doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Damascus Pattern Interpretation

Where do the "chain" damascus patterns fall? I'm assuming they are Belgian because I've only seen them on American and European shotguns. A friend accquired a Francotte Model 14 project gun from the early 1890s that had a stunning pattern on it. Later Model 14s (likely from the 1930s) I've seen with fluid steel seemed quite plain by comparison.

Chain damascus is attractive, 'rough forged tubes' were in the middle in terms of cost, and seem to be found in mid-quality guns; these refinished by Brad Bachelder



Damascus quality should be judged based on the overall quality of the gun
https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1YJxP1k3PzmtmrG1HEGxd8X6g0-1GL0KNY8WMIMkdKr0

I've read a couple articles on how the sourced tubes arrived in the U.S. of A. An 1907 article on Ithaca gives that the "rough bored barrels" arrived 50 pair per box being no more than 0.03" from the finished state. Cockerill steel, laminated twist, damascus, Krupp & Whitworth were noted as being sourced. The Krupp tubes are noted as having a soldier with a gun, so I wonder if the author meant the Sauer Wildmann trademark? Also the Whitworth tubes had a serial number and a certificate. I assume this was standard and the other American makers received similar boxes.


Diagram of Belgian forging method and a "rough bored barrel" which was a tariff exception or taxed very cheaply. The article notes it took 5 or 6 days to bring out the contrast.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Great photography Dr. Drew! Chain may be mid-grade, but the ones I've seen so-far are very attractive. Something else to consider; mid-grade guns from the 1880s seem to be far-better finished than mid-grade guns from the 1930s.

Those chain bbls look like the ones on my FE Lefever, though chain is more common in the E grade Lefevers. Gun is SN 38,025.

That is Mark's 10g Grade 2 Smith. The rough tubes may well have come from the same Belgian maker.

Same infro here Raimey

Nov. 30, 1895 Sporting Life
http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/SportingLife/1895/VOL_26_NO_10/SL2610011.pdf
How Shot Guns Are Made and the Process Through Which They Pass Fully Explained
The beginning of the manufacture of a gun is the barrels, and it is generally known that no barrels are made in this country except the rolled steel, which is used on the Winchester gun. All gun barrels are now imported, although an attempt was made a few years ago to produce them in this country, but with only partial success. England, Germany and Belgium supply most of the barrels, the latter country doubtless producing the larger quantity. All gun barrels, whether imported direct from the makers in Belgium, or through an importer in this country to the gun manufacturer, are received in rough tubes, which very much resemble a couple of gas pipes, but being somewhat larger at one end than at the other. These barrels or "tubes" as they are called, are merely tied together in pairs, with small wire and 40 to 50 pairs are packed in a box.

Yes, Dr. Drew that is one of the other refs I've read by I couldn't put my cursor on it.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

.....one of the best damn threads I have seen on the internet in a long long time. Thanks for the pics and explainations fellas.

Tom

Dr. Drew: Your library is even more impressive these days, and it was darn good before (when I was haunting the LC Smith webpage a few years back). It looks like you've taken Dr. Gaddy's work and grown it substantially. Thank you so much for all you do.

Since Drew introduced me to the doublegunshop forums, I have visited the site daily. Yea, I've been lurking. I am fascinated by the tremendous amount of information shared here. I've been checking this thread and thought I might offer my knowledge of damascus making, to help repay for what I have learned through this forum.

To understand how and why a pattern in damascus looks the way it does, you need to ask someone who actually makes damascus. This is what I do. A skilled damascus maker understands how to manipulate layers of material to create individual patterns. That knowledge can be used to reverse engineer how a pattern was made. The pattern tells a story, explaining how the material was manipulated to create it. I welcome your questions on how damascus patterns were made in gun barrels. I will do my best to explain them clearly.

Something in this thread interests me. It is the terminology used to describe the separate segments of the damascus pattern; "leaves", "scrolls", "1/2 scrolls". These terms are totally foreign to modern damascus makers. If I understand correctly, these terms were coined by Dr. Gaddy?

I'll be back to post up some information about damascus pattern development. If all of you are interested.