I have some wrought iron in my shop and of course a good selection of steels. I should be able to source any type of steel that I dont have, through my suppliers. I would be happy to provide wrought iron and steel samples for testing. But rather than test the iron and steel separately, it may be better to have them made up into damascus. I could easily make some. I believe the test would be more accurate, if the two materials were welded together and subjected to testing simultaneously, rather than separately. Seconds matter in the finishing process. Treating them separately, could result in errors.

Im thinking a low layer count (maybe 11 layers) forge welded, twisted and then flattened out into bar stock. I could forge the welded rod to around 1 inch square before twisting, rather than the approximately 3/8 inch that was used in gun barrels. The larger stock and broader damascus pattern would make identifying the iron and steel layers easier.

This issue with this plan, is whether the alloy content of the iron and steel that I use, matches the materials used in gun barrels. We have no good records of what the Belgians used. I have wondered if there were any records left of British production. I sent an email to Graham Greener a few years ago, asking if there were any old records from Greeners damascus manufacturing. He never responded to me. Maybe someone here has a significant enough presence to get Grahams attention and secure a response from him?

As far as the wrought iron, I have some anchor chain and wagon tire material. I suspect that the silica content of the anchor chain and wagon tire iron is higher than would be used for gun barrels. Though, I have not a clue. I can restack and weld the iron to reduce the silica content; same as was done in the piling process of long ago. But, I have no idea what I am shooting for in the final product and not sure of a method for testing the material for silica content.

The steel is a similar issue. What was the alloy content of gun barrel steel and what modern steel approximates that alloying?? Drew had some barrel steel tested. But, is that one sample fully representative of the gun barrel industry? Its hard to argue against test results, but I found it quite surprising that the steel in the barrel was determined to be of very low carbon content. I expected that the barrel manufacturers would have used steel in the .4 to .7 carbon range. Perhaps I am totally wrong, but this is the reason why I am concerned that one testing result may not be completely representative of the industry.

There is one other possibility for analyzing this question. Perhaps I just need to go look at a bunch of damascus barrels. I have a rough barrel tube, which I purchased from Peter Dyson. I did a light etch on the tube with ferric chloride. This I did by simply using a rag to wipe a fairly strong solution of FC on the tube. The steel quickly turned dark, while the iron remained white. Certainly, this etch is not truly representative of the rust and etch process. But after etching, I used a small battery powered magnifier to examine the tube. It was very easy for me to tell the iron from the steel, by their different grain structure. There is a gun shop in Olathe, KS, which typically has about 100 damascus barreled guns in inventory. Maybe I just need to get myself over to Olathe with my little magnifier, and examine a bunch of guns to see if I can identify the iron and steel layers and their coloration.

Weld lines Yet another quandary.
I have a variety of suppositions on this topic, but no solid evidence to support my thoughts. Im not going to share my musings, lest I just confuse everyone. The necessary information will be found at the molecular level. I know of no in depth analysis having ever been done on forge weld lines. But, I know exactly the guy to ask. He has the expertise and the equipment to do the testing. But, he is very busy and often takes a while to respond. Ill yank his chain and see if he can help.

Steve Culver
Steve Culver Knives