Thread: Wade&Butcher Fine India Steel.... RUST!!

Need your help again my friends.

Picked this up on the Bay... 14/16”, I think its horn scales, the spine is not the usual round but diamond shape and the scale wedge is made of some kind of metal, looks to have no hone were. If it were not for the rust I would call it NOS.

Want to restore and keep it as original as possible (not have to de-pin) but there is just too much rust around the pivot. The makers mark is almost gone, all that’s left is “WADE & ___CHER” had to look through the magnifier to see the “BUT” buried in the rust, and I can just make out Sheffield below that… even the seller didn't know what it was.

RUST.... curses!.. curses!... curses!...

So do I throw it in the to-do drawer?
De-pin and do a complete restore? Or Minimal cleaning and put in the display for posterity?

I attach some pix.

I have another option!




Sell it to me. I promise to take care of it tenderly in a rotation.




But honestly? De-pin and full restore job with custom scales. That spine is fabulantastic (fabulous and fantastic at the same time!)

Yeah I agree with BT. Those scales are nothin special to begin with IMO. Also, that rust needs to be dealt with STAT. Therefore I would take it apart today and at least try to get rid of/sand away all surface rust just to at least stabilize any damage.

I would recommend depinning and do a complete restore. The black rust means there is a fair amount of pitting underneath, and it will not come of easily.
Hand sanding would be the way to go.

That is a beauty and will restore to very well.

Hard to tell, but those scales look more like celluloid than horn to me. They are too shiny, and horn is generally rounded at the edges rather than beveled, which is typical of celluloid. The spacer most likely is pewter. If it were me, I'd replace the scales and do a complete restore. Should be a beautiful blade when you're finished.

That type of spine was called an "Arris Back" in Sheffield.
The wedge will be pewter.
The scales look like black buffalo horn to me. As to being flat with a bevelled edge - I have a few Sheffield razors with horn scales of that profile.

Originally Posted by Yorkshireman

The scales look like black buffalo horn to me. As to being flat with a bevelled edge - I have a few Sheffield razors with horn scales of that profile.

+1, just depinned a joseph rogers with the same scale profile in horn.