Freshly back from restoration, my first straight, the Wade & Butcher Sheffield

A few weeks back I happened across an antique store with a number of straight razors for sale at extremely affordable prices. Being new to wet shaving in general I thought it would be fun to at least take a look at them. One in particular caught my eye. I recognized the name, Wade & Butcher as being a popular name among straight razors and realized that there was quite a bit of blade left on this bad boy unlike all its other whimpy, thin bladed cousins it was bundled with. To top it off, it had a barbers notch, which I find to look very cool on a straight, so I picked it up for $12.

Once home I was able to measure it, a 6/8, and look into it some more. I really inspected the razor and noticed that the scales had been warped on one side and there were a couple small nicks in the blade edge, so it would need some work. I found out that since it was labeled "Sheffield" and not "Sheffield England" it must have been manufactured before 1890. This blew my mind! A little more research and I think I can narrow the date to being after 1836, putting it somewhere around 150 years old. Now considering it a real treasure, for me at least, I wanted to get it restored and shave ready for the chance I ever want to use it.

Little more research and I find a honemeister only 8 or so hours away from me who also does restorations and is within my price range. After some emails back and forth with Ken Rupkalvis with RupRazor.com I sent my new treasure off to him, not knowing what to expect...

Fast forward three weeks to today, and in the mail is my razor, back from Ken. I open it up and feel nearly blinded by the glow this thing is giving off. It shines like the sun it seems! The blade was not only honed, but polished as well. The scales are nice and straight and the natural horn then are made from seem as though they are brand new. About 2mm had to be taken off of the blade edge to get rid of the nicks, so new measurement is about 11/16th. All in all I am extremely happy with Ken's work and would definitely go back to him in the future. Unfortunately today was very rushed, so I was only able to snap one quick pic of the restored razor, I can upload more if there is any interest. I think one comparing the scales is in order at least. Enough talk, here are some pics!

i think those 2 pics say it all. the change in luster and sheen of the scales is very evident.

great job by ken and it is exhilarating to see your blade cleaned up and fresh off the hones.. use it in good health!

That's very nice. Use it well and it will last another 150 years.

yikes, guide that blade carefully!

(03-28-2012, 08:38 AM)global_dev Wrote: yikes, guide that blade carefully!

I noticed that too... was he able to reshape the scales? I have a blade where the scales are mishapen on one side - luckily they bow out so not a real affect other than aesthetics but I'd be interested in knowing if he was able to fix.

Not sure if I can do the same to mine - those appear to be pressed horn scales vs. I think mine may be plastic.

I've been meaning to take an "after" picture of the scales. The one I posted is a "before" picture, and yes, they are now aligned quite nicely and the razor fits perfectly right in the middle of them.

I'm glad you all like it, Ken really did do great work in making this thing look brand new, you would never guess how old it actually is.

Very nice razor, sir! Enjoy and be careful guiding it in!

Very nice W&B. For just 15 bucks, you can find some real treasures.

My W&B is one of my smoothest shavers.