothers.....
Attachment 187186

I suppose it doesn't really matter what it use to be, cause it's not that anymore. Nonetheless, she'll shave well I'm sure.

Fergus, Ontario, had a friend with a cottage up that way, beautiful area. That tornado that went through there really tore the place up....blew my mind how powerful nature can be!

And yup, that definitely looks exactly like the tang stamp on one of my FBU's....exact one as a matter of fact I mentioned as well to Sharpton, I have one that is a wedge, and another that is hollow ground...and from the looks of it, your's was a spike point that was muted...beautiful find.

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Originally Posted by HARRYWALLY

Attachment 187079Attachment 187081Attachment 1870833 day bath in NFO, MMP on the washers and blade and honing on my Y/G VTH from Hatzicho.

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Andrew, please enlighten this old fart on your abbreviations of NFO, MMP Y/G VTH Hatzicho. My brain is currently on hiatus till after dinner.

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Originally Posted by Razorfeld

Andrew, please enlighten this old fart on your abbreviations of NFO, MMP Y/G VTH Hatzicho. My brain is currently on hiatus till after dinner.

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With all this abbreviation talk on that one thread, I was hoping someone would call me out. The little kid in me thought it was funny.
Neats foot oil
Mother's Mag Polish
Yellow/Green vintage thuringian

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And yup, that definitely looks exactly like the tang stamp on one of my FBU's....exact one as a matter of fact I mentioned as well to Sharpton, I have one that is a wedge, and another that is hollow ground...and from the looks of it, your's was a spike point that was muted...beautiful find.

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Phrank, do you think this was the original grind?

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Originally Posted by HARRYWALLY

With all this abbreviation talk on that one thread, I was hoping someone would call me out. The little kid in me thought it was funny.
Neats foot oil
Mother's Mag Polish
Yellow/Green vintage thuringian



Phrank, do you think this was the original grind?

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I think it is the original in the sense that it has been re-ground like this one, but as I was mentioning to Sharpton, I have two of these FBU's, one is a wedge and the one like yours is a hollow...here's the one ( a hollow grind) that I have that looks like yours only with the spike point not muted...I'm sure it's the same type of blade.

Attachment 187188

It just smacked me right in the face! Take a look at my pics, I believe the whole razor was thinned down from a wedge. These would be the original scales, and you can see where they have run them into the grinding wheel creating a flat spot on both scales, at the pivot end. You can also see where they stopped on the tang, close to the pivot as well. Phrank, on your hollow ground the grinding stops right where the heel meets the tang, mine is further down onto the blade. The whole blade length seems shortened too, and is not in proportion with the rest of the Razor. Someone definitely was grinder happy. But, alas, they did a super job.

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Originally Posted by HARRYWALLY

It just smacked me right in the face! Take a look at my pics, I believe the whole razor was thinned down from a wedge. These would be the original scales, and you can see where they have run them into the grinding wheel creating a flat spot on both scales, at the pivot end. You can also see where they stopped on the tang, close to the pivot as well. Phrank, on your hollow ground the grinding stops right where the heel meets the tang, mine is further down onto the blade. The whole blade length seems shortened too, and is not in proportion with the rest of the Razor. Someone definitely was grinder happy. But, alas, they did a super job.

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I think you're bang on...it just struck me the other day when I found the FBU above, I had them confused and when I organized some blades, I found the one in the pic...then pulled out the other one, same blade, same tang stamp FBU, one a wedge and this one a hollow???

Think you have a winner....

No matter, it is going to be a great shaver. I tend to agree with the regrind FBU bet though.

Looks to me like it said Wade & Butcher, For Barbers Use.......................no doubt about it!! I too believe it's a regrind.
Great score Harry!

You mentioned doing a "three day bath in NFO". I have soaked whole razors (scales, blades, and all) in neatsfoot oil but I have a hard time getting them "dry" afterwards. They continue to ooze oil for days and weeks after. I have switched to just lightly coating the scales with NFO, using my fingertips/Q-tips/pipe cleaners/etc. and letting the razor sit out, re-applying NFO every day for a few days. I would rather soak the scales so the oil really gets in around the pivot and wedge. Do you have any suggestions for wiping down razors once you take them out of the NFO bath?

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Originally Posted by goldragon

You mentioned doing a "three day bath in NFO". I have soaked whole razors (scales, blades, and all) in neatsfoot oil but I have a hard time getting them "dry" afterwards. They continue to ooze oil for days and weeks after. I have switched to just lightly coating the scales with NFO, using my fingertips/Q-tips/pipe cleaners/etc. and letting the razor sit out, re-applying NFO every day for a few days. I would rather soak the scales so the oil really gets in around the pivot and wedge. Do you have any suggestions for wiping down razors once you take them out of the NFO bath?

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I've only ever soaked about 4 or 5 razors in Neats foot oil. I've never had the problem you speak of. All I do is wipe them down with paper towel, fold it and run it through the scales as well. I then blast it at the pivot with an air duster to remove any access there as well. Continue to wipe down until it's dry.

This razor has been heavily reground, reshaped, reprofiled, you name it. Probably had a barbers notch, which was lost when all the mass of the blade was taken off. In regrinding it was very common to grind on the rest of the blade too, hence taking off the makers mark (if it was done without un-pinning, if you unpin it you should see a very different looking area of metal that was covered by the scsales). You can tell right away by the finish of the metal and the muddled lines on the tang.

I think you might be able to get a little more of the makers marks with some 2500-3000 wet or dry sandpaper. Then take pic. I have done that before & it worked!

Lots of the ones reground thin from old wedges lost the barber's notch in the process. One reason we don't see super-thin grinds with notches is the support for the notch is simply not there. It would definitely weaken the end of the blade.
If done right, They are awesome!

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

Lots of the ones reground thin from old wedges lost the barber's notch in the process. One reason we don't see super-thin grinds with notches is the support for the notch is simply not there. It would definitely weaken the end of the blade.
If done right, They are awesome!

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The blades appear shorter but so do the scales.

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Originally Posted by engine46

The bladders appear shorter but so do the scales.

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Yep! Shortened at the pivot end and the wedge filed south! ;)
Andrew's looks like a candidate!

Sorry! Here's what I mean! http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...hort-chop.html

I got it honed up yesterday. I have to say that the geometry of the blade is off. All kinds of twists and bumps when laid flat on the hone. The heel also was not ground properly. It hits, and gets in the way of honing. Much like a gold dollar but no where near as bad. Used the side of my king 1k deluxe to set the bevel, and went right to my 1" Coti for the rest. A few 50 smacks on the Vintage Wieffenbach Chicago Horse shell and it lops the tops of my arm hairs with ease. Tomorrow I'll shave with it and report back.

Makes sense. The stabilizer is thick on it. Gotta blend the bottom of it to the blade. Dremel drum. Carefully! Getting that thing gone will get you started again!

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

Sorry! Here's what I mean! http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...hort-chop.html

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Tom,
There is a similarity!

Soitenly there is! :D

Got a shave in with it last night, and it was great. My magic 1" Coti never let's me down on vintage Sheffields. I don't have a lot of hair to shave right now, growing a beard for the winter, but I do keep my neck clean. Also my most sensitive area for shaving. Had to be careful around the stabilizer, but got the job done. When I have more time, I'll do as you said Tom and blend it in, so it's out of the way of future honing.

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