Is anyone doing good black and white refinishing without etching? The last I knew of was Craig Smith at Circle Fly Wads but he no longer has time to do it.

Craig didn’t/doesn’t etch?

I’m not quite sure how you get contrast without etching. Boiling the barrels will eventually just turn them black. How do you get the oxide to leave the steel (vs the iron) to create contrast?

To answer your question though, unfortunately I don’t know anyone doing that sort of finish these days. Maybe try Pete Mazur?

Breck Gorman did an outstanding job for me on a set of Parker 10 gauge Laminated barrels made by Parker. Very striking job, good price and quick turnaround.

I don't see how you could do this without the etching occuring. I think that's the whole basis of the process, whether black or brown.

The last I heard Pete Mazur was not taking in work, that may have changed.

You might contact Bill Graham, he has been showing off some nice black and white refinish work on Facebook and it looks quite nice.

There certainly is a need for someone to focus on quality damascus refinish here in the States. I enjoy browning barrels but simply do not have the time myself except when doing full restorations.

Terry Deem in Ohio does black and white as well as brown. He is a member of this site. Buck H. in Missouri does brown. There were several ads in the DG Journal for Damascus refinishing. Although he is long retired, you might give Dale E. a call about the etching. He can fill you in. Good luck.

I dont know of anyone who finishes black/white without etching. Actually have never heard of that.

Etching or over etching?

There has been one "professional barrel re-finisher" who over etched, buffed out markings, returned guns with bores coated in rust etc. He no longer posts here.

SKB, you’re talking about Ken Marburger, Ken61 on this board. He literally destroyed two Parker barrels of mine by letting them sitting in etching overnight (?). And it took over two years, a lawyer and police to recover them. Others had the same problem at the same time. I don’t know what happened to him. Earlier he refinished a set of twist barrels for a friend and they came out quite nice though etching had leaked into the bores.

I think his first name is Ken?

I cleaned the rust out of the bores on a set of barrels he did for a local guy, what a mess. That was hardly the only issue with the work he did on the set I worked on.

Breck Gorman and Bill Graham

Terry Deem and Breck Gorman hands down

Ken61 isn't here to defend himself, but I believe he was experiencing some health issues that may have impacted the quality of his rust bluing work.. As a Viet Nam combat veteran, he was no spring chicken either.

He certainly was capable of nice work, and he posted a lot of photos. That apparently prompted a number of guys here to contact and hire him to blue their barrels. He was doing a lot, with no complaints, and possibly took on more jobs than he could handle with reasonable turnaround times. And there were also many who were quite happy with his work, and said so here. Ken would also know, on his worst day, that there is no black and white Damascus bluing process that does not involve etching to remove the black oxide from the steel, while leaving the more tightly bound oxide on the iron dark. Without the etching steps, there is no contrast, and it can be very hard to tell Damascus from fliud
steel.

But it doesn't take a lot of guts to kick a man when he is down. At least he had some integrity, because he wasn't advertising his business in his tag-line with every post he made, and then not paying Dave for jobs that resulted from that continual free advertising.

And this also illustrates why Dave would be nuts to implement photo hosting here. Those who aren't capable of doing it themselves would be very quick to bash him publicly if things ever malfunctioned.

Second on both Terry and Breck.

Could someone give me Terry Deem’s and Breck Gorman’s contact info? Please send me a PM.