This razor has an old Wade & Butcher blade that was in pretty bad shape so I thought that I would try my hand at restoring it. Since I don’t have a Burr King like Bill Ellis I tried grinding out the rust pits using a Dremel with a 40 grit flap wheel and finished that with 80, 120, 240, and 400 grit flap wheels. I then polished it on buffing wheels. The scales are Bubinga wood with a finish of several coats of CA (super glue) polished to a high luster. It has custom domed stainless steel collars with nickel/silver pins. I added three rhinestones to blend the silver color of the blade and the collars and pins with the wood. The wedge is also Bubinga wood. One problem, when I was about finished with the blade I dropped it and chipped the edge on the front of the blade so I honed that out but leaving a slightly wide spot on the spine. Oh!! and it shaves also. HERE IS THE KICKER I AM DONATING THIS RAZOR TO THE SRP.COM GIVE-AWAY THAT IS TO START SOON.
I don't know what was up with it but it actually was difficult to hone. I have honed convex blades before with no problem but this one just didn't want to take an edge but after much determination I whipped it into shape...:happy023
I have had problems in the past with a razor that had a similar shape to yours and I never really had any success honing it. Wound up trading it to someone at another site who had more experience with such matters. From my research I had determined that I should have used a rocking motion while honing but I must have been to heavy handed. It was a really frustrating experience.
Fine Job ,I just noticed it has the uncommon VR and crown stamp which stands for Victoria Regina, it was made in the reign of Queen Victoria ,it is a very early W&B indeed and as I said before exellent work Kind regards Peter
Nice job on the scales, Bill. It looks like you are getting the hang of CA finishes. But what's the problem? A burr king is only about $4,500 the way I have mine set up. Make your kids do car washes at gas stations on weekends under the false pretext that they are earning money to go to college like I did. Make big signs that say, Help me go to college... Car Wash... $5 Works like a charm... 900 car washes and you're in like Flynn.
Actually a good question. The edge is wider at the head because that is where I chipped the edge when I dropped it. After honing out the chip in the edge the bevel became a bit wider than the rest of the edge which is also noted on the spine. What I should have done is taped the spine and honed out the chip and then went to regular honing without the tape. But apparently I was slightly peeved about chipping the edge and just went to honing without the tape. Near the heel you can tell that the edge hasn't been honed much if any at all and that is because the configuration of the spine near the heel end of the spine wouldn't let the edge touch the hone which I have seen on some other razors. I thought about really honing it hard to get that area of the edge honed up but thought that that part of the edge is hardly used anyway. If you notice the spine above the slightly wider area in front of the unhoned area you will see that it is also wider than some of the rest of the spine. Amazingly enough the other side of the edge is pretty even except the area near the head. As I mentioned before I had a heck of a time honing this blade so that it would shave.
