Spoon Show Score!

[Rick V]

Originally Posted by targa911S

Good read here on the process:Firearms History, Technology & Development: Barrel Making: Pattern Welded or Damascus Barrels - II

Wow, just wow.
Thank you for posting that, I had no idea just how labor intensive that whole process was.

[targa911S]

hours and hours of work...all by hand and early hammer machines. Gotta respect craftsmanship like that.

[Henry Schmidt]

Originally Posted by targa911S

Henry I will clean away all the crud and see what I have here. I will most likely do the wood as it is a beautiful piece of lumber and deserves to be see again. I haven't done a set of black and white barrels since I did your Parkers. I need to hone that skill a bit more. Don't know if I'll do these or not. They have a nice patina to them as is. The action will get a shake and bake in my ultrasound cleaner and that is all. Bill I think the timing is good for a hammerless gun. Not really early as there were hammerless guns in the late 1880's that I have seen.

I always like watching you do your magic. I really admire your patience.
Speaking of "doing your magic" and "being patient" (pretty ham-fisted segue I know.....lol) how is the 12 coming along? Getting any closer to the top of the list?

[Craig T]

Originally Posted by Henry Schmidt

Craig, I have a couple of Parkers that could be yours.....let's talk.
One DH Damascus and one two barrel CHE.


or

Hi Henry, I'd like to talk about this opportunity Send me an email.

[craigster59]

Very nice score Dave! That wood is beautiful, that is going to be one pretty gun after you've given it some "gunsmith love". I have that LeFever 16g that I'm going to have some V springs made for, if I can't find originals.
I know I'll get flamed. but hanging those Damascus guns on a wall is a sin. I know you are a gunsmith, but I have had many conversations with doublegun collectors and there is nothing wrong with shooting a Damascus gun with modern reloads provided the gun has been thoroughly inspected by a gunsmith.
Damascus barrels were popular up through and after WW1. Unfortunately, being a 3 man process coupled with the fact that most masters at barrelmaking were killed in the Great War, it fell out of favor and became extremely expensive to continue. Most higher grade guns were still offered in Damascus as an upcharge until finally being phased out due to labor costs. Leaps in modern manufacturing due to the war also sped up the transition.
In an earlier issue of Double Gun Journal, Sherman Bell published a series of articles titled "Finding Out For Myself" in which he tested modern loads on some older Damascus guns, even going as high as 2 1/2 times normal loads before any stress was seen in barrel integrity.
A little more info here: Shooting Damascus SxS's - The DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com

[9dreizig]

Great score David!!! Also thanks for the great read on the barrels very informative!

[targa911S]

Originally Posted by Henry Schmidt

I always like watching you do your magic. I really admire your patience.
Speaking of "doing your magic" and "being patient" (pretty ham-fisted segue I know.....lol) how is the 12 coming along? Getting any closer to the top of the list?

On the bench now Henry. Metal prep was finished last week and it went off to the the tank on saturday. Wood is on the bench now....soon...2 weeks or so...

[targa911S]

Craig thanks for the link to that info....I would still be very leary of shooting them. I recommend using a low pressure load such as the vintagers load made by polywad. Why risk harm to yourself or destroying a fine old gun?

[Jeff Higgins]

Very nifty gun you found yourself there, Dave. Gotta love that style of Damascus. I always thought the pattern had to turn out pretty random, by the nature of the process. How do they create this "chain" pattern? It's really beautiful.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Very nifty gun you found yourself there, Dave. Gotta love that style of Damascus. I always thought the pattern had to turn out pretty random, by the nature of the process. How do they create this "chain" pattern? It's really beautiful.

Jeff, you have to check out that link that David posted - it's pretty incredible!

Once you see the technique you go Oh! And then you go OH! when it hits you how the whole process of manufacturing these gorgeous barrels took centuries of steps built on steps, and then when it was all state of the art, new steels came along and rendered this obsolete.

http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2010/06/barrel-making-pattern-welded-or.html

As always, thanks again for taking the time to show us The Bench, David.

[targa911S]

Not random at all. All done buy design. It's all about how the iron and steel layers were stacked. The stacking for chain pattern requires 45 pieces of steel in the billet. There are 18 pieces of one type of steel and 27 pieces of another type. The pieces of steel are oriented both vertically and horizontally in the stack. I suppose it's an old barrel makers secret long lost over the years of the industrial revolution. Dr. Drew House is the fountain of damascus knowledge ...hours of tech reading here: https://sites.google.com/a/damascusknowledge.com/www/home

[Henry Schmidt]

Originally Posted by targa911S

On the bench now Henry. Metal prep was finished last week and it went off to the the tank on saturday. Wood is on the bench now....soon...2 weeks or so...

Thanks Dave
Can't wait to shoot it. A fellow Porsche guy has invited me to shoot trap with him and I want to see how the 12 works.

[targa911S]

what really blows my mind is that a lot of these barrels were made with what at the time was recycled materials. Just as we today don't know what to do with rubber tires, a lot of these barrels were made from re-cycled horse shoes and horse shoe nails. Something they had plenty of before automobiles.

[targa911S]

Henry give me a date to work toward. A little pressure on me won't hurt.

[Henry Schmidt]

I'll call and we'll talk. I've already derailed your post about the very cool shotgun and I'm a little embarrassed about the hi-jack......

[targa911S]

stop it. Yeah call me tomorrow.

[targa911S]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

As always, thanks again for taking the time to show us The Bench, David.

Thank you I'm glad so many appreciate it. Fun to share. I haven't done a step by step lately. I'm sure you all get bored with the same old procedures on common stuff. I need to find something cool to watch come together, as well as challenging for me. I haven't done a set of black and white barrels in a long time and this current find has a lot of potential with little investment if I muck it up...I'll give that some thought..

Thanks for the comps for sure..

[fred cook]

The buggered screw on the right side looks like it will be a real challenge to clean up and re-engrave to match the others! The wood in the stock is really outstanding. A little steaming and ironing and the right side should be good as ever. Can't wait to see!

[targa911S]

Hey Fred. Yeah that screw will be a challenge. People who don't use proper screw drivers is my pet peeve. If I can save the slot, I will send it out to Ken Hurst to have him chase the engraving on it. He does screws for free for me sometimes. An honor having the retired head engraver for Colt custom shop do gratis work for me even if it is a lowly screw. Ken has been ill and I suck as a friend as I haven't spoken to him in some time. I think Henry has spoken to him though. I did a quick strip of the old finish last night and even the checkering is good, just filled from over maintenance.

[Henry Schmidt]

You're right, I forgot but a did talk to Ken about engraving a couple of Ruger 1 Liberty (1976) models. I have 4 new 100% Ruger that would be pretty cool with liberty engraving one or two of them. Ken really didn't have time or possible an interest in such a pedestrian project. Tom Lent at Barons is going to end up with them.