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