architect´s designs could not be build without engineers and engineers could not design builds without craftsmen. Craftsmen are the building blocks of design
@@dan725 I think this is what Adam savage has always pushed to get A added to STEM, That is should not be Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics but Science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics
@@TheDevilWAH The only problem with that is that not all art is the same. You can't compare what these guys are doing to say someone who draws caricatures for a living... you know?
As a glass blower it’s so cool to see someone so excited about the crafting process of glass. This guy sits in his shop every day with not a lick of recognition. I bet he was stoked
We was stoked 😂 When we put things out of the shop it’s a small creation of ours that we made A lot of care goes into our glass Thanks for the understanding
I used to do this for a living. Had the pleasure of meeting this guy when he came into the workshop to deliver some of his work. I miss doing this so much. It feels like magic. There was an old timer in the small team I worked in. He had been doing it for close to 50 years. The things he could make would blow your mind! Dude literally made a helicopter for fun. The detail was astounding and the rotor blades even spun!!
we have a group of glass craftsmen at the lab I work at and it is a dying breed. He isnt kidding when he says he will take anybody who is genuinely interested. There are so many custom glass tools that need to be made for science, and so few who still have the skills to do it.
@@DabzFace I was going through a tough time which unfortunately resulted in things between me and my manager getting heated and us falling out. It's a painful memory and I miss it every day. Still got a collection of some of the stuff I made including condensers like the one featured in the video
@@flippiousfloppious that’s unfortunate, sorry to hear that. Didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. I always wondered what the market is for stuff like this, I thought maybe that had something to do with it.
@@miclowgunman1987 It's one of my great regrets that I didn't try and get an apprentiship with the scientific glass blower at my college. By the time I realized that I _could_ have, he'd already retired.
In our university every bigger chemistry facility had their own glassblower. It was always interesting to have a chat with those guys when you wanted something specific made. Their craft is unique and enables a lot of researchers to do their work.
This craft has spawned an incredible art over the last few decades and I’m proud to be a part of it. Borosilicate flame working is my lifetime passion for over 20 years now.
In graduate school I made a vacuum manifold for mixing gases at low pressures, complete with multiple mixing bulbs with valves, cold fingers for distillation, and metal-to-glass transitions for attaching gas supplies and the vacuum pump. Learned lathe and hand work with both oxy-acetylene and hydrogen-oxygen flames (for some quartz work). Some of the most fun I had in school.
There was a news piece here in NZ about silicosis, my ears pricked up because it was a major concern (if you got lazy with respirators) when I worked in a copper smelter using silica for flux. Do you guys have adequate protection in your trade?
3 minutes in and i can tell these glass blowers really really enjoy teaching the craft. Kudos to those two for giving us all the opportunity to learn something new!
I think you guys are a great team for this sort of video. You've been in production long enough that you know exactly what to look for and what to add. You are able to find people who can explain their craft in a way that you know the audience will appreciate, and let them use their own words, but are familiar enough with explaining things via video that you know when to chime in with questions and clarifications, all while filming and editing it in a compelling and approachable way. If the whole blacksmithing thing doesn't pan out, you have a promising career as documentary filmmakers!
@@AlecSteeleIt reminds me of the Guy Martin series a while back. Fascinating, and you can connect with other craftsmen on a level of substance and understanding due to your personal experience in a way that someone who was just a film maker could never do. Definitely keep doing more of these :-)
Where ever you live, there are likely glass shops, and even if not, there's almost certainly going to be some obscure craft that needs craftsmen. These kinds of things, you don't learn by school, you don't learn by hobby, you learn by apprenticeship. Find a business that does obscure work, and ask them if they will teach you while you work. Especially if you are still young, they are usually willing to buy a lottery ticket on you turning into a true craftsman with decades of experience and service to the company, so they'll put in the effort to train workers.
This is so surreal, I subscribed years ago because I got into blacksmithing myself but after a while I realized I didn't wanna do it as a job so I became scientific glassblower and now you upload THIS!
Love getting to see how this is done! I work in a chemistry lab, and there is no one our lab loves more than the glassblowers we work with- it's a massively underappreciated craft, but we rely on them to be able to do our jobs, and because our jobs keep everyone else safe, everyone relies on these glassblowers!
As someone who's used condensers for quite a bit, I've always wondered how they make them, thank you for making this video. You're appreciation for not only their craft but also the logistical and process engineering puzzle of manufacturing and your contagious wonder at so much of it is deeply entertaining and feels delightful to engage with as a viewer. It's a combination that is particularly suited to showcasing just how marvellous these craftsmen and their work are. Excellent job.
Great video, I have recently retired after 48 years from the trade and now I've moved home and have set up a small workshop in one of my outbuildings. I worked for a medical device company for 25 years and when they moved back to the States, I set up my own company (BioChem Glass Apparatus ran for 23 years)and my previous employers hired my own company to continue manufactering for them. I was also the Chairman of The British Society of Scintific Glassblowers for seven years. I now make artwork and consult with others to help out when needed. Regards Will Fludgate
I've been glassblowing for 8 years. I love seeing you explore the industry. Also, the way he was breaking down tubing made me jump XD. I was taught to use my ribcage to apply pressure if needed, to avoid cutting up my hand if it breaks wrong. More commonly, with big tubing, I'd put a very small score mark. Then, I would put a small flame to one end of the mark to crack it to give clean ends with minimal cleanup. But it's absolutely fascinating to see our brothers across the pond in action!
I did a class in college, intro to scientific glassblowing. I made many things, not as cool as this but I did make a much simpler liebig condenser. I loved it so much. If I lived in the UK, I'd love to work here. What a blast
this is one of the most beautiful art forms, bringing old school glass and mechanical precision to help craft the world of sciences! awesome video guys!
Glad you visited such a generous person in industry, showing his skills, knowledge, experience and allowing you to get hands on the system. Perfect!! Keep making such more informative content.
This is the same process used in neon sign production. I got a chance to watch a local repair shop make some pieces and the years of experience and skill required to get it so perfect is incredible.
I’ve always wondered how glass blowers make these kinds of detailed instruments. I’ve seen how pipes and bongs are made and that’s fairly straightforward, but I could never wrap my head around how they make coils that go inside of things like condensers. Absolutely fascinating.
When I was a kid interested in chemistry I would heat small diameter glass tubes in a small flame and bend them or close an end or pull out a fine tip nozzle. From that experience I can tell you that glasswork is not easy. For example in blowing a bubble it takes some pressure to get the bubble going but once it starts you have to decrease the pressure quickly or it will easily grow too big and burst. I admire people who can do this kind of work and appreciate how much time they have spent in learning their skill.
god, I'm beyond excited to take a class at my university for scientific glass blowing. It's a chemistry class and apparently most of the projects isn't making random scientific equipment. Lots of fun arts and crafts projects to work on. Crazy that our top researchers rely on such an old craft
As a chemical lab tech, I'm amazed seeing the process behind the glassware we use without second thought! I'd have never imagined it's hand made - and such an intricate process.
Ayo for real, when I see you, I see that little bit of unbottled excitement that has been tucked away in my soul because too many people thought my curiosity was annoying. You're so amazing, Alec. Thank you.
When I was in my undergrad my chemistry dept had a Laboratory Glassblowing course. A great skill to have on top of taking Advanced NMR and Advanced Organic Synthetic Chem and tons of undergrad research. Great for getting you ready for your PhD
Yayyyy so happy to see this episode, I began watching your videos as I was learning glassblowing. Loved the way you broke down and walked through every project in blacksmithing. Love seeing you in the glass world!
This is sooo very much lovely to look at how they create this nice piece of equipment. And it reminds me of my attempts to blow glas in chemistry lessons. Very good video - also it showed me why those experts wearing this special glases (never knew this).
I swear everyone that's this good at something always look absolutely insane when they get to show someone new how crazy things can get. That manic glee that's just absolute mad scientist energy.
As someone working with these kinds of equipment pretty much every day, this video gave me a new angle on wich to appreciate these things and the hands that formed them.
hi k4ndor3k have you become a flat earther yet? If not I suggest watch a 13 part series called _What on earth happened_ by Ewaranon to learn that the earth is not a globe. I got it in my about tab.
As a follow on, try to get a tour of Starna Scientific in Essex. They manufacture pure silica "quartz" glass to very high precisions and fuse them together to make cuvettes and related quartz glass products. Very interesting and surprising very different to glass blowing. The tolerances and flatness are very tight, but involve quite manual polishing processes. The final combining of components involves ringing components together then annealing in high temperature ovens to permanently join them.
Please remember Pyrex is a brand name with a registered trademark. Just like Velcro for hook and eye-loop tape and Hoover or Dyson for vacuum cleaners. It's like looking at someone's art that reminds you of a Monet and calling it a Monet even though you know they're the one that made that piece.
Thanks for making this, this was super interesting. I am a chemist and have always been very interested in glass blowing as a result of the glassware i use every day. I've always wanted to take a class in glassblowing. It was so cool to see how the tools of my trade are created!
I grew up with lathework, my dad did scientific glassblowing for years for a company call troyonics, he legitimately nade some of the glasswork for the small atom smashers around america. Then he bought a couple older lathes from them and started making glass artwork. He and my mom still have their glass shop in the garage, it was really cool seeing it done, i particularly enjoyed working on the lathes themselves though.
Loved this video! So great to see masters of their craft who are met with someone as enthusiastic about learning their trade as they are. Such a cool profession and a very interesting material with very unique obstacles and methods of forming/fabricating
People that do glass work are amazing. I thought machining took a lot of skills. But I've learned machining and it's not too bad. But learning glass blowing is another level. Like you mentioned in the video him constantly changing the flame. True art
My wife grew up in a town known for its glasswork, second oldest in the country iirk, though they mainly do vases and decorative glasswork. Can't wait to show her this video, truly amazing workmanship.
I had a brief chemistry lab in college on glassblowing and LOVED it! Had I had more opportunities to play (and not had the expectation to get a PhD in chemistry), I might have gone in this direction. So cool! Just remember, hot glass looks just like cool glass!
To add to the remarks around 1:30, Another extremely important reason for using borosilicate class over soda-lime glass is that borosilicate glass has very small thermal expansion coefficient, which makes it very resistant to shattering from rapid temperature change (called thermal shock).
I've missed a lot of Alec lately (for some reason he's not been appearing in my feed) but this has been a great video to see Alec in once again! Thank you so much for visiting these alternative workshops and engaging so charmingly with the craftsmen.
I used to run a 24” bore glass lathe, at the time, the largest in the world. We produced quartzware for the semiconductor industry. Quartz required temperature much higher the borosilicate glass, 4000f. We had to use hydrogen/oxygen torches. My lathe was equipped with a 22 head hydrogen torch head. Worked on 12” tubes 10’ long. Raw product cost was $10,000 each before we ‘machined’ it. Mistakes were not acceptable. These guys are real artisans with the work but enjoy a far less thermally challenging environment.
My dad worked at a decorative glass makers when I was a kid and they used the same techniques to produce intricate decorative glassware using lead crystal glass, I used to go watch them work at weekends because it's so mesmeric to watch. It really is an art form regardless of the end use. Got to try my hand at it many times but it is way harder than it looks.
I'm a artistic glass blower. I always enjoy watching scientific blowers do their thing. The techniques can be used throughout the glass blowing industy and it seems as though everyone has heir own approach to achieving similar results.
Seeing interviews like this (between two tradesmen in tangentially related crafts) makes for much more interesting content. The questions you asked and the details they provided are great.
Basically, glass is a mineral that "forgets" to crystalize after it's molten and cooled down again. You can use a lot of different minerals to make glass with different properties, but the most common type is made by burning quartzite, chalk and sodium in an oven at around 1700 C° (≈3092 Freedom units). By adding metal and other chemical components you get some fancy colors. In case you wonder, I just love my job :)
I used to do glass work simliar to this for specialty active laser fibers, its bringing back memories! We used pure glass though, and HO torches that got ripping hot. And also anxiety from all the glass not being straightened before its being worked
Wow, this is amazing! The level of skill that gose into this is mind blowing and at the same time the guy doing it is so humble about it! I´m truley amaized!
Your excitement along the way was extremely entertaining and satisfying, I can relate! I'm a glassblower myself, independent artist, 17 years in, still love it 🔥
Less technician and more artisan , fantastic to see these being made . Makes ships in bottles looks like kids play when you move to bottles in bottles.
As a chemist, this amazes me. Nothing quite like expertly blown borosilicate glass. I could watch this all day long. Mind you, I find it way too enjoyable to make glass capillary tubes from glass pasture pipettes.
hi punishedprops have you become a flat earther yet? If not I suggest watch a 13 part series called _What on earth happened_ by Ewaranon to learn that the earth is not a globe. I got it in my about tab.
Awesome and thank you! I have always wanted to see a condensor like this made. I have so much respect for the incredible skills of laboratory glass blowers.
