Haigh Chain & Chisel Mortiser - and more

[Vann]

Not being content with raiding one joinery shop, today I called in at another - this time on the Kapiti Coast (about an hours drive away). This guy is obviously also an aficionado of old iron - but less enthusiastic than the guy (now a friend) in my "Waddie Magnet" thread.

He has a mixture of relatively modern, and old, machines. The cutest has to be this smallish Haigh chain & chisel mortiser

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The guy says he hasn't used it in ~7 years, but he'd get so little selling it, he'd rather hang on to it.

Note the broken handwheel out front.

Cheers, Vann.

[Vann]

Here's another brand I've never heard of before - a Gorta (made in UK).

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Cheers, Vann.

[Vann]

It's a one-man shop - note the guards :roll:. I couldn't find a maker's name on this. It looks to be about a 30" saw (forgot to take a tape to measure :doh:).

402068 402069 402070 402071 It looks like it was once flat-belt driven.

402067 "Sole Agent for New Zealand, N. Andrew. Wanganui"

Cheers, Vann.

[Vann]

He also had five Wadkins.

Firstly a Wadkin CK radio alarm - which has been out of use for some time. He mentioned that there were currently two Wadkin RAS listed on Trademe - one for $150 (relisted several times) and one for $2500 - so what's their value? Not enough to be worth selling!!

402083 402084 Somewhere in there is a Wadkin CK.

I couldn't get in there to find a tag.

Then there's this very nice Wadkin RD buzzer;

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RD 1048, test 41175, of 1951. Obviously in regular use. I didn't notice any ducting...:q.

Cheers, Vann.

[hiroller]

According to the Wanganui Herald of 1902, N. Andrew was the sole distributor of John Sutcliffe and Son woodworking machinery.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WH19021119.2.41

There is a mention of John Sutcliffe and Son on Graces Guide with a picture of a very similar bandsaw.
John Sutcliffe and Son (http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/John_Sutcliffe_and_Son)
402096

[Vann]

There were three spindle moulders. All Wadkin. Two of them "specials".

Firstly:

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Wadkin EPA 1406S, test 5542 (pre-1937?).

Secondly:

402119 402116 402120 402118 402117

Wadkin 139S, of 1946.

And lastly:

402123 402122 402121

Wadkin EPA 884, test 11125, of 1938.

Cheers, Vann.

[Vann]

There were three spindle moulders. All Wadkin. Two of them "specials"...Damned Specials, they're a pain - their test numbers don't fit the dating information available (although this one, marked "test 11/4/46" has just got to be 11th April 1946 !).

402117

Cheers, Vann.

[hiroller]

Vann, you are truly becoming the Wadkin whisperer of the South.
What makes a machine a "special"?

[Vann]

...What makes a machine a "special"?I don't know for sure. I think it's a machine ordered with variation to spec., outside of the normal options.

The serial number then contains an 'S', and the test number seldom conforms with the normal pattern. It seems more common with spindle moulders than with other machines.

Cheers, Vann.

[Stewey]

We have two bandsaws of that 'look'.
One has a 27" throat, (and a 2hp single phase motor), and the other 36" throat, with a 7hp, 3phase motor.
Both have their original line-shaft belt pulleys, too.
I'll have to go and check for a brand...

The 27" one used to belong the Broughtons, a coachbuilding business at Ipswich (Qld). They shut down during the WW2 and did not restart.
It was bought by a pattern-maker who worked for the Railways for a whiole, then for anyone who wanted pattersn for castings. Jim Farrel was his name.
He'd retired in about 1980. I bought it from him in about 1988.
The 36" beast used to belong an an agricultural machinery & implement maker just west of Dalby. I've had a senior moment and forgotten their name. A friend bought it at the liquidation sale, and I bought it from them 12 years later. It sounds like a helicopter taking off when you start it up!