I have a set of Parker barrels that I'm looking to have refinished in black and white. They also have a bulge that will need removed. Dale Edmunds is retiring, and I don't see a reference to damascus refinishing on Circle Fly's website. I did get a quote from Brad Bachelder. I'm looking for one or two more. Any ideas?

My friends and I have Pete Mazur of Grass Valley, CA do this work for us. He refinished the Damascus tubes on my Lindner Daly.

He is very good.

Get in contact with Ken61, a member here. I have a set of barrels with him now and another 3 being worked on by Mark Robson, before going to Ken for refinish. Both are in Iowa.

John

I met Mark Robson at the "Great Northern" shoot. He fixed the front sight on my Purdey. What a nice guy.
Sam Ogle

The bulge is the big problem. Tough thing to deal with. They can be removed, but the ribs will have to be removed in order to get all the bulge gone, then relaid. I have sworn off that job. I had one that we found had a tiny crack all the way through the barrel wall in the bulge, between the ribs. Bulges are just bad news all the way around, pardon the pun.

SRH

Exactly, Stan, but on damascus, it's a killer, no pun intended.
JR

Thanks guys, this is very helpful.

You already got a quote from him, but Brad refinished my Holland barrels over the winter and did an outstanding job with them

+1 for Brad

Aaron zimmerman is doing good work, but
Not sure if he can do anything about the bulge.

Merrington can fix the tube for sure.

Ok guys, let's get something straight here. Fixing a bulge on fluid steel barrels is an entirely different deal from fixing a bulge on a set of damascus tubes, right? Or am I wrong? Not judging, just asking...
JR

The questions I worry about is where is the bulge and what caused it? If past my left hand, well down the barrel I'd try to get it tapped back in and roll the dice. If near the chamber to as far as my left hand I'd scrap the barrels. Second failure could result in serious injury to others or me. I just won't take that chance anymore.

I've seen both steel and Damascus barrels that had bulges removed. Was told it was just a crap shoot if they would come back. Metal men tell me worked metal should be stronger but who knows. I do remember Toni had a 20 bore Clark which had a bulge removed and then pass reproof. Only to fail n the first box Os shells. You pay your money and take your chances. Just keep the risk down as much as you can.

Experts on Guns and Shooting, George Teasdale Teasdale-Buckell, 1900
http://books.google.com/books?id=4xRmHkr7Lp8C&pg=PA373&dq
On the subject of steel v. Damascus, Mr Stephen Grant is very clear, and much prefers Damascus for hard working guns. He related an anecdote of one of his patrons, whose keeper stupidly put a 12-bore cartridge into his master’s gun without knowing that he had previously inserted a 20-case, which had stuffed up the barrel. Fortunately, no burst occurred, but a big bulge, which, however, Mr Grant hammered down, and the gun is now as good as ever.

That said, I would suggest bulge (or dent) repair on a Pattern Welded barrel should only be attempted by an expert

Dent raised, filed and fractured



Bulge pounded down...and fractured



Probably NOT the best repair technique

Brad has done a number of barrels for me and I've always been happy. You won't be disappointed.

The suggestion of Pete Mazur was an excellent one. You will not fine better work.

Damascus is much softer than fluid steel and requires a gentle hand. As a rule, dents can be lifted with a very high degree of success by a skilled craftsman. Bulges......I will not touch them but YMMV.

Unstretching stretched metal?
Petty tough to do in the flat. Try it some time in the round.

Might want to start with a piece of copper roofing material first. Just to get a handle on stretching, shrinking, annealing, hammering, etc. Working copper is part of historic roof restoration. Steel doesn't work like copper.

I have a shotgun where the slight bulge was just filed off. Does that count as a bulge repair?

I suppose it served it's purpose. I bought the shotgun before I bought a WTG.

My PH had several issues with the right tube. Nothing that I could describe as a "ring bulge", but it had several areas of raised metal I think would qualify as "rivels". (sp?). One was several inches long, appearing somewhat like a slight "mole tunnel" along the bottom of the tube near the bottom rib. I had my machinist make me a set of tapered slugs turned to fit Parker bores.

To repair the tube, I inserted the greased slug and placed it under whatever area I was working on, then started working on the area with a rawhide hammer, checking often with a metal straightedge to see my progress. It was slow work, but the metal did move. On stubborn areas I did use a bronze hammer as well. At the end I formed a thin sheet of lead on the tubes to hammer on to reduce the chance of leaving marks. Everything eventually went back into place. I also used my hydraulic dent remover to check bore diameter consistency. When I was finished, the tubes only needed normal sanding during barrel prep, no filing or anything drastic causing much metal to be removed. After refinishing, there's no evidence of any of the previous issues, and the wall thickness is well above minimums described as being safe.

The gun is still a work in progress, but once done I intend to give it a "Firestone Proof" to make sure it's safe.

Regards
Ken

For those who want to work barrel metal with the hammers, an easy method to preserve the barrel finish is to use a layer of tape over the area and actually hammer on it. I use Scotch packaging tape. You may have to change it a few times, but you would be surprised at how long it will last. I'm only using a 1 1/2 to 2 oz. hammer to do this, with thousands of light taps, so the tape will last longer than you would think.

SRH

I'm changing my view on barrel bulges.

Not the difficulty of pushing material back where it came from, but what range of defect is acceptable between initial form, and post planishing restrike.

It may fall into the "If it looks good, it is good" realm when I get done.

Metal HVAC tape lasts even longer. It's also easier to see exactly where and how your hammer is striking on it, as it dents under the blows.

Regards
Ken

Thanks, Ken. I have some of that and was thinking about trying it next time.

SRH

Not to take away from Mark's original post.

I was told by a retired gunsmith years ago to also lightly heat the barrels to get the molecules moving and then tap on the spot.
I find out what the bore diameter is right before the dent and make a steel plug that is tapered and slid it under the dent. Many times you can raise the dent without even taping on them.
As to a bulge, anything under 20" from breech is a not good. No guarantee the metal is going back to that spot.

These barrels on my Lindner Daly were blued and worn. Pete Mazur refinished in black and gray - as you see them. MWT is 30 thou.

C Man,

Could you please post a full set of pictures onto our Lindner Daly thread?

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=467518#Post467518

Please include pics of any marks or lettering on action and barrel flats, tube marks on the underside, APUN stamps, action sides and bottom, as well as lettering on the rib. It would make a nice addition to the thread.

Thanks

Ken

Interesting coloring variation on the tube pattern. Hard to tell by the pic, but it appears to me that two irons out of the three have colored slightly darker, possibly to create the "Barber Pole" effect similar to higher grade Parkers. The main difference being on Parkers only one of the three irons colors darker.

Or, obviously my current run has driven me crazy.

At least they're not talking to me yet.

Regards
Ken

Ken - I only have a few photos. I will have to take more when I get the time.

It does have HAL over crossed pistols and serial #604 with crown over S, crown over W, crown over U and several marks that I cannot make out.

I think you may have the data for this gun in your database?

C Man,

We should be able to (I should say Raimey will) come up with an approximate. Potentially lot's of other good info as well. Please don't forget.

Thanks
Ken