I think the first chips ever created in the shop are still there, somewhere.

I think we have to step back and try to walk a mile in the owner’s shoes. He’s one man, alone for the past decade, trying to keep his business and the legacy of this place alive. At some point you stop worrying about “nice to do” and spend your remaining energy on “must do” right now to keep going. It’s easy to criticize from afar, but I respect him for his effort to keep it intact the best he can. The question now is where does he go from here? I hope this generates enough interest in his surplus equipment that he can fund a right-sizing of his operation to make it manageable. Thanks for sharing!

I really appreciate the way you respected the owners request of confidentiality. You didn't try and make alot of noise about the organization of the shop either. You sir are a class act!

What gets me is when you think about how some of those tools are left. Someone, at one time, put the tool down(or turned it off), and it was just never used again. What a place. Cool, but kind of depressing.

This man should convert this whole shop into a working museum. Clean it up and charge people to see how old time machines work.

I'm a guy who lives by myself and being tidy doesn't come natural to me - this shop has made me realise that I could be worse!

Adam, Thanks for bringing us alone. That was fun. And I liked the fact that you did not make a deal about how he kept his shop. You got my respect.

A friend of my dad used to own and operate a 1900 era shop very much like this. It was started in the late 1800's as a blacksmith and millwright shop. It was always as cluttered and messy. One year the guy was down on his luck and a bunch of the tradesman around town got together and cleaned up all the scrap and piles of swarf and sold a bunch of his old tools and equipment and literally paid his taxes on the property before the county/state could take it. He passed in the 70's and the auction gave his widow more that enough to live own till she passed 10 years later. Watching this video brought back a lot of memories... especially the smells of years of sweat from hard work and cutting oil.

Not long into this video I had to head to the comments section knowing how many people complained on the video about my shop still under construction about it being a mess I couldn't wait to see how bad they were beating this poor owner down. I know what it is like to have more to do than you have time, and in a place like this and a guy of advanced age it know doubt is a matter of just trying to keep all the fires put out. I am glad he has kept the stuff and would much rather see a mess of a shop like this than a spotless clean empty lot and all of that gone to the scrapper. To be honest I enjoy seeing the giant piles of swarf showing work being done than a spotless shop with everything cleaned and organized. I can only imagine how great that place would have smelled with a whole crew of guys working in there making chips by the dumpster load and the forges hammering away.

It's an absolute mess but so cool! It's almost refreshing to see a shop that isn't spotless. I bet the shop owner knows exactly where everything is too.

The last time he cleaned up was 1905 too.

Please tell the shop owener thank you very much for letting you tour the shop.

I know a lot of you guys (and gals?) are drooling over the huge, ancient machine tools but the whole place is super interesting to me. The building and fixtures are even amazing. It was once a happening place and still has some life in it thanks to the owner. Thanks for this look back in history! If I lived near there, I might even volunteer a few hours a week to just clean up a bit in order to spend some time in there. I’m not OCD by any means , my work area gets messy often but there is a certain sense of satisfaction to the occasional clean up. I think we may be seeing someone here who is simply overwhelmed. I wish him well.

As I watched the video I imagined myself in there with a broom and dustpan.

I always try to imagine a shop like that in its prime. That was once a happening place . That shop has a story for sure. Thanks Adam for the tour. Really neat to see.

Thank you for taking the time to share that with us, and the respect you paid the owner in how you did it.

It may not be the most safe, clean, or organized shop in the world, but if the man is doing what makes him happy and was nice enough to let someone tour then let him be. It may be sad to see machines and the building neglected but they're his to do with as he wishes. Great video, Adam!!

Pretty sure the word patina was created to define this shop. Is it an absolute mess? Yes, but each and every item has a story to tell. The piles of chips show hours upon hours of work. Those grinding wheels that are worn down to the Arbor have cut many a drill bit, and sharpened and reprofiled many tool bits. Thank you Adam and thank the shop owner for allowing us to bear witness to the history

Been there a few times. My dad had parts made there 30 and 40 years ago. The guy still working there as been there maybe 40 years? Long history serving the ship yards as well as the local industry.

when you get old not every one has the time or energy to clean up, just getter her done! Thanks for showing this to us Adam, I think you and Keith will find a home for most of it. Thanks from Australia. SeeYa Jake.

Father time gave this place a real beating, but it would be fascinating to hear about the things they made over the course of 113 years. I'm part of a group restoring a rare 1906 automobile. The original equipment in this shop would have been the kind of tools used to make that automobile. The angle iron used in it's construction was originally flat iron that a blacksmith hand forged into angle iron. The nuts, bolts, screws, and rivets were hand made using those tools. I'll bet this shop has some stories to tell.

That machine shop reminds me of some old printing shops that I worked for. A lot of old iron and full of memories. My hat is off to Abby for being a trooper and helping you document and explore the shop.

I've always secretly felt bad when watching your videos because your shop and machines are always so neat and clean........now I don't feel so bad. But, it's his shop and he can do it any way he wants to, and God Bless him!!!

What an amazing old place. Thank you for showing us. I'm pretty disappointed by the amount of judgmental comments being posted. The owner is working away himself and is probably no longer capable of keeping up with all the daily chores required to keep a clean workshop. Yet he still gets the job done.

a good example of why cleaning up as you go is a good idea in any type of engine-nerding - here from Ave.

Thanks for the tour Adam. It is great to see all those old machines still being used. Its a shame to see a business fold but I am glad to hear that the owner is closing it down before O.S.H.A. gets to it. I hope some of the machines get saved and you can pick up a few bits and pieces from it. regards from the UK

I was in an old machine shop like that in Milton Freewater Oregon. It was in a turn of the century brick building and my god the machinery in there was amazing! There was a belt driven lathe that had a chuck every bit of 3 feet in diameter and the bed was at least 20 feet. Amazing seeing those old machines still working. If those old shops could talk!

Wow! A PIV drive certainly brings back memories. As a newly minted chemical engineer in 1975, one of my first projects was to renovate and start up a 60 year old soybean extraction plant. The two extraction towers were driven through 50hp PIV drives. You adjusted the speed of the PIV based on residual soy oil in the extracted flakes. Also Foote-Jones gearboxes were also prevalent on some very old drives in our plant. They were absolutely bullet-proof. Always sad to see entropy win but it always does. Thanks for documenting our history.

Owner: Please dont mention the name of the shop, I dont want OSHA coming for a visit.

Adam, God Bless your respectful and nonjudgmental approach. If you ever want to get-off-the-tools you have a wonderful career either as an auctioneer or as a historical archivist

Maybe a historical foundation could buy the place lock stock and barrel and reconstruct it on a different site including the building. That was done with the blacksmith shop in Abbeville, Louisiana. The building and all equipment were relocated including the dirt floor. They wanted to keep the old smell.

If my shop was such a mess I wouldn't want to be identified either.

Hi from Switzerland! Fantastic commentary. So good to have a proper machinist taking the time walking us round and explaining, thanks. Amazing to look back at America at the turn of the century, and to see such beautiful machines in their natural habitat. Also the layout of the shelves, the drawers, all amazing. PS: Love all your videos because they are real life, not made up content.

I loved the pile of chips behind his favorite lathe! And that big Starrett micrometer... DROOL!

If thats how he takes care of his working environment, its a pretty fair indication how well the machines were taken care of. No dis respect, but what a shame!

I have always had a fascination/ love affair with tools, machinery and welding...so sad to see this old shop fade away like this.

I used to work in a 100yo machine shop. I learnd alot from one man Who had worked there for 48 years. It was alot of fun to work there (when the boss was out). We did everything from changing a small screw to building compactors powering the 4 meter long special threaded screws for nuclear power plants. We made the screws in lathe, 4m long threads with 2 inputs in the thread. There were some in Poland who needed a new screw but thought it was too expensive, they would try to get someone in Poland to do one instead. After about a month they rang and ordered a screw, nobody who checked on the old man could come up with what it was for thread. It was our own thread 😂

I'm from the UK, not even from an engineering background, but I feel humbled to be shown round this shop so utterly steeped in history. I imagine this is a typical workshop that had a hand in building modern America. Sad to see the state of disrepair but I fully appreciate that it has probably gotten too much for the owner now working on his own. He'll have all on just earning a wage. It would be good if the machines could be moved on and continue to work. This would've been a sight to behold back in its heyday, thanks so much for the video showing an important part of your country's great engineering heritage and history.

As a former guitarist, I love poring over and looking at vintage guitars and tube amps. It must be the same with you and old machine tools. Hog heaven.

I could just imagine as you filmed, the men running machines in the hustle bustle of horse and buggy days, the days of invention of the automobile, WWI and WW2, all the major dates of history right down to everyday people needing a repair job. A super cool place that will soon (sadly) be a new mattress outlet someday. Amazing place and I'm glad you guys preserved it by recording. If you come home with an extra face plate I'm looking for one to turn into a rotating welding table👍 thank you !

somewhere an OSHA manual burst into flames... LOL

Got a Chest pain seeing all those old cool machines in that condition .That is a cool old shop though .

About 7 years ago I had the pleasure of picking a shop similar to that. The man had passed away and his nephew was my best friend. Nobody in the family was interested in his lifelong obsession with tools and machining. Much of his machine was repairing old farm equipment as well as hit n miss engines. He too worked alone and his shop had fallen in disrepair but still quite functional. I didn’t see messes or squalor, I saw history and rooms full of greasy, rusty gold. The owner of that shop saw it as his own piece of paradise I felt obligated to treat it as such. I personally dragged home several truck and trailer loads of tools and machines and help facilitate the sale of numerous machines for the family. It was a sad feeling seeing his dream being dismantled but I’ve since taken a new view. I get a big enjoyment every time I turn on the metal saw and lathe in my shop that were once his as I know he’d be glad the machines are still running. This man’s shop in Abom’s vid is chalked full of history. It doesn’t matter why it looks the way it looks, it is his. I’m so tickled this guy got a lifetime of employment and enjoyment and did it on his own terms.

That place is flipping awesome , I was told once by an old fella that a messy shop was the sign of a genius and I told him I must be off the scale , so I'm thinking this guy that owns this place knows his business well !!!! :-) very nice tour !!!

What a treasure trove of American Machining History. Wish the whole place could be restored as a testament to that History. Adam, would it be possible for you to do some research - maybe record recollections of the shop owner - of the roll this shop played in support of America’s involvement in WW I and WW II? What great stories there must be to tell. Thanks for sharing this piece of Americana. RL Buffalo, NY

Those are some beautiful old machines that need a new lease on life.

I know this is a old video but i never get tired of watching these old machine shop videos.

A cousin of mine closed down our family machine shop in New Haven, Conn a couple of years ago. The shop had been started by my grandfather about 1890 and the present building housing the shop was built about 1918. The shop specialized in jobs that were too big and awkward for other shops. Needless to say the tools were very large and had many machine tools dating back to the 20ies or earlier. I remember one horizontal boring machine that had a 40 foot long bed and a 5 foot in diameter face plate. as well as a vertical boring mill was large enough to chuck a truck tire mold. My cousin closed the shop even though he had lots of business, due to his age and the fact that it was no longer possible to find machinists who knew how to operate the old classic machines.

That is so cool I've got an old foot treacle lathe that was converted to electric power before I got it. It's the only lathe I have, want to upgrade but my heart breaks cause nobody shows any interest in using mine and I still turn parts with it. That shop needs to be saved I probably shouldn't have watch this video society calls it progress to clean a place like that out but I know its places like that that made progress possible. It should be a museum but people don't know enough to care.

I watch you work and listen to you talk and it’s obvious that you have a great regard for history and the old ways of doing things. Craftsmanship and quality. Do you ever feel like you were born 100 years too late? I do.

I reckon you would be able to find chips on the floor there dating back to 1903 :-)

This is by far the dirtiest machine shop I've ever seen. No way in hell could u work in this shop on a daily basis it would drive me nuts.

113 years of NEVER cleaning the shop.

Thanks so much for the amazing tour. I love that old stuff...its American history by the Mega-Tons! I know everyone works differently, but I just can't function it that shop the way it is. I'd love to be the crew chief for cleaning and organizing that shop and equipment, I mean, I could make that shop sing. It wouldn't make any money, but it would LOOK great! LOL. Thanks again.

83 people don,t appreciate history at this point! Great tour Adam, reminds me of my Grandfathers workshop only this is on a bigger scale. Cheers from John, EC Australia.

You struck gold!!! In my younger days I would have spent hours in a place like that. You seem to have found my old Encouragement lathe in there too, along with the LeBlond like I was given 25 years ago, but had no way to move( being young and broke)

The mess is absolutely beautiful it’s old time, years of history I just love stepping over all the stuff.

Abby has a good eye. Nice still photos. Thanks for the tour.

Wow ..that place should be turned into a museum. Imagine all the cool things that came out of there. I'm trying to figure out why 68 people hit thumbs down on something as incredible as this.

This video makes me want to go clean something.

Someone needs to buy all this stuff...refurbish it all n make a museum...this is bad ass

A weekend with a roll-away dumpster and a few hands with push brooms can turn that place into an amazing time capsule.

Thank you both for taking us along for a look at historical machines and processes. Very kind of the shop owner to let us see how line shaft machines were converted to electric and work to this day.

I just love seeing those old shops. Oh to see them running in their day! Thanks so much for sharing Abom, thanks to Abby too for the great pics.

Always very sad to see a tired shop. All the history , if it could just speak. ❤

The slow death of a bygone era. Thank you for the great walk and talk, very emotional to see now what would have been a thriving shop. Cheers from Australia.

Thank you, Keith and Adam for following up on contacting the owner. The video is great. I do hope that the machinery doesn't get scrapped.

Kept looking for a broom. Never seen one! Heavy shoes called for in that shop.

I’m a messy bastard, ant that shop was driving me crazy. Wry cool tho!

keep cutting until there is a wall of chips blocking the machine.....then move to the next and repeat

Love this video, The next time someone complains about how dirty my shop is I will show them this video. Thanks for sharing.

Very cool old history. Sorry to see it in the condition its in.

Wow. What a shame. The place is so trashed it would take a year or more to go through it all and sort through the stuff that is salvageable. Nothing put away. Nothing maintained. The pile of chips next to that lathe was disturbing. Sad thing is, it'll probably all end up in probate at some point and get sold to a scrapper.

What an amazing place. It isn't hard to imagine the sound of multiple machines humming along, men working, hammers...hammering. It breaks my heart to know it will one day be broken up.

Cool old shop Adam! I enjoy seeing old shops like this and like to imagine what it was back when things were going full swing. I hope the owner doesn't get pissed off like I am about some of the comments on here because maybe Adam, and myself included, would like to see more of the old historic shops like this. These places are getting scarce to find, and probably even harder to get access to video and document for historic purposes, so I would hate to see some ignorant comments ruin it for the rest of us who appreciate and want to see places like this! Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and thinking, but sometimes thoughts are best kept to yourself. Loved the video Adam and thanks to the shop owner for letting us in for a view of history that is much appreciated! Hope those machines find a new home and makes someone happy.

Wonderful that the owner should allow us to share his world. As we age we are less able to primp and polish as well operate such an establishment with one pair of hands. Love the broach imagine the scale of a shaft to accommodate it! The vertical borer is magnificent. Thank you from the UK.

To be entirely truthful, my shop isn't an altar to cleanliness like Adam's shop is, but some of this just hurts my heart.

When I worked for my dad’s company, we used to track down these large VTL’s and convert them from numerical controlled to CNC and they worked brilliantly! Most of the ones we bought had a much bigger swing on the diameter....... But the were awesome once converted!

A lot of blood, sweat, and tears laid down there with much cussing and laughter too. Someone else with a great sense of order... everything exactly where you know it will be

Very cool thank the owner for allowing us to view I hope that someone can come in and save those machines. I bet that was one booming shop back in the day

It has to be a museum for machine tools to collect all these beautiful machines.

When you said Fire Station next door, I knew exactly where you were talking about.

This needs to be the set of a movie that takes place after the end of days. It's truly fuggin awesome.

Thanks for showing respect to the owner, my Granpas brother owned a shop that looked just like that.

this is great always good to see old machines ,thank you to the owner for allowing you to do videos and pictures

It's awesome to see someone who cares about this stuff. You keep on doing what you do, man! Love the videos.

Thank you for making and posting this vid and the kick in the a** it is providing me. It serves as an example of what could happen in my shop if I don't get on top of where my shop is right now. That my shop could one day turn into what appears to be happening in this gentleman's shop. It's a slippery slope as I used to be very organized. Doing what I can to pull myself out of it. Thank you also to the owner of the shop for allowing you to film as he took some risk in allowing you to film. He is also caring as he knows that certain pieces of large and little on non-used equipment need to go and he is wanting to find a good home for these pieces verses scraping which sadly happens too often.

40 years of operating any business shows that the owner does good work. There could be comments about cleanliness in any shop but keep in mind the pyramids were built on a dirt floor and they're still standing.

Mr. B. In addition to you being a Professional Machinist, you are an Historian. Seeing this Machine Shop is like stepping back in time!!! Good for you! Andrew D. P.s. Your girlfriend is a good sport to go with you on your adventures, and NOT AFRAID to her her hands dirty!

Am I the only one who wants to see hand tool rescue, LADB Resto, et al. spend a solid 6 months in this place?

Just think of all the cool things that were made over the years. Thanks for showing.

almost in tears over this shop. If you love machines and the history like i do its hard to consider what may happen to all that stuff

Outstanding 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Thank the owner from everyone!!! It something every one should see and understand how much hard work was done everyday back then!!

Nice viewing , love to see old tools , horizontal and vertical lathes of various size ,milling and boring machine , starrett micrometers , welding machine, milling cutters, reamers ,vise , anvil . c clamp and other items Memories and history left behind during the industrial revolution .

I worked at American Lafrance in the late '70s. The jackshafts were still in the ceilings from the boiler room that powered some of the machines that were converted to electric motors. The boiler still heated the acres of shop space. My main machine was a 6' radial drill that did the holes for the 100' ladder truck turntables. They had a Niles quite similar to the one here. The history in that 300-year-old shop was awesome. I did pieces for restorations and prototypes often. They still had the fixtures for brass pieces for horse-drawn fire apparatus and the old brass castings.

Wow what a great peace of history Adam. Thanks for sharing

Great place but it is like a junk yard (with treasures). Never understood how people can work surrounding by tons of chips, garbage and stuff thrown everywhere

Adam, that was a great video. My favorite part was the picture montage at the end, it seems Abbey may have had a hand in taking those pictures.... Can't you just imagine the stories that could be told as the place is cleaned out, as the machines are being prepped to move, as various bits and pieces are unearthed...the owner might see some old piece of cut-off material and remember back to yester-year and recall the very part they made... Thanks for taking the time to document this little piece of history, I really appreciate being able to see it. Best, Jon

That place sounds like you can walk through all day and watch every machine operate and not get bored. I love all the old style hands on machines that built this country up to what it is today.

Although I appreciate your respect for this shop owner and the history and legacy of this place, there’s just no excuse for that place being in such poor and unsafe conditions. If this owner is competent enough to be making chips, he’s able to clean the f’k up after himself.