Thread: Enankay wood lathe

Ive not heard of them but sounds interesting. Any chance of a picture.
Regards
john

Jo John,
Thanks for the interest.

There is not a lot to see, but I have attached some photos.

David

That looks like it should clean up ok.
Regards
John

I asked my other halfs father who is a retired builder and well into his nineties whether he had heard of the brand,
He seemed to recall that one of his co-workers bought one of their wood lathes secondhand in the late forties and that they were aimed at the home woodworker sort of like PaulCall and Triton were/are not at the professional market even though these guys were both carpenters.
Pretty basic but did what you wanted and probably a heck of a lot cheaper than any of the imported english ones no doubt.
I know they made metal working lathes but have no idea about them nor did he.

Stewie

Possibly made for Nock & Kirby's, which was a big Sydney hardware retailer - don't know if they were in other cities. Went broke in the 1980s IIRC.

Thanks Stewie and Alex,

The add that I retrieved for the metal working version was certainly for Knock and Kirby.

Looking at the centre sizes they are only about 1/4" in diameter, so looks like it was definately aimed at the home woodworker.

David

Originally Posted by AlexS

Possibly made for Nock & Kirby's, which was a big Sydney hardware retailer - don't know if they were in other cities. Went broke in the 1980s IIRC.

I haven't lived or worked in Sydney since the 60's but we bought our hardware and tools from them - I still use the Toledo chisels (black plastic handles) I bought from their Parramatta store in 67-69. When I was working at AGL in the Haymarket in 68/69 it was part of get out of the showroom and take a stroll to see what was happening. My memory may be faulty but I think that N & K's was in the QVB building with the hardware in the basement - if it wasn't there it was a block north opposite Gowings. Saturday lunchtime was TV on - Joe the Gadget Man - Handy Andy - followed by the wrestling. Times Past - Neil

Knock & Kirby used to be the Alladin's Cave for tools in Sydney. At their time there was not a lot of cheap imported tools but they had some as well as good brands.
What a great little project. The skills learned from this will be able to be used on something bigger. By today's standard the lathe looks a little crude but it's a worthwhile endeavour to preserve the past
Knock & Kirby also had a series of metal lathes as well, for the hobbyist.
As a kid visiting the store I was very impressed with their range even though I couldn't buy anything (only a few bob pocket money). Were tools dearer then by comparison with today?
Please keep us up to date with your progress with the restoration