That's a useful link and post, but it does not answer the OP's question.
After years of looking, I have not found the answer to the difference between the HLV and HLV-BK. I have come to believe they are interchangeable terms. I own a 1953 HLV (narrow bed). All the Hardinge literature that I have seen, including operators manual and parts manual refer to it simply as HLV. My lathe serial number, though, is stamped HLB-B 310-3.
So, in short, I've never heard a definitive answer to what the BK stands for. Another Hardinge mystery, I guess.
I wondered if the BKs were made in the UK like the KL1 (HLV-H) ? Perhaps the designation used to obscure the source while tooling the US plant for the -h product?
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