Thread: Wade and Butcher Jackpot! (Pic Heavy)

This past weekend I took the family to Sevierville, Tennessee for the American Bladesmith Society's Youth Hammer-In at the Smokey Mountain Knifeworks. As some of you may remember from my recent posts, my son is a budding knifemaker. As he needed to learn how to use his forging equipment, this was a great opportunity for him. He had an excellent and colorful instructor in Larry "The Hammer" Harley (of Lords of War fame, and an incredibly gifted master bladesmith in his own right).

That's a little background, but I digress. As I got tired of sitting around in the hot sun around all those hot forges, you know I had to explore the biggest knife mecca in the world. I really wasn't going to spend any money (after all, my son is a knifemaker!), but then, as I was idly prowling the candy isles for sweets, I saw a display case full of old straights in sort of an old and collectible weapons part of the store. The old-timer running the counter said that it was a pretty rare deal; apparently they had gotten in a huge estate lot or something, and were pricing them all at $25 each, or 5 for $100. Upon finding that I like big old smiling Sheffields, he started pulling out Wade and Butchers (and one BJ Eyre), and the fun began. After some careful culling, I ended up with these 6:

None of these has any country of origin/England stamps whatsoever, so I assume they are all pre-1891ish, correct? Here are some individual pics (albeit crappy Iphone shots):
1. The best of the bunch is this 8/8" For Gentlemen's Use, in a near-wedge grind! Stamped with Wade and Butcher over For Gentlemens Use, over the B/Arrow/German cross trademark-no Sheffield OR England on either side. I was/am really excited about this one, so couldn't resist polishing it up with Mother's to see what I can see-some devil's spit and previous sanding scratches, but otherwise pretty good, I think!


Looks like original horn scales and pins, with a crack running through the wedge-end pin

2. The other "keeper" is this 6/8", with "Celebrated Fine India/Diamond Edge/Steel Set Ready for Use" on the blade face. Nice top and bottom jimps; the tang reads "Manufactured by Wade and Butcher/Sheffield. Again, it seems to be a near-wedge, and also in great shape after some vigorous scrubbing with Mothers.




VERY nice scales in jet-black horn (or maybe bakelite? Not sure when/if it was ever used by W&B). I'll probably do a very minimal buffing and restoration on this one before honing her up to add to the rotation!

More pics to follow

WOW))))))))))))))

You are correct with the dating being pre 1891, and yes you did hit the Jackpot!

That is some sweet candy! Nice score!

Some razor porn - a great way to start the work week!

Thanks for sharing!

3. Up next is "The Celebrated Hollow Ground Razor" on the blade face; tang is stamped "Manufactured by Wade and Butcher Sheffield." Scales are pretty good horn, with minor bug-bites:



I'm not sure if you can tell from the pics, but it looks like somebody bread-knifed the edge flat (shouldn't it have a smile if other pics I've seen are any indication?), and maybe ground off the stabilizers?
4. BJ Eyre 6/8"-again, a near-wedge? I'm not really an expert on grinds. The tang also reads "Late W. Greaves and Sons" over Sheffield. There is an elaborate etch on the blade face that is barely visible-I can't make it out. Tortoise scales, blade is in pretty good shape but for some minor devil's spit:


Maybe I should let this tortoise keep its shell?

5. 6 or 7/8" "Fine India Steel" is barely visible in a faint etch on the blade face. Tang reads "Wade&Butcher" over "Sheffield" with the same trademark as the others. Horn scales and pins are in reasonable shape but for some bug-bites and a crack on the back side at the wedge pin (though the wedge is missing or non-existent?).



One more with pics coming up!

edit: Nevermind, I see they attached to this post.
6. Last up is an "American Razor" with the eagle across the blade face. It's down to about a 5/8" with all the hone wear. Decent horn scales with expected bug bites; again, this one has no wedge (see attached images).

I know I'll never come across such a sweet deal on big Sheffields again. In fact, I promised my wife that I could make the $125 total I spent several times over if I wanted to, so I'll probably sell some of them.

As for restoration, since I'm new to it, I'll definitely take it slow, and follow the physican's creed: First, do no harm." But as I recently set up an entire knife-making workshop complete with all the tools (including 2 1750 rpm buffers with wheels and compounds, I'd be crazy not to jump in with both feet!

I'm reading and rereading many restoration threads, wiki stuff, and watching countless YouTube videos as I go through this process step by step.

Scale-wise, given that I was recently given some nice rosewood planks and a box-full of burled and spalted cutoffs by a custom woodworker friend (I left him with half a fifth of Laphroiag 10 year old-he seemed happy!), I will probably try my hand at scale-making. My son's knifemaking mentor is stabilizing all the burled and spalted stuff with his vacum tank and Cactus Juice set-up, so I expect a box full of blanks back soon to play with-I can't wait!

Note: If any of you experts have any approximate dates of manufacture, other historical tidbits, or any restoration advice for these, I'm all ears. I'll probably sell a few when I get them the way I want them-E-bay prices on ones like these are through the roof! Thanks for any comments. Aaron

Great haul ! Just IMHO, as I am not an expert on grinds either ..... I would call those first couple you described as 'near wedge' full wedge ..... but I might be wrong ?

Jimmy-I thought so, too, but there is a gentle (but obvious) hollow on both, and neither one has the ham-handed honing wear you tend to see all over true wedges. But as these are my first Wade and Butchers (and I only have two other Sheffields), I could be dead wrong. In any event, just to be on the safe side, I'll probably put on a couple of layers of tape before honing.

(Sigh) I need to get out more... GREAT haul!

Great finds. I'd keep all the scales original from what I can see. That tortoise is probably mottled horn IMO, but nonetheless lovely for all that.