The end of the line ...
The firm was declared bankrupt in 1982, seven years after my father's death. Many of Kayes' big industrial customers had gone, the ship-building and repairing industry had slowly died a death, along with the Hull trawler fleet, and the business was in no fit state to compete with the massive out-of-town national 'retail outlets' catering to the DIY and trade markets.
The official notice from the London Gazette of June 30th 1982, above, lists the Receiving Order under the Bankruptcy Act.
The official notice from the London Gazette of June 30th 1982, above, lists the Receiving Order under the Bankruptcy Act.
... but not quite
Although the Kayes tool business went under 30 years ago, the 'tools gene' is by no means dormant in the family: Cosima Kaye, great-grand-daughter of William Henry, grand-daughter of my father, Herbert, daughter of my sister Rosemary, fluent in German and in French, is now working around the world as a constructrice - decoratrice, and has adopted the circular saw symbol from the Kayes tools catalogue as her trademark. She has a CAP (the French Certificate of Professional Aptitude) in boat-building, gained during the two years which she has spent living in Marseille. Her big regret is that she has no original Kayes tools to work with on her carpentry and construction projects...
Kayes tools as collector's items
Recent searches on Google for <T.S.Kaye Hull> suggest that some Kayes tools have become 'collectables ' ( a concept that I'm sure would have William Henry and Thomas Swaine turning in their graves...).
< To the left is an image of a 'cut-throat' razor by T. S. Kaye & Sons, from STRazors, a website run by an enthusiast in Israel who collects, restores, and sells old razors.
< To the left is an image of a 'cut-throat' razor by T. S. Kaye & Sons, from STRazors, a website run by an enthusiast in Israel who collects, restores, and sells old razors.
^ I've seen a query on a Canadian online tools forum about the plough plane above, engraved with 'T.S. Kaye & Sons, Tool Manufacturers, Hull'. This obviously pre-dates 1944 - it's not in the 'modern' Tool List prepared by my grandfather.
< This large Kayes oilcan (overall length 20" - note the conspicuous brass letter K stamped on the side) is from an online store (OldTools.co.uk ) specialising in wood-working tools and collectables. William Henry Kaye's original drawing of this oil can, from his 1944 Tool List , page 30, is shown below.
< This large Kayes oilcan (overall length 20" - note the conspicuous brass letter K stamped on the side) is from an online store (OldTools.co.uk ) specialising in wood-working tools and collectables. William Henry Kaye's original drawing of this oil can, from his 1944 Tool List , page 30, is shown below.
< These two Kayes oilcans, rare because of their corrugated sides, were auctioned by David Stanley Auctions in November 2001 for £340 (the smaller, 1/4 pint one) and £240 (the 1/3 pint one) respectively!
A collection of 60+ Kayes oil cans in Australia !
Click on image to enlarge
The Kayes oil cans shown below have been collected, mainly through online auctions, by David, who lives in Australia. He thinks Kayes oil cans are the strongest and best quality ones in the world, especially compared to those produced today in China. One of his rarest is shown on the right, patented by Joseph Kaye, Leeds, who may well have been related to my grandfather. My grandfather must have purchased cans wholesale from Joseph Kaye's works, to retail in his own shop: they appear in his Tool List, but without the 'Hull' stamp.
Many thanks to Dave for sending me these photos...(added August 2012)
Many thanks to Dave for sending me these photos...(added August 2012)
Kayes Tools on ebay
On ebay, I've seen a pair of H&R moulding planes engraved 'Kaye & Sons, Hull', a set of Kayes dessert knives being auctioned by an antiques dealer, a vintage brass-backed dovetail saw, and assorted Kayes' chisels, set squares, and spirit levels...
Items auctioned in March / April 2010 : an axe-hammer multi-tool, a chisel, and a tenon saw (see below - click to enlarge: )
Items auctioned in March / April 2010 : an axe-hammer multi-tool, a chisel, and a tenon saw (see below - click to enlarge: )
On a website in the USA devoted to old tools, I recently came across a discussion about the origins of a 10" backsaw , with an interesting error in the posting by a contributor from Ohio : "...the etching is great and reads, "T.S. Kaye & Sons" in an arc on top and, "Hull & Google", in an arc on the bottom. The handle screws and medallion are also in nickel.". Clearly, no-one had told the designer of the word-processor spell-checker about the existence of Goole, on the banks of the Humber...
Another tool that's migrated across the Atlantic
This straight-bladed 8" drawknife by T.S.Kaye & Sons appeared for sale, at $6.00, in April 2010 on a website in the USA.
And yet another, which has turned up in Washington State, USA...
I received these photos in an email in March 2012 from Trevor Anderson , a carpenter in Washington State. The saw is 10" long and 2" under the back at the heel and 1 1/2" under at the toe. It is sharpened 15 ppi crosscut. He told me that he passed it by many times for about a year because it has a bad bend in it.
He asked to see it and the handle fitted like a glove so he figured it would be a worthwhile tool to rehabilitate and seeing Hull, knew it to be an English saw. He was surprised by that, because "...one sees only few tools from that side of the pond in the wild here in Washington state". We're surprised too, what a journey, from the East coast of England to the West coast of the USA! Also curious to see the very rare 'W. & T.S. KAYE' stamp, instead of the more usual 'T.S.KAYE & Sons'. (added March 2012)
And here's another Kaye's tenon saw, restored and in use ...
David Dyson has sent me an email about a T S Kaye & Sons tenon saw, bought it in a lovely 2nd-hand tool shop in Bristol. The saw is in excellent condition, has recently been sharpened and set, and cuts beautifully. He needed a quality saw to help in the restoration of a beautiful wooden boat (the 35' ketch 'Eclipse', seen below at anchor off Piel Island, Barrow-in-Furness); the saw is seeing plenty of service in this good cause. But there's more to this story : David was born in Hull (although no longer lives there), and his father worked at the Hull Brewery, which was just behind Kaye's shop in George Street, and a favourite haunt of my father's! (added May 2012)
And yet another Kayes saw that's travelled to the USA
Click on image to enlarge
This Kayes saw is possibly the oldest one we know of: it was purchased some time between 1880 and 1900 by Arthur Dee, who was a coal merchant in Barrow Haven, across the Humber estuary from Hull. It has been passed down to his great-grandson, Jonathan Towle, who lives in Andover, Massachusetts, seen on the left using the saw to cut a fence post.
Jonathan tells me he will add his own and his father's marks to the saw handle.
Many thanks, Jonathan, for your email about this and for the photos.
(added July 2012)
Jonathan tells me he will add his own and his father's marks to the saw handle.
Many thanks, Jonathan, for your email about this and for the photos.
(added July 2012)
September 2012: T.S. Kaye & Sons Vintage meat carver set
The vintage meat carver set shown below was recently advertised on Steptoe's Yard website for £23.00.
December 2014: A Kaye's teaspoon turns up in Waiuku, New Zealand!
The photos of the elegant teaspoon below were kindly sent to me by Maggie Spencer, whose family moved to New Zealand. This is the one remaining Kaye's spoon amongst those that the family - originally from Hull and Goole - must have brought with them. I reckon that it pre-dates the rather simpler design that features in the 1945 catalogue - it was probably made pre-WWII by one of the many artisan cutlers in Sheffield from whom my grandfather commissioned items. >> Click on each image to enlarge it.
Kayes dress-making shears still in use, north of the border, after 70+ years!
These 27cm long shears used to belong to Joan Bleakley, who was born in Hull, and was an apprentice dress-maker before joining the ATS during WWII. After marrying, she and her husband - who used to fly Lancaster bombers - moved to Glasgow in 1947. The photos of the shears were kindly sent to me by her daughter, Barbara, who is still using them - they have stayed as sharp as ever. (added Dec 2016)
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A vintage 'Kayes' tool from the Victorian era
The photos of the elegant moulding plane in the slide show below were kindly sent to me by Robbie Fardell, a craftsman and collector of vintage tools. It was found in a boot sale in Doncaster (UK) in October 2017, and has to be the oldest 'Kayes family' tool we have come across. In fact, it pre-dates the times of T.S.Kaye & Sons, as it has the signature of T.S.Kaye's uncle, George Rusby Kaye (1839-1895), who was a saw maker and tool dealer in Leicester; my great-grandfather was apprenticed to him in 1864 (see this page). |
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Many thanks, Robbie, for sending me these superb photos, and for your kind offer to keep an eye open for any more vintage Kayes finds. (added November 2017)
A Kayes oilcan in New Zealand
The photo of this ½ pint oilcan was kindly sent to me by Dave Nevin from the Packard Motor Museum in New Zealand. It is practically identical to the one drawn by my grandfather in his Tool Catalogue from 1945 (p. 30). Many tinware items were imported from the UK in the past (even entire railway locomotives, from the 1870s to 1910). (added March 2018)
A Kayes tool catalogue from 1948
The images below were kindly sent to me by Ian Walker. His father, Fred Walker, was a joiner by trade, living in Goole and must have been a regular customer at the Kayes shop in Goole, judging by the catalogue found by his son (initialled on the flyleaf 'FW 1948') as well as tools from Kayes. This slightly smaller, typeset version of the catalogue using illustrations cut and pasted (literally!) from manufacturers' tool lists, was new to me, and must have superseded the original one with my grandfather's hand-drawn illustrations. (Entry added April 28th 2018)
Click on each image above to view...
Kayes spoons cross border into Wales
James Burton, from Aberdare, kindly sent me these photos of some Kayes spoons which he bought in an auction in Cardiff. James collects and restores old tools and equipment, as seen on his fascinating YouTube channel Spooks Tools. (added Jan 8, 2019)
Kayes carpentry tools - over a century old
The photos of the set of Kayes tools above were kindly sent to me by Nathan Fielder, a working joiner in Hull who takes pride in restoring and using antique hand tools, and who intends to use them himself. They were given to him by a family friend, now in his eighties, and previously belonged to his father and grandfather, who were cabinet makers in Hull. So they are probably the oldest tools yet submitted to our site - many thanks to Nathan for sharing them. (Click on images above to enlarge)
(Added March 12th, 2019)
A buried spoon
Photos of his unusual spoon, probably a sugar spoon, were kindly sent to me by Simon Rawson. He had found it 20 years ago, buried in the garden of a farm house at Saltaugh Grange, Keyingham, East Yorkshire. It probably pre-dates the publication of the Tool Catalogue in the 1940’s. It’s interesting to speculate on how it ended up in the ground - maybe dropped and forgotten during ‘tea on the lawn’? (Added November 23rd, 2020)
Photos of his unusual spoon, probably a sugar spoon, were kindly sent to me by Simon Rawson. He had found it 20 years ago, buried in the garden of a farm house at Saltaugh Grange, Keyingham, East Yorkshire. It probably pre-dates the publication of the Tool Catalogue in the 1940’s. It’s interesting to speculate on how it ended up in the ground - maybe dropped and forgotten during ‘tea on the lawn’? (Added November 23rd, 2020)
An elegant Kaye's screwdriver
This neat little Kaye branded screwdriver (6” long) was kindly sent to me by Sarah Jane Galtrey, in Derbyshire. It used to belong to her great-uncle, who lived in Hull and was involved in work on the Hull docks. (Added January 15th, 2021)
Antique Kayes plane that crossed the Atlantic - but when?
This beautifully crafted and complex skew rabbet fillister plane ended up in Westminster, Maryland, USA. It is the oldest Kayes tool we have come across. We don’t know how it came to be in the USA - maybe its owner (presumably T. Woolley) was a carpenter who emigrated there and took his tools with him? It was made by George Rusby Kaye, in Leicester, around 150 years ago. Thomas Swaine Kaye, his nephew, was apprenticed to him in the 1860’s, and went on to found T.S.Kaye & Sons in Hull. The plane was auctioned on Ebay last December for $104...
(Added January 15th, 2021) Click on each image below to enlarge...
(Added January 15th, 2021) Click on each image below to enlarge...
Try plane and iron
These two photos of a Kayes try plane, bought on Facebook Marketplace, were kindly sent to me by Talland Mann, who currently lives in Hull The decorative stamp on the iron is unusual - maybe it corresponds to the No 1, handmade, plane listed in my grandfather's 1943 catalogue?
(Added August 6th, 2021) |
Ebony spirit level
The photos of this beautiful brass and ebony 9" spirit level were kindly sent to me by Louise Singleton, who lives in Hull. It used to belong to her grandfather, a Hull carpenter, and is probably at least 60 years old and still in perfect working condition. Louise uses it as part of her toolkit in making her artwork, for example the beautiful pyramid lamp shown in the video tutorial on her fascinating YouTube site: Louise Singleton Creations
The photos of this beautiful brass and ebony 9" spirit level were kindly sent to me by Louise Singleton, who lives in Hull. It used to belong to her grandfather, a Hull carpenter, and is probably at least 60 years old and still in perfect working condition. Louise uses it as part of her toolkit in making her artwork, for example the beautiful pyramid lamp shown in the video tutorial on her fascinating YouTube site: Louise Singleton Creations
Kayes pocket knife, from East Yorkshire to Tennessee!
These photos were kindly sent to me by Charles Leroi, from South Pittsburgh, Tennessee, who found the knife in a car boot sale during a visit to East Yorkshire. It was probably made in the 1950's or thereabouts, by craftsmen in one of the cutlery workshops in Sheffield who made tools and other items to order for Kayes in Hull. Pocket knives do not appear in the Kayes Tool Catalogue, probably because they were not classed as 'tools'. (Added April 12th, 2023)
Cutlery cabinet and card table
< This cutlery cabinet is one of the few items of Kayes products that has stayed in the family: it contains table knives and forks, dessert knives and forks, soup spoons, tea spoons, sugar tongs, ladles, carving knives and forks....around 100 items in all, each engraved with 'T.S.Kaye & Sons, Bond Street, Hull' or 'Kaye & Sons Hull'. The cabinet itself has a top which folds out into a card table - it stood for years in the corner of the kitchen in my parents' house, the cutlery being brought out only for special occasions such as family Xmas dinners.
Some of the items from this cutlery set are shown below, together with William Henry Kaye's cutlery page from the catalogue (the images can each be enlarged by a single click).
Some of the items from this cutlery set are shown below, together with William Henry Kaye's cutlery page from the catalogue (the images can each be enlarged by a single click).
Kaye's Nottingham shop reborn as 31K
Until around 1960, there was a Kaye's shop at 29-31 Goosegate, Nottingham. The site had been derelict for 15 years, but part of the building (no 31) has been imaginatively converted into an independent cocktail, food and music venue: 31K. This project is the brainchild of Cory Chadwick, Will Chambers, Joe Hague, Scott Atchison, and Lau and Catherine Wensink. The group had been working together for four years on plans to open a bar venue, and signed the lease for 31 Goosegate in July2018.
During the extensive renovation work, they uncovered this beautiful stained glass window, dating from the time it was the Kaye's Nottingham shop, which will have pride of place in the converted premises.
We send them our best wishes for the success of this new venture.
For more info, visit the 31K Facebook page
During the extensive renovation work, they uncovered this beautiful stained glass window, dating from the time it was the Kaye's Nottingham shop, which will have pride of place in the converted premises.
We send them our best wishes for the success of this new venture.
For more info, visit the 31K Facebook page
Kayes Tool Catalogue features in street art
This lovely and imaginative collage using pages from the original hand drawn catalogue by William Henry Kaye (click on the image to enlarge it) was created by the anonymous street artist Face the Strange for the 31K bar in Nottingham, based on the history of the old Kayes building. It has also been posted on a wall in Fournier Street, London.
The 'K' oilcans, by the way, were made at Joseph Kaye's works in Leeds, and sold by T.S.Kaye & Sons.
For more information about F.T.Strange's amazing work, see:
www.instagram.com/face_the_strange_
www.facebook.com/facedastrange
(added November 15th, 2020)