Bourn & Koch Factory Tour: Iconic American Manufacturing!

[@Kvasir87]

The guy definitely made this video super enjoyable. Knowledgeable, humble, laidback and super sympathetic. Great video

[@Prolitiker]

Fascinating! An hour passed by in what felt like ten minutes. Thank you for these tours!

[@nyccnc]

Those factory's don't tour themselves!

[@josha9620]

This has to be one of my absolute favourite shop tour you guys have done to date!! The person walking you through was so knowledgeable!! I learned some really interesting stuff on this one. Thanks for this one 🙏

[@nyccnc]

Thanks, Josh!

[@brycejeannotte7699]

I agree completely. So great to see the old iron being restored.

[@Rx7man]

I came here to say the same thing, What this shop does is far more interesting to me than many of the other factory tours... and that library.. OMG!!!

[@john22lo]

@@nyccnc I think theybtytg6 by 5gg5 the fee ggtvgtt5 6

[@moe85moe85]

Just wow

[@hansnoeldner1861]

This is the best machine tool video I have ever seen! One thing I especially like is the tremendous respect the B&K guys have for the heritage, the giant shoulders they stand upon. To see all the hardcopy and microfilm records they have kept, wow.

[@cornpop7805]

I was in the scraping class he mentioned. He was the guy that gave us a tour and covered nearly all the same stuff. It literally blew my mind to watch this video, because during our tour, it was so intense trying to process all the different types of equipment and processes, it was like drinking from a fire hose. Me thinking of myself as a machine tool builder, taking this guy's tour and struggling to barely grasp what he threw down. A very humbling experience! You can't imagine how much this video means to me! Thank you for sharing!

[@lockgessner]

that's how I felt going to auctions, you get to see all sorts of process and machines you had no idea even existed. I would LOVE to tour this place!

[@rerawho]

I worked at Barber Coleman when their machine tool division was bought by Bourn & Koch. I moved on to another line of work. I enjoyed watching this video and seeing the Barber Coleman machine models that I was involved in machining. Kudos to you for producing this exceptional video.

[@sp1nrx]

B&K is an excellent company to deal with. I have a #3 Barber-Colman gear hobbing machine (pre-WWII) and they are very helpful with that old machine when I need help. Thumbs up Bourn & Koch!

[@KataiShekwoyemi]

i love the energy of the guy giving the tour... it's contagious!

[@MattysWorkshop]

What an amazing tour, I’d say one of the best, the history there with all the prints is absolutely amazing, Cheers

[@karlmckinnell8652]

My first introduction to NYC CNC was the Starrett factory tour which I've had the pleasure to watch many times and look forward to seeing this tour again in the future. The sense of history from these manufacturers of tooling that built such a great nation is incredible. Thanks John

[@DR-br5gb]

That was ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE and Joe is a walking encyclopedia!

[@ericschreiber1847]

The company I work for has 5 Devlieg jigmills and 12 Bullard model 75 cut master VTLs. All 5 mills and 7 VTLs have been rebuilt with number 8 out for rebuild at the moment. Seeing the process and pride and knowledge within B&K makes me wanna help keep these old workhorses alive!

[@broheim23]

INCREDIBLE! Thanks for taking the time to film and share this great factory tour.

[@Clarsen1990]

Love the shop tours, best thing on KZbin! Imo thanks for doing this.

[@nyccnc]

Thanks, Christoffer!

[@MrRogsmart]

Best shop tour you've done so far. Thanks.

[@larrycleeton]

Best tour video yet. Incredible amount of history and knowledge there. Great tour guide. You can tell he truly loves his job.

[@codygibson2809]

I almost want to volunteer to help digitizing all of those records. That needs to be preserved.

[@nakternal]

Man that was a breathtaking tour. Thank you for doing this.

[@jacobyunderhill3999]

What a thrilling video. Realized I'd been smiling for about 45 minutes straight near the end. Both of you were having such a good time.

[@mjoconr]

Thanks, Bourn & Koch for allowing John to visit and film, I also come from a 4 generation manufacture family, and looking back through our paper drawings, photos, and other media is something I enjoy doing.

[@trackie1957]

It is so refreshing to hear someone talk about how much value they get from having workers with generations of experience. I’m assuming this is a privately owned company. Shareholders would not tolerate having old people on the payroll, and probably would offshore most of their engineering work and manufacturing until the company became a shadow of its former self.

[@antr7493]

yes, shareholder would just be like sell to china

[@andygeerts228]

B&K is owned by Alleghany Corporation.

[@GilmerJohn]

@@andygeerts228 -- Thanks for the information. Google says that the Alleghany Corporation works out of NY City. What this means is that if the money is right they will sell out in a New York Minute.

[@pjofurey6239]

Absolute treasure, feels good to know this level of service, and passion still exists,particularly for the non electronic machinery.respect!

[@WilliamPayneNZ]

I could quite happily spend a day in that archive.

[@rickfearn3663]

The most inspiring video I have ever seen. Shows the power of American industry in the past. We are so fortunate that B & K are keeping the past alive while amazingly innovating with new technology. This bodes well for America's future.

[@peterarmstrong8613]

WOW ! That was the most amazing tour of a mighty company keeping the old machines new. Wonderful. Thank you.

[@metalextras]

Another breathtaking tour... WOW!

[@BrassLock]

What a fantastic rabbit hole to go down! Thank you so much for uploading this tour, and what an engaging, knowledgeable host you interviewed. The library of drawings and other important records from each of the companies bought out are irreplaceable and priceless. I felt slightly nervous seeing them all grouped together there in one building, thinking of the security requirements in this crazy day and age where the loss of them would bring some aspects of manufacturing to a slow grinding halt. I'm glad that they're being gradually digitised and hopefully getting stored in a permanent secure facility. It reminds me of The World Seed Bank where irreplaceable seeds are stored in the Arctic.

[@t.d.mich.7064]

Now this is a Machine Shop! Blending new and old technology, with a heavy emphasis on respecting who and what came before! Much appreciated!

[@ShaneSchoenrock]

You guys are awesome! Keep building your legacy of custom machining and design.

[@MANRESUE]

These "tours" you do....................So Amazing! Informative! Exciting!! Said the 51 year old guy!

[@tommays56]

Gotta love that endgrain wood floor as I have only seen that in steel mills

[@robertklein9190]

What! Had one in the new High School in the auto shop, let's see, built in mid 50's.

[@joshuamartin6841]

This is the most amazing video I’ve watched on machining! I went to school for it and never did anything with it… I like fixing old things and the amount of information in that building blows my mind! And he seems very passionate about it!

[@Zerspanerkino]

by far the most impressive episode of your series! especialy the papersheet floor was a goosebump experience. felt like to be in the library of alexandria - i love these ancient treasure vaults. that makes the difference from barbarism to civilization!👌

[@shadow7037932]

I'm really happy that these guys are refurbishing all these old machines and bringing them up to modern standards.

[@jasonh3109]

WOW! Your best tour yet in my opinion John! AMAZING!!!!!!! love to see this kind of commitment to old machines!

[@overdrive39]

I worked for the DOD for 36 years and we had several machines built by B&K. Very good machine tool company and good people as well. They care about the customer and the machine tool performance. Thank you for the tour it brought back memories when I went there to do a machine tool runoff test for the Navy.

[@weaponlover32]

At the shop I work at I run both a fellows gear shaper and a barber Colman gear hob from the 1940s and to see the ongoing support of these brands is almost making me cry. I love these machines.

[@ianpendlebury3704]

A truly fascinating company and tour. Joe was extremely knowledgeable. What was striking was the advanced age of a lot of their employees - as the plant manager said it was a worrisome feature - I would have thought that younger folks would be proud to work at such a place.

[@toddwells7121]

The younger team members have and always show a great deal of respect for our seasoned builders. Truly the best team I've ever worked with.

[@ianpendlebury3704]

@@toddwells7121 You work there? Then you are a lucky person. My comment about the apparently age-heavy workforce was not meant as any sort or criticism.

[@toddwells7121]

@@ianpendlebury3704 You are 100% correct. I am lucky to work there. I didn't take that as criticism. We're a team of hobbyists. I feel like I work with a bunch of middle aged guys and gals that come to work to be a part of creating cool things. I truly believe the respect we have for each other can be traced back to our founder, Loyd (and people like him), someone always willing to roll up his sleeves and dig in to any problem, anytime.

[@corybryant7678]

fantastic video john, so much machine tool history in one spot. I hope that record room is fire proof

[@wellaitsaniice3307]

My Brain has officially melted. What a awsome facility and unique line of work with the upgrades on good old iron.

[@cskilalillabich9059]

Keeping the dream Alive! Thank You Very Much!

[@2tommyrad]

B & K is a big part of what made this country and made it so great. Thanks for the tour.

[@kaygeebee]

Unbelievable history. A treasure of info.

[@KnifemakerKinetic]

I remember seeing that Mattison grinder in the late 90’s when it was just rebuilt. I believe the first one retrofitted with linear guides. The archives of prints and documentation is too cool.

[@nyccnc]

THAT actual Mattison?!

[@KnifemakerKinetic]

@@nyccnc yes, that machine is actually a medium grinder, 24” wide I believe. It was a big deal that they retrofitted the column ways with linear guides. Back then at the top of the shop near that Gray floor bar they had a Rockford Planer, i was lucky the day I was there to see it running. I was there to talk to them about rebuilding my 54” Mattison rotary.

[@poetac15]

@@KnifemakerKinetic thanks for posting this interesting history!

[@nikolaiownz]

what a beutiful shop - thanks for the tour john!

[@frankornelaz8234]

Really enjoy the video. Thanks for the tour, very interesting.

[@tesko68]

Thanks for this tour, great to know this level of machine tool work is still being done on the continent. As someone who just got took ownership of an old and rough Blanchard, I look forward to speaking with those folks!

[@cornpop7805]

I used to work at Mazak, so BK is not the only awesome machine tool builder I've visited, but it sure is cool! I spent a week at BK, taking a scraping class with that crazy old guy who teaches that stuff.

[@nyccnc]

Crazy old guy could only be Richard King?!

[@cornpop7805]

@@nyccnc Yes, Richard King. He kept having flashbacks of early in his career, he would call me some other guy's name and scream at me, bringing up stuff the guy must have done to him. 5 min later, he knew who I was and was nice as pie. I would just smile the whole time, knowing he was having a senior moment. It was an excellent class and the drama was just funny. I just remembered, when he was being nice, he wanted me to get in contact with you. Probably because I live in Columbus.

[@hmw-ms3tx]

This was very enjoyable to watch. I ordered manuals from B&K about 5 years ago for an American Hole Wizard radial drill. I gave them the serial number and the manuals matched the machine exactly. I was impressed.

[@donm7008]

Great video and tour! I worked with many of those machines. I'm glad that the legacy American made machine tools are still getting repaired, repurposed, and upgraded for use today. I'm also overjoyed that new American made machine tools are still being manufactured. Keep up the great work B&K. Thank you to all involved for the tour..

[@ThePreyMantas]

Outstanding. This is part of true Americana Steel works. There were some "big boys" for sure, but I've work with and on a few larger tools when working at Martin Marietta, now "Lockheed Martin " the folks that built airplanes prior to and during WWII. I believe they even still to this day have at least 1 gargantuan horizontal mill in use the size of a small house to worked on milling, drilling, tapping and some grinding with much larger them what you showed us here. Those machines the operator was "stationed" on the machine it was so large that they "rode" on during operation. to monitor and take measurements from. This was a blast from the past and good to see visionary upgrades to to be even more versatile useful. This "to me" is comparable to the Brawn & Sharp level of precision. Thanks for sharing!

[@dfpolitowski2]

Wow, love to see new life giving to these old machines.

[@harindugamlath]

probably the best tour you did. Huge thanks

[@paulhunt598]

I am loving this shop tour. I spent my career maintaining machining equipment. Our shop was primarily milling and turning, but we also did Blanchard grinding, gear hobbing and shaping, gear grinding and cylindrical grinding. We were repairmen repairing and maintaining to factory specifications. My career spanned manual operation to advanced CNC as well as mechanical drive mechanisims to full CNC function. B&K would eventually be one my suppliers for some of our legacy machinery. I am retired now, but working in this shop would be tempting to draw me back into the workforce.

[@BillHuskey]

Great video. Watched the entire thing. Very entertaining.

[@ramonching7772]

Best episode yet! Keep it up.

[@ubergreenguru5704]

ABSOLUTELY EPIC VIDEO! ~ This video is easily my favorite video I've ever watched on KZbin to-date! ~ Thank You SMW!

[@danielfb115]

Impressive! They fixed up our Blanchard table earlier this year

[@RobertWilliams-mk8pl]

This video was above and beyond. Nice, nice

[@michaelbrocato7535]

Wow that's all I can say is wow man I would love to spend forever in that print room . Thanks for sharing

[@DavidHerscher]

This place freaking rocks the casbah. So cool, everything they're doing, innovating while appreciating the legacy that paved the road. i like this place.

[@peterparsons7141]

Wow, awesome is a word often used to describe impressive things, this shop is nearly an American industry gem. I like the fact that the management is forwarding thinking in maintaining the knowledge base, in a strategic methodical approach. All those records need to be protected and backed up. The knowledge cannot be replaced, and once it gone,, that’s it. Excellent vid. The time is coming where these tools and knowledge will be priceless. You need to make sure you protect and preserve that invaluable microfiche, digital tape, punch cards , blueprints.. big project !

[@tcratius1748]

Boom, head explodes, that was beyond crazy cool. I love their business concept.

[@cnc-ua]

I was Enjoing Every Second Of This Great Tour The Story The history Wow. Appreciate

[@johnaffatati3460]

Fabulous video! Great to see great American steel being rebuilt.

[@OwnerOfOwn]

Almost cried at the passion and amount of talent here.

[@OwnerOfOwn]

okay actually blinked at all of those drawings

[@emilewim492]

This was the best one (so far) of the tours!

[@guycoder]

No idea why I ended up here as the last time I was in any kind of metal work shop was in high school over 40 years ago but this has to be the most interesting 60 minutes I will get this whole week. This video is so cool, seeing a blend of old and new and getting a little insight and appreciation for a unique manufacturing craft. I occasionally will see an old piece of machinery and wonder how the hell did they build that in the day.

[@jolujo5842]

That archive is a national treasure. It needs to be protected at the highest level from fire or flood!!! Digitize all the drawings first. The invoices 2nd.

[@BrassLock]

I absolutely agree with your notion of it being a National Treasure, and I'm an Australian living in Thailand, so I have no axe to grind. It needs to be protected.

[@normcameron2316]

Absolutely lovely. There is no love so sincere as love of good machine tools.

[@daskog]

Really impressive tour! So much great history and equipment out there. The work you do is priceless! What a great company, really enjoyable tour to watch.

[@ryanshadders750]

I absolutely love the shop tours and this was definitely one of the best. I always wish I was there so bad!

[@akfarmboy49]

One of your best videos yet.

[@robertmason8341]

That has to be one of the best shop tours yet. Right up there with your tour of Berkey Labs with Tom Lipton and the tour of Starret...I can’t decide which was best, they were all 3 incredible!!!! The “archive room” in this video was so incredible with the 100+year old drawings and the wealth of information they have from all those great machine builders- just absolute Mind blowing!

[@rusticagenerica]

Magnificent video. May God generously bless all your teams.

[@rickhaass1133]

your best tour sir... well done

[@12370ts]

Amazing video !!! Thanks to all involved !!!

[@riskototh]

that's a really huge archive... crazy

[@James-fs4rn]

👍 very neat place. What a treasure trove of knowledge.

[@peterhalstead7281]

What a terrific guy and so knowledgeable

[@JeremyMakesThings]

This was a great tour, but the cherry on top was the mention of the Bullard Mult-Au-Matic. I’m involved in an effort to an old industrial site into a park, and there are the remains of couple of machines left over from a foundry that was there. There’s a large NBP planer…and a Bullard Mult-Au-Matic, laying on its side, rusting away in the woods. Took me forever to figure out what it was, I eventually cleared away enough weeds to be able to see the Bullard name. I’d love to see video of one in action.

[@joeselfish]

Hi Jeremy - Check this video out kzbin.info/www/bejne/eIGqon-go7N8gLs It shows an old Mult-Au-Matic being used for manufacturing artillery.

[@JeremyMakesThings]

@@joeselfish awesome, thank you, that’s exactly how I thought it worked. It seems incredibly efficient, since it’s doing 6 or 8 operations at once and the time it takes to do it is only limited by the longest operation and the time to load it. CNC still makes it completely obsolete, and I can’t fathom the set up time (and knowledge!) required. I wonder how many are still out there working?

[@dannywilsher4165]

Ditto to all the comments that this was an awesome video!!!!!!

[@neilmchardy9061]

Love seeing these older machines being rebuilt and brought up to date for more work. In uk we had Lumsden grinders basically the same as Blanchard, brutal stock removers.

[@garageworker]

What a great tour. Thank you for continuing to do these tours. They must be time consuming for you.

[@ericmiller5559]

Great tour! Thanks for sharing.

[@Max_Marz]

I think this is one of my favorite tours since the lab, the inerrant honor in the companies mission is just... Wood block floor even in the CMM room! My knees are weak!

[@nchtdiemama7267]

That's a company, I wish to work for them!! 👍 Hello from Austria, I build HEID Lathe's 35 years of my life, and I loved it.

[@Donny.C.wlWilliams]

awesome machines and old and new technology

[@samsmith9764]

What an amazing video, cheers

[@JustCars_999]

Love that you share this with the world. The next generations need to get excited about manufacturing again. If ever in Chicagoland area, you’re always welcome to stop by MDi-co and Cannoball garage.

[@pacificsoundz]

best so far, what an awesome company . lots of knowledge housed in that building.god Bless.

[@chrislogan2062]

Thank you for making these videos... It gives me an appreciation for the thought and effort that goes into our modern world. It is also reassuring to see this kind of work still being done in this country

[@Awfultyming]

Glad to see a new shop tour!

[@johnmoorefilm]

Politics and partisanship aside, THIS is what makes America great : the genius , the engineering, the vision and boldness to create and craft the machines that built the American century…but also, and crucially, the OPENNESS to show and delight in the art and craft of it all, to invite everyone to share in the joy of the achievement…that’s uniquely American (I say this as a European). Never lose it…

[@ypaulbrown]

fantastic tour, thanks so much....cheers form Florida, Paul

[@chestervaldes7551]

Great interesting content and the usual great videogrophy John.

[@jobkneppers]

Wow! What a great video on a great company! It should be wonderful to work there too. The diversity of work is amazing. Thank you for sharing and thank your knowledgeable host too. Best, Job

[@thunderstruck1078]

Beautiful job asking the right questions!

[@donaldhollingsworth3875]

I grew up in Rockford, IL. My father & brother worked at Ingersoll. At GE in Wilmington, NC. we replaced a lot of drive & axis motors with Fanuc motors. One thing we were mad about was Bourn & Kock was suppose to regrind a ram for a 42" Bullard VTL. They techs came in and removed the ram & boxed it up. We shipped the ram and it came back the next day & nothing was done to it but was charged for it. Then the techs never came back to install it. Our maintenance department had to put the machine back together.

[@ChuckRoss77]

Joe has to be one of the most knowledgeable tour guides you've ever dealt with. And...I swear... you could watch his beard grow as the video progressed.