Originally Posted By: PeteM
[quote=Steve Culver]
Quote:

The extensive amount of drawing out and manipulating the damascus for barrels was much more about creating the desired damascus pattern, than it was to control the silica inclusions. I believe that the use of wrought iron, with its silica content, was to facilitate the forge welding process. As well as it made the damascus steel softer under the hammer and easier to shape into a barrel tube. Im certain that they had a preferred silica content for the raw wrought iron material, specified to facilitate the welding and shaping work. But the end result of the silicas condition in the finished product was very much left to chance.


Very good Steve. Remember that most of the forming took place in the rolling mills. By the time the barrel makers got the ribands, everything was set for them.

Pete

Just on observation, it seems to me that the thing in common with later damascus that was elevated to 'art' was two things. First, the material was drawn to much thinner cross sections, and second, twisting was much tighter and in universal use compared to earlier laminated barrels.

The pictures of the wrought iron that Steve showed had the easily visible classic stringy appearance. The historic damascus barrels do not tend to show that stringing in the wrought, possible because of the amount that it was worked and or drawn out. Steve rightfully pointed out that the damascus images are just two dimensional slices of an unknown area. What can generally be discerned is that some of the images slice through a 'star', which might imply that all angles of the 'grain' of the steel/wrought are being shown, from end grain to side view.

Anyway, for some reason or another the classic stringy appearance of the wrought is significant reduced or generally missing. All I suspected is that the makers figured out they could make stronger barrels by minimizing the likelihood that an inclusion or other defect in the starting material would end up compromising a barrel.

No doubt the art of barrel making was important, but there could've been practical implications....maybe. Only thoughts is all, I look forward to anything Ken might share about Steve's test piece.