W&B project

Picked up this W&B 7/8th wedge today for 25$ I think I did well on the deal?
The front hinge pin was missing but replaced with a brass tact that would be used on old chairs. I took that pin out as well as the spacer pin out to free the blade from the warped scales. I than used a little polish to take some of the tarnish off the blade, tang and tail.
but here is were it gets tricky I would like to get a better finish on the blade and maybe take a little bit of rust off the back side. 1. Do I need to sand the whole blade to make it look even? 2nd on the front it has "Wade & Butcher celebrated fine India steel razor". How likely will that com off? If the razor is not worth much I would like to make it a mirror finish like some of the other W&B restores that I have seen on here.

P.S how old do you think this razor is (it has a (B) >>>>--------+ below the Wade and Butcher Sheffield stamp)?

Thanks
Eric

Though W&B razors with that etching is not very common, many of the shiny polished razors that you see here, at one time had nice etching.

The trouble is, the etching is very shallow, but the tarnish that normally occurs over the decades is sometimes deeper than the etching. To remove the tarnish you will have to remove the steel around the tarnish… that’s the dilemma, if you try to remove steel and get the blade looking “even” the shallow etching will be removed before the tarnish.

So you may have 2 choices, do minimal cleaning to preserve the etching on the face and be happy or sand the whole thing and polish to mirror shine (and wipe away those tears for the lost etching).

But there is a third option, send it to someone who knows how to get it all nice and shiny while preserving the etching… but it won’t be cheap.

My advice, anything you can no to preserve the etching is good... at the very least, the razor will have some resemblance of its rustic originality.

Thanks i have found a way to do booth
the deeper pitting will stay but on the back side most all pitting is gone.
on a side note it looks like a lot of people have seen this post but only one reply. tell me what you think. does any one know the year ranges this razor might be?
thx
Eric

From Straight Razor Manufacturers and Dates of Operation

"WADE & BUTCHER
Successor to Robert Wade; succeeded by Butcher, Brown & Butcher
Sheffield
1818-1890 ("Old Sheffield Razors" by Lummus. Antiques, December 1922 p.261-267)"

mmack66 said:

From Straight Razor Manufacturers and Dates of Operation

"WADE & BUTCHER
Successor to Robert Wade; succeeded by Butcher, Brown & Butcher
Sheffield
1818-1890 ("Old Sheffield Razors" by Lummus. Antiques, December 1922 p.261-267)"

Click to expand...

I have seen that same information posted around a number of times and while I do not doubt it, I do wonder if the name was revived at any point after the writing of Lummus's book in 1922.

---EDIT---
and a little bit of reading found this. "Succeeded by Butcher, Brown & Butcher and other firms until 1950 when the name of the company was changed to "DB Properties (Sheffield) Limited". " so I guess I was pretty much completely off base with my thoughts.

i was wondering,and this is just food for thought,but what would stop someone from somehow coating the engraving or etching and repolishing everything else?i have never personally done this myself but have been thinking about it because i hate to see it go on a straight.

balaban9331 said:

i was wondering,and this is just food for thought,but what would stop someone from somehow coating the engraving or etching and repolishing everything else?i have never personally done this myself but have been thinking about it because i hate to see it go on a straight.

Click to expand...

Possible... carefully coat the entire square of the etching with nail-polish...

Do like they do when they repaint a car... tape off everything that's about to be polished, exposing only the etching, then paint the etch with nail-polish, when it's dry you strip of the tape exposing the rest of the steel that's about to be polished. Then carefully polish the steel and avoid striping the nail-polish with the buffing wheel (or place the blade in the tumbler). When finished polishing, dip the blade in Acetone to strip the nail-polish... done.

But you would not be able to remove scratches or tarnish in or on the etching, only the scratches and tarnish around the etching on the rest of the blade.

Thank you all for the great info..
I am working on some deer antler scales for them.

Although I don't have a solution (but Cedrck's nail polish idea seems feasible), I'd say do whatever you can to preserve the etching and Wade & Butcher mark. Other folks here will know more; all I know is that they were a famous maker of straights, and their blades in good condition or properly restored command a premium. It would be a pity to blast away the marks of the razor's original identity and distinction just to get an anonymous piece of shiny sharp metal.