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Some information regarding the chemise from two French sources. I'll blame Bro. Larry and others for the translation
https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1CqqEj4qwaMwsSR7RkmHnUX5AvsVbUTUYr67VsZgzJ9Q

The next operations take place at the factory and consist of breaking the core of the barrel by drilling the liner sheet with the aid of a square bit. The barrel is placed on a drill bench and held in a kind of vise while a square bit mounted at the end of a block operated by a hydraulic wheel turns in the core and removes the liner sheet which is fully welded to the barrel.

To make a good barrel, the chemise must be calculated on the thickness of the ribband, so as to this ent�ve all with drilling. Maybe, for example, a gun having to be drilled with 17 mm in diameter; it will have to be finished of forging mill on a broche of 12 mm with a chemise of 12 mm thickness, which gives two for the diameter of them. The chemise enlarges rather; it does not decrease by tightening; it increases approximately 1 mm. Under these conditions, a drilling of 15 mm. to diameter the limits of the chemise while carrying it until would be enough to reach; to 17; there thus remain 2 mm. to take in the matter packed to free the curves and to give the interior polish, which is necessary and sufficient.

"Gun Barrel Industry in Liege"
http://books.google.com/books?id=piEZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA330&dq
1904
Unless due care is exercised this sleeve can be the cause of great damage to the gun barrel, for, in its various hammering and the reduction of the finished barrel to the proper gauge, parts of this sleeve adhere to the inside of the tube, and the shooter will notice the scaling off of this foreign substance, which is called splinters. It is not part of the barrel proper, and is the result of carelessness. This happens only with the barrel of inferior make. With the higher grade of barrels the minute examination of the same would invariably reveal this defect.
The barrel is welded and hammered into form in proportion to the outside dimensions, which proportion must be maintained to increase and preserve its strength and flexibility.
The next step is the boring out, straightening, and polishing, the latter being done on an emery stone, which permits of better results than the lathe, inasmuch as it better preserves the proportional thickness throughout, and, the makers say, gives better satisfaction than the lathe.
The straightening is done in a small, vise-like machine, arranged slightly higher than the operator's head. The barrel is placed in this machine while the force is operated through a hand lever. The barrel is focused on a subdued light about 20 feet from the operator, while his eye is placed close to the barrel at the end above his head, which end is gradually brought down until the proper focus is secured. The eye must be accurate to get results, while the work is rapidly done.

Another translation on the text Drew posted above:

The next operations take place at the factory and consist of enlarging the bore of the barrel by drilling out the chemise with the aid of a square bit. The barrel is placed on a drill bench and held in a kind of vise, while a square bit mounted at the end of a block operated by a hydraulic wheel, turns in the bore and removes the chemise, which is fully welded to the barrel.

To make a good barrel, the thickness of the chemise inside the riband must be considered, so as to ensure the removal of the chemise. For example, a gun that will be finished to a 17mm diameter bore size; it will have to be final forged on a mandrel of 12mm with a chemise of 1 mm thickness, which adding the thickness of the chemise times two, equals a total of 2mm. During forging, the thickness of the chemise is not reduced, but is instead thickened, by about 1mm. Under these conditions, drilling the bore with a 15mm bit would be enough to remove all of the chemise from the bore. (12mm mandrel + 2mm for the chemise + 1mm for thickening of the chemise = 15mm) Drilling the bore to 17mm would remove another 2mm of material from the bore, which should be sufficient to straighten the "meandering hole" and to give the interior a good finish, which is necessary and sufficient.

I put together a video of short clips, from filming that I took while making the damascus gun barrel. I thought the video might be of interest to some here.

Fascinating!...Thanks!

Thanks for posting the video Steve. This is one of the best and most informative threads ever posted on this site in my opinion. Seeing the sheer amount of labor involved in creating a damascus barrel is sobering, and riveting. Keep up the great work!!

Steve I'm sure that what's not shown is the amount of time, work, and materials it took you to get to this point. An admirable endeavor indeed. Any plans on making longer barrels?

Thanks Steve for taking the time and sharing the knowledge.

Craig

That Sir,is mind boggling....but man, it looks like a fun time.
I really would love to see a set of sxs pipes of your construction.The as is pattern on that short bbl looks amazing.
Yes indeed....how many actual hours into that bbl?..I'd bet thousands from your first efforts????
It was worth it man...that wee tube is totally sw
eet!!!
Is this for like a single duelling pistol, or Howdah?
Will it be black/white?
I'm sure so many of us here are incredibly envious of what you have just done...just beautiful man.
.....eeerrr, do you have any idea how many $K per inch they'll be when you start whacking them out???
Awesome work man
Franc

Thanks for all of the kind comments!!!

Franc,
Yes; I have a tremendous amount of time invested in damascus barrel making. I have spent hundreds of hours poring through books on damascus barrels and researching on the internet. I have a copy of the video of old barrel makers, that Pete Mikalajunas sells on his web site. I have watched this video frame by frame. I am certain that I have seen things in this video that no one else has noticed. I have also spent several months of shop time designing and making the tools that I needed and attempting to weld barrels.

As to making longer barrels; I believe that it would be possible for me to weld a longer tube. However, the finishing out of the tube into a barrel is problematic. With the tooling that I currently have, I think a barrel of 12 inches is about the maximum that I could accomplish. I have a Southbend lathe with an 8 foot long bed. Even that large of a machine is not big enough to accommodate the tooling required to finish out a long barrel tube. Of course, I could build the machinery and tooling, or hire a machine shop to do the work. If I hired a machine shop, I expect that I would have to show the shop how to make the tooling required and teach them how to use it.

As to what I am going to do with this barrel; I should first explain how I got to this project. I am a member of the American Bladesmith Society. I hold the rank of Master Bladesmith. The ABS has a testing program, where knifemakers may submit their work for testing and earn the rank of Journeyman or Master Bladesmith. The testing program has been in place since 1988. Since testing and ranking was installed, there have only been about 150 knifemakers who have passed the Master Bladesmith test. Due to deaths and retirements, there are currently only 114 active Master Bladesmiths in the entire world. Besides being a Master Bladesmith, I am also a gunsmith; though I no longer do firearms repair for the public.

Throughout history, there have been thousands of combination weapons made; incorporating a gun and a knife into one weapon. In recent history, there have only been a handful of people who have made these weapons. A couple of friends of mine (Bruce Bump and Ron Newton) have each made a number of these pieces. In the knife industry, we call them cut and shoots. As I am both a knifemaker and a gunsmith, it seems logical that I should also make cut and shoots. Bruce and Ron have made some incredible pieces and have earned a good bit of notoriety in the custom knife industry for their accomplishments. I figured that if I was going to be noticed at all for making a cut and shoot, I would have to create something extraordinary; thus my decision to use damascus barrels on the cut and shoots that I make.

The project that I made this barrel for, is my first combination weapon. The piece is basically a flintlock pistol, with a bowie knife blade on the left side of the stock. It is a side-lock. I designed the lock-work on my computer, using a drawing program. It looks like the typical lock, but the geometry is based on my calculations. I am in the process of building the lock for this piece, using damascus for all of the major parts. Only the internal screws and parts are not damascus steel.

Below is a photo of the lock, as of today. The oversize lock-plate will be cut to final dimensions after all work on the lock is completed. The lock-plate is not etched, but it is of the same damascus pattern as is the blade that will be on the opposite side of the gun stock. The lock rests on some of the drawings that I created on the computer.

Once I have this cut and shoot build completed, I will offer it for sale. This is how I make a living and I must sell the piece to stay in business. Due to the scope of the build, the price will be high end. But, as it also incorporates what is perhaps a historic barrel, the value of it should be considerable.