J.K.O. Cutters, High Wycombe – Cutter Grinder Type K/C

[southernchapParticipant @southernchap]

I recently managed to buy the machine mentioned in the title for £50.  Here it is in its dirty and rusty form:

Here it is now, minus the nasty cheap grinding wheel that was on it and the work head that is of no use to me:

The horizontal shaft is just over 25 mm (AKA an inch) and one of the cheap universal workheads that fit on the Chinese Deckel SO knock-offs should fit on that shaft.  I’ll need to sort out the electrics as the on/off switch looks terrifyingly risky (I have a VFD that bucks up to 380 V and the motor still runs rather nicely) and make some hubs for cup/dished wheels but that’ll happen at some point.

What I’m wondering though is does anybody have any information on the company or this particular cutter grinder and it’s original intended usage?  From the look of the original (and now exiled by me into the ‘potentially useful scrap parts bin’) workhead, maybe horizontal mill cutter grinding perhaps?  That’s total speculation though.

Tony’s site, normally replete with useful information has nothing, and Grace’s Guide has a one liner on J.K.O.

Oh and here’s the name plate/switch plate:

Many thanks in advance for any information provided.

[DC31kParticipant @dc31k]

When you put ‘jko cutters ltd’ into a Google near you, what do you see?

https://paulwoodmachinesltd.co.uk/about

http://sbstechnical.co.uk/about.php

They appear to be in the wood butchery business, so old trade publications from that area of industry might contain useful information.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Anyone who doesn’t believe in AI should bail out now!   I’m finding it consistently outperforms search engines like Google and Bing by responding to natural language questions with a natural language report collated from multiple sources.   Not perfect because it feeds on a subset of human information, but still impressive.  And much faster than hunting down leads manually, my question was answered in about 10 seconds.

I asked grok.com “who were JKO cutters of High Wycombe and what did they make“.   grok responded with:

JKO Cutters of High Wycombe
JKO Cutters was a British engineering and manufacturing firm based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire (postcode HP13 5SQ), specializing in the production of woodworking and furniture-making machinery. High Wycombe has a long history as a center for the UK’s furniture industry, particularly chair-making and related trades since the 18th century, which likely influenced the focus of local firms like JKO.

Who They Were
Identity and Operations: JKO Cutters appears to have been an established local business, possibly operating under or in association with Smeaton Hanscomb & Co Ltd, a company that continues to reference “JKO” in its branding and domain (jkocutters.co.uk). The firm was known for building specialized industrial tools and is listed at addresses like Lisle Road in High Wycombe, where “JKO Buildings” still exist today and house other trades (e.g., ductwork firms).
Historical Context: While specific founding dates are not widely documented, JKO Cutters produced equipment referenced in second-hand markets as vintage or used machinery, suggesting it was active in the mid-to-late 20th century during the peak of High Wycombe’s furniture manufacturing era. The company emphasized high-quality, professional-grade products and services, aligning with the town’s engineering heritage.
What They Made
JKO Cutters primarily manufactured edge-trimming and cutting machines for woodworking applications, tailored to the furniture and cabinetry sectors. Key examples include:

Top and Bottom Edge Trimmers: These were dual-cutter machines designed for precise trimming of wood edges, often fitted with tipped cutters for durability. They were built for industrial use, running efficiently but requiring maintenance after storage (e.g., cleaning and painting for rust).
Broader Offerings: Based on associated branding, they likely produced spare parts, tooling, and custom woodworking equipment, focusing on faultless service and unique, high-quality items meeting manufacturing standards.
Today, remnants of their work appear in auctions and sales (e.g., a used JKO edge trimmer listed for £365 in recent years), and the linked Smeaton Hanscomb & Co Ltd continues operations in High Wycombe, offering similar professional manufacturing services. For more details, contact them at 01494 521051 or [email protected].

Did anyone see the A&E TV programme featuring a chap on the receiving end of an exploding grinding wheel?  On mobe of the minor channels a few weeks ago and I only caught a snippet before my daughter arrived.   Nastiest real injury I’ve ever seen on TV: right cheek smashed in, jaw broken, teeth knocked out, plus severe bruising around his right eye socket.  A little higher and his eye would have been pulped.  Gore everywhere.   Judging by the size and shape of the dent, it was a 200mm diameter wheel.  To do that amount of damage, I’d have to hit someone as hard as I could with the blunt end of a hand-axe!

Dave

 

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

This was the best I could manage … but I could find  no details on Companies House

 

https://companycheck.co.uk/company/00334016/JKO-CUTTERS-LIMITED/contact#company-addresses

.

.

MichaelG.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

When it comes to making the wheel mountings I would strongly recommend that you mount them on a separate and balance able carrier. There are numerous ways this can be done. The Brierley has a dovetail shaped groove about 5/16″ wide into which small cones with a 6mm tapped hole are fitted locked with a 6mm grub screw, this is cut in one side of the flange that is threaded onto the carrier, bored 5/8″ and making up the second side of the carrier unit. With the wheel fitted this assembly is mounted on a spindle and run on balancing ways to set true. A mixture of truing the wheel and balancing will result in no vibration. This does to a point depend on the precision of the work you are doing as to whether it is worthwhile.

A new wheel on the Brierley shook the machine so badly it was useless, I had all but given up. A second wheel was bought and no better ! Only after getting a J&S balancer did the truth reveal – 7 cones with long grubscrews and additional 6mm nuts to get it balanced !

A bench grinder is one thing a precision grinder is another. Noel.

[noel shelley]

On noel shelley Said:

When it comes to making the wheel mountings I would strongly recommend that you mount them on a separate and balance able carrier. There are numerous ways this can be done. The Brierley has a dovetail shaped groove about 5/16″ wide into which small cones with a 6mm tapped hole are fitted locked with a 6mm grub screw, this is cut in one side of the flange that is threaded onto the carrier, bored 5/8″ and making up the second side of the carrier unit. With the wheel fitted this assembly is mounted on a spindle and run on balancing ways to set true. A mixture of truing the wheel and balancing will result in no vibration. This does to a point depend on the precision of the work you are doing as to whether it is worthwhile.

A new wheel on the Brierley shook the machine so badly it was useless, I had all but given up. A second wheel was bought and no better ! Only after getting a J&S balancer did the truth reveal – 7 cones with long grubscrews and additional 6mm nuts to get it balanced !

A bench grinder is one thing a precision grinder is another. Noel.

Thank you, that’s a very good thought.

I’m still pondering the design of the hub/hubs.  It would be nice to somehow have a similar (functionally at least) concept to the Deckel SO grinder where hubs are permanently mounted on the wheel and these hubs have a male taper that fits into a female taper on the spindle, and are then secure by a final nut. However, I can’t come up with a workable design of hub that would fit on to the existing length shaft.

The alternative would be to either accept that the designers of the Deckel SO were smarter than me (which to be fair wouldn’t require me to stretch my imagination that hard! 😳😄), cut the motor shaft down to an appropriate length and use Deckel’s design concept, or just make up a two part hub, similar to a normal bench grinder and just accept I can’t swap wheels without redressing.

Now you’ve reminded me about balancing considerations, which I had neglected to think about.

More pondering will be required, I’d say.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Hi, On the Brierley, the motor spindle is 5/8″, The carrier is a flange and centre, this is bored 5/8″ there  is a loose flange that screws on to the centre, both halves have 2 1/4″ holes to enable them to be tightened. The dove tail groove is in one of the flanges. Mount wheel on the carrier, slide on to a shaft and place on the balancing ways, add weights until the assembly is balanced, now fit assembly in the motor spindle and fit nut and tighten – job done ! Good luck. Noel.

[Mark EasingwoodParticipant @markeasingwood33578]

JKO used to be manufacturers/suppliers to the woodwork industry.

Many cutter grinders for the profile cutters used in woodworking work by pushing a stylus around a template, thus guiding the cutter blank around the grinding wheel, 2, 4 or 6 identical shaped cutters are needed.

High Wycombe used to be known as the centre of uk furniture making, Buckinghamshire is where the, “Bodgers”, used to set up their pole lathes to turn chair legs, stretchers and spindles used in “Windsor” chairs and the like, they had pretty much died out by the 1950’s.

In 1989 I was quoted for some woodworking machinery by JKO, they where then selling imported machinery. The folder containing the quotation is shown below, it gives a history of the company.

 

[Wade BeattyParticipant @wadebeatty78296]

I just bought a surface grinder on a somewhat lowball bid. It came with interesting hubs with sliding weights that were trapped in dovetails. Maybe something like this could be a solution to getting your wheels ballanced.

[Author]

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