STEEL ERECTION & FABRICATION * ENGINEERS * WELDERS * CRANE HIRE SERVICES * GRAIN DRYER SPECIALISTS * From a small blacksmiths smithy to a one and a half acre site on a busy industrial estate John Thorburn & Sons have gone from strength to strength.
Throughout Berwickshire, East Lothian and Northumberland and even further a field many examples of John Thorburn & Sons work can be seen on farms and industrial estates.
In 1947 John Thorburn Snr purchased the blacksmiths business at Newtown Street Duns
The principle work carried out at that time was horse shoeing, repairs to farm machinery and ornamental wrought iron work, the present John Thorburn having commenced work in 1947 and served an apprenticeship with his father, took over the business in May 1957 and continued to operate at Newtown Street, but due to the expanding work load new premises were purchased at Station Road in 1968 with a larger workshop and workforce the business expanded into fabricating a wide variety of machinery also sales and repair of tractors, farm machinery and lawn-mowers was undertaken.  
Throughout the1970s there was a steady expansion in to the building fabrication and erection sector. Farming, commercial and industrial buildings being undertaken throughout the Borders and East Lothian to the extent that building fabrication and erection forms the largest part of John Thorburn & Sons business at the present day.
During the 1980s the firm changed its policy from selling exclusively bought-in machinery to manufacturing and retailing their own products and now their range includes various items of stock feeding equipment and

Trailers built to individual customers specification.
The 80s also saw an expansion in to grain handling and drying plant installation, over 100 portable batch dryers have been sold and installed and large capacity continuous flow drying plants have been designed and installed to farms in the Borders, Northumberland and East Lothian.