Wade & Butcher FBU Back from the dead

[Bevel]

What have they done to you.

Part 1 - Restoration
It looks like someone tried to sharpen this with one of those pull through kitchen knife sharpeners but it's more likely a regrind, probably done by the store that originally sold it. Whatever was done was pure vandalism. Right, my work is cut out for me one this one!


Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of the blade cleanup but I was on and off for weeks trying to remove those hideous regrind marks and eventually managed to blend them in with the rest of the blade. Between the regrind and getting rid of the regrind this leaves a pretty thin edge but it turned out well.

First off, those scales have got to go.
I had a set of dyed red horn scales that suit this razor very well. Pivot end I used a 2mm brass rod with no collars.
Wedge end has a temporary clear (slightly smokey) acrylic wedge with collar.
I honed it up and used it like this for several months and it's a good performer but something just wasn't right and I knew she longed for her original collars. Ok, Ok I'll see what I can do.

As the scales had to come off anyway I decided to give them another sanding. Blade had a bit more work done while it was out and about.

It was also time to settle on a final wedge. I had nothing I could use so went at some old keys with a Dremel and cutoff wheel.
I had a choice of silver or brass. Brass won as the pins would be brass and the silver one had a large key ring hole that shows through the translucent red horn if held up to the light.


Finally reunited with her old collars balance had been restored to the universe.
I can usually peen something in about 10 minutes but gave this one about half an hour with a highly polished ball hammer and lots of light taps.

It's funny how pictures can show things you don't see in person. What look like scratches towards the pivot are actually streaks in the horn.
The scales were sanded then polished with micro-mesh from 1.500 up to 12,000 and they are glassy smooth. They are beautiful in person despite the one part of de-lamination you can see at the bottom middle. I think considering what this blade has been through in a previous life she won't mind that small blemish.

 

[Bevel]

Part 2 - Honing
While I set the bevel on a Shapton 1.5k I decided this would be a fully synthetic affair.
I skipped the 9um and started on 5um all the way through to 0.05um.

There is one problem with this blade that I'm not going to fix at this stage.
If you look at the show side the bevel is wider near the shoulder which doesn't transition to the other side.
Other than this the bevel is so small it's difficult to see with the naked eye.

After the 0.05um the razor is very sharp and mirror under a loupe.
I could leave it here or I might finish with pasted balsa and 0.1 diamond.
I'll have a shave with it before I do that.

Blade Width - 18.28
Spine thickness - 6.15
Bevel angle = 19.37 This is surprising as it's a good shaver.

Almost forgot to finish off the wedge.
I sanded it with 150 grit to almost level, then 240, then, as the scales got slightly damaged, again through the micro-mesh up to 12k.

The blade isn't perfectly centered but I'm happy with how the restoration went and will probably leave it at that.

 

[eKretz]

Good save.

 

[Ice-Man]

Fantastic restore on a beautiful razor I love the Wade & Butchers, well anything out of Sheffield as it's not far from where I live.

But she does look proud in all of her glory....

 

[ajkel64]

Nice restoration. It came up really well.

 

[Bevel]

Fantastic restore on a beautiful razor I love the Wade & Butchers, well anything out of Sheffield as it's not far from where I live.

But she does look proud in all of her glory....

Yeah there's something about the old W&B's that draw me. I was horrified at the grind when I got it, even when new this can't have looked good.
I think there's something special about this blade. While other W&B's all seem chunky solid blades, even the hollow grind ones, this one is very hollow even though the spine is relatively thick.

At some point I'll address the heal of this thing but I don't use the heal much on razors so it's not a huge priority.
I really need to think about how to fix it properly as that area of the blade is super thin, you can flex it on a fingernail.

I was going to take a small file and file down that little bump on the edge you see about 1 cm in from the heal.
The problem is that may necessitate a small grinding of the shoulder as well to blend it properly but it was too complicated an operation without a serious think first.
While honing the rest of the blade is good, that one area doesn't sit flat on the hone and I had to x-stroke it carefully. X-stroking heal first on film with a razor you know has a problem at the heal is quite the nerve-racking experience.
I really don't want to do heavy grinding of the spine to correct the geometry on this lovely blade as it's already been through a lot.
I've seen a lot of your work which is spectacular btw so I'm open to any suggestions on how to approach this and make the heal perfect again. I know every time I use it I will be thinking about it lol.

 

[Bevel]

Well, just had a test shave and it's probably the smoothest I've had so I won't be frosting it up with the 0.1 diamond paste. I suppose the 0.05um lapping film is finer anyway and gives a mirror finish under a loupe with hard to discern scratches.
I've steered clear of the 0.05 (and 0.3) up until now, when doing synthetic lapping film finishes, not really sure why.
I usually go to 1um and then to CrOx and sometimes on to FeOx. CrOx can give a smooth shave. FeOx definitely gives a significant increase in sharpness, it is after all 0.1um, but it can be a bit harsh.

 

[CCR]

Beautiful job sir!

 

[eKretz]

A regular steel file will probably not do much of anything to the heel on that razor but slide across it. Unless you use a diamond file. You'll probably need to shape it with something like a Dremel and a small grinding wheel, then smooth it with a diamond file.

 

[Bevel]

A regular steel file will probably not do much of anything to the heel on that razor but slide across it. Unless you use a diamond file. You'll probably need to shape it with something like a Dremel and a small grinding wheel, then smooth it with a diamond file.

I think a dremel would be too much for it as the edge is exceptionally thin and things go wrong fast with a dremel.
I think I only need to take about a 1/4 of a mm off about 1 cm in from the heel. It's essentially controlled breadknifing about 1/2 cm near the heel to remove the large bevel on the showside and allow me to level out the bevel on the other side. It's difficult to see from post #6 but there is essentially no bevel on that side and a wide bevel on the show side that's 3-4 times the width of the rest of the bevel. (The rest of the bevel on both sides is good)

I think it's thin enough for a small regular file to do the job. I was thinking about clamping it with blade side up and heel towards me, then placing my left index finger on the blade just below the edge and pinching my thumb against it to act as a guide. then I can use the file like a cue for quick filing action but maximum control.

I was saying in an earlier post that the edge is getting close to coming into line with the shoulder and if that happened I might have to grind the shoulder back up a bit to keep the aesthetics natural looking.
Cheers for the suggestion though, if you've tackled a similar problem before the more suggestions the better.

 

[eKretz]

The steel file probably won't be hard enough to do much of any cutting...

Dremels and the like are no faster than you let them be. You need to learn to use a delicate touch.

And I have tackled thousands of similar problems. I have been a machinist for a minute or two.