FINALLY got me a Wade & Butcher.

Won an auction for this 6/8 Wedge Wade & Butcher after bidding on about a dozen over the last month. I think I did good and paid $38. What would be your guess on the age? I'm guessing before 1890 since it doesn't say England.

I think you're right on. The lack of england and the tang tail appear to be of that age

Looks like a nice piece ... Congratulations.

Your razor looks a lot like mine. I inherited my W&B from my Dad. I learned to shave with it. He was born in 1900 and it was his razor so I would guess mine dates about the turn of the century. I had to have mine rescaled recently.

I have a wedge blade. If yours is also, you will need to get used to the weight of the blade but when you do, they are really great implements.

Although I use a straight, I am not an expert on their history, and development. I defer to the experts on the B&B straight razor forum who will give you all the info you need..

Nice score. Congrats!

Nice blade. Get it honed up and enjoy the shave!

Thanks guys. It will be interesting to see how sharp it is.

I'm a huge fan of the W&B razors, especially the pre-1890 ones. I will point out that yours doesn't seem to be a wedge. Based on those pics, it is at least 1/4 hollow ground. You can see the grind in that closeup pic that shows the shoulders, and some minimal honewear on the spine area only in the other pic, indicating it isn't a wedge. Despite that, I'd say you got a great deal still on a great piece of razor history, and looks like it shouldn't need much work to get it back to shave ready condition.

Well done. Congrats.

Shave_Rat said:

I'm a huge fan of the W&B razors, especially the pre-1890 ones. I will point out that yours doesn't seem to be a wedge. Based on those pics, it is at least 1/4 hollow ground. You can see the grind in that closeup pic that shows the shoulders, and some minimal honewear on the spine area only in the other pic, indicating it isn't a wedge. Despite that, I'd say you got a great deal still on a great piece of razor history, and looks like it shouldn't need much work to get it back to shave ready condition.

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I kind of had my doubts it was a full wedge. I had asked the seller before I bid if it was hollow or wedge grind and he said wedge. I was hoping he knew what he was talking about since he is a knife retailer. I'm hoping if it's not wedge it will be at least quarter hollow.

bjhubb said:

I kind of had my doubts it was a full wedge. I had asked the seller before I bid if it was hollow or wedge grind and he said wedge. I was hoping he knew what he was talking about since he is a knife retailer. I'm hoping if it's not wedge it will be at least quarter hollow.

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It is pretty definitely not a wedge/near wedge. Past that, I can't really tell how much of a hollow grind it is from the pics that are there, really. I will say it doesn't have the look of a full hollow in the pics that are posted, but that's far from definitive, and I am far from an expert. lol

Got my W&B yesterday and what do you know it wasn't a wedge. I'm guessing it to be about half hollow. I guess that means I will need to buy another one someday to get a wedge . I cleaned it up and disinfected the blade and ran it over my arm and it plucked a fair amount of hair. It wasn't sold as shave ready but the edge looked very good. So I stropped it on my block that has leather with chromium oxide on it and then stropped on linen/leather. It pass HHT so I took it for a spin. Best shave of my life! The blade does have some small speckles on it. Should I polish or leave it alone? If so what polish? I used some toothpaste but that just cleaned up the rest of the blade.

Even without the wedge, it's still a great mid 1800's ish W&B. lol

I always prefer leaving some of the original speckles and such, the razor is old enough, it earned it's blemishes, and I see them as part of it's history and charm.