Older Sheffield Steel Razor

[Carillon]

Hey guys, I recently purchased an older razor off of ebay, it has a little insignia that says wade&butcher, sheffield steel on it. It is rather old i think, and has some discolorations along the blade that seem at least to me to be purely cosmetic. I was curious if you all think I should get it honed and try it out or if those discolorations mean that I should purchase another razor somewhere else.

Thanks

[jbasl]

W&B is a good brand. If you can post some pics it will be easier to tell its condition. Also a good place to ask this question is straightrazorplace.com

[Jim]

Welcome Carillon,
I would like to see some photos of that razor if you have them,We have a lot of straight razor users on this board who can steer you in the right direction.

[joel]

Hey guys, I recently purchased an older razor off of ebay, it has a little insignia that says wade&butcher, sheffield steel on it. It is rather old i think, and has some discolorations along the blade that seem at least to me to be purely cosmetic. I was curious if you all think I should get it honed and try it out or if those discolorations mean that I should purchase another razor somewhere else.

Thanks

Hey bud!
First and foremost - welcome aboard! Secondly - congratulations on your Wade & Butcher, I have owned quite a few W&B's and they were beautifully built razors with very few frills - and a hell of a nice/sweet shaving blade. All go - no show is the best description of a W&B.

The discolorations should come RIGHT off if you use a little bit of metal polish liks MAAS or Flitz, and a cotton gun patch/rag.... you'll be stunned at how new it'll look after a few minutes of elbow grease! How is the condition of the spine? (The spine is the top part of the razor opposite of the blade) Is it flattened, crowned, worn, etc? Is the edge "wavy" at all, or does it look pretty straight? How much did you pay for it?

If it is a cheapie "e-bay special" in just "ok" condition i'd say keep it as a collectors item, as investing the time and $ to have it honed just simply isn't worth it. On the other hand, if you paid $35+ for it, and it is a pretty nice looking razor, and you like it, enjoy it, and want to shave with it - by all means have it honed!

Really it is all up to you.... Wade & Butcher's are well known to be superb shavers, but without pictures.... it's really your judgement call.

Hope this helps! :biggrin:

[rtaylor61]

Joel pretty much covered this, but I'll toss in a second requst for pics, or at least a link to the auction that you won. If you need info on getting it honed, send me a pm and I can direct you to a couple of honemeisters!

Congratulations on the purchase. The W&B's are considered fine razors and if the condition of this is decent, it should make a great shaver for you.

Randy

[Carillon]

Greetings,

Thanks for all the info. Joel, it was a rather cheap ebay blade, so I think I might simply keep it as a collectors item. I will be posting pictures as soon as I can, probably tomorrow so I hope that will help a consensus. As for the spine, it has a gentle curve to it and is smooth, I don't know if that is a good sign. Also the blade is not wavy and seems to my inexperienced eye to be of a decent quality.

Thanks again

[Carillon]

Here they are, I appolgize for the quality, I do not have the best of cameras and this is the best I could get.

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p127/carillonatreides/IMGP1979.jpg


http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p127/carillonatreides/IMGP1978.jpg


http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p127/carillonatreides/IMGP1978.jpg


http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p127/carillonatreides/IMGP1972.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p127/carillonatreides/IMGP1969.jpg

[AFDavis11]

I would consider honing it for you. PM me if your interested. If you intend to do any restoration work on it please do that first. I can clean it a little for you while its here if you want, but I'm not a certified restoration guy.