doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Eureka - it can be done!

WELL DONE STEVE! A truly unique work. I can not recall seeing one, even in the museums of Belgium.

Pete

Thanks for the compliments!!

buzz, I originally planned to rifle the barrel, but decided against it as a cost saving measure. I've got to sell this thing, as building such works is how I make a (meager) living. As it is such an enormous build, the price I need for it is rather high. The barrel rifling and other decorations that I had originally planned, I decided to forgo, to keep the selling price from being astronomical. However, if the future buyer wishes for the barrel to be rifled and/or other work added to the piece, there is no reason why I couldn't do more to it at a later time.

I was firing it at a 1 x 10 pine board from 25 feet. I had no problem hitting the board at that distance. My original plan included rudimentary sights, but these too I left out of the final project. The round barrel provides a decent sighting plane, by lining up the top center of the barrel with the target. It certainly would be a dangerous thing to have fired at you, out to about 50 feet. This is within the expected distance that such a weapon would be used. The 26 grain FFF load easily put a ball through the pine board.

Pete, combination weapons were quite common, back when firearms were single shot. They were made in every part of the world. There were guns with blades attached. And blades with small guns attached; every combination possible. Some of these pieces were originally built as a combination weapon; many were constructed by adding a blade, or gun, to the item later. I'm a bit surprised that you found none in the museums, as I know that the Belgians and French were well known for building them. There is a book titled "Blades and Barrels". It was written by H. Gordon Frost. The publisher; Walloon Press. The book is out of print and rather hard to find. The book has hundreds of pictures and descriptions of combination weapons.

My intention with learning to make damascus barrels was so that I could get into making combination weapons and have something original to my work. I've got a couple of knifemaker friends who make combination weapons and they have found a strong market for them. These guys have made some incredible pieces. I knew that if I didn't enter this field with a build that was a bit over the top, there was the possibility that no one would even notice what I had made. So, I built something that my knifemaker friends would have difficulty building themselves. I fully intend to continue making combination weapons and will install damascus barrels on each of them.

I have kept this piece in my possession long enough to show it at a few knife shows. I am now offering it for sale.

This weapon won the Best of the Rest Award at the 2013 Blade Show. The Best of the Rest category, is for edged tools and weapons that do not fall into a typical "knife" category.



Laffite's Revenge
This combination weapon is named, "Laffite's Revenge". It was built by Master Bladesmith, Steve Culver. The completed piece was test fired on April 22, 2013. This weapon incorporates the spiral welded damascus gun barrel, discussed in this thread.

More information about this weapon can be found at the following link: Laffite's Revenge

Please contact me at: steve@culverart.com for purchasing information.

Price: $35,000 USD

Blade:
The 12 inch long blade is in the Woodhead pattern. The blade damascus is w-pattern, that has been pressed with West Texas Wind dies. The steels used in the blade are 1084 and 15N20.

Gun Barrel:
The barrel is 3 1/2 inches long, in .50 caliber. It is a spiral welded barrel in the damascus pattern, Two Iron Crolle. The breech plug is also damascus steel, with ladder pattern in the tang. The steels used in the barrel and breech plug are 1084 and 15N20.

Flint Lock:
The flint-lock mechanism was designed and built by the maker. All of the exterior lock parts are made of damascus steel. The lock plate damascus pattern, matches the damascus pattern used in the knife blade. Except for the top jaw screw, all of the damascus parts are made of 1084 and 15N20 steel. The top jaw screw is 1084 and 1018 steel. The only parts of this lock that are not damascus, are the tumbler, sear, bridle, main spring, sear spring and internal screws.

Trigger Guard:
The trigger guard is in ladder pattern damascus. It was forged to shape and hand sculptured to its final form.

Trigger and Trigger Plate:
The trigger and trigger plate are made of 1084 and 15N20 damascus.

Ram Rod:
The damascus steel ramrod screws into the ladder pattern damascus butt cap and stores in the grip of the pistol stock. The ram rod damascus is twisted 1084 and 15N20 steels.

Pistol Stock:
The pistol stock is made from Premium Fiddle-back Maple. It is styled after French dueling and target pistol stocks of the late 1800s. The fluting on the grip is reminiscent of decorations commonly found on French pistols of this era.

Each of the screws used on the exterior of the piece, have been engraved by the maker with a flower design.

The overall length of this piece is 17 1/4 inches. The overall height is 6 3/8 inches, from the top of the cock to the bottom of the pistol grip.

Laffite's Revenge was test fired on April 22, 2013. The loading was 26 grains of FFF black powder, .490" round ball with a .015" patch. FFF powder was also used in the flash pan.