I BET STEVE CULVER WOULD KNOW
Thanks for believing that I am so knowledgeable Drew! LOL! This question came up in another thread, some time back. Below is my response to it.
I've been doing some calculations on how long it would take to weld a twist damascus barrel. I've based my calculations on the barrel being made in the 1924 video. The process thus being timed is for a barrel in a 3 iron crolle pattern.
Mentioned earlier in this post was Lemoine's statement about barrels undergoing 300 heats. Examining the statement closely, I believe the 300 heats mentioned was actually for two barrels; 150 heats for each tube. Based on my recent calculations, 150 heats per tube may be slightly on the high end. Unless perhaps, Lemoine was also counting all of the heats required to process the damascus rod stock into a barrel.
Numerical calculations suggest that a 36 inch riband coil could be welded into a solid tube in about 50 heats; IF everything went perfectly. I think a fair estimate of the actual number of heats is closer to 100. This figure falls between the calculated minimum and the 150 heats given by Lemoine. So 100, is the number of heats that I used for the time estimates.
My calculations are based on all of the work going perfectly. The smith/smiths are at their best and working efficiently (not too many beers the night before). The forge fire is absolutely perfect and heating the metal in the shortest possible amount of time. Seldom do all of these things come together at once…..
I've started the calculations at the twisting of the damascus rods. Six rods would be required. The six rods would be welded into two ribands. The two ribands wound on a mandrel and scarf welded together near the center of the spiral coil. The coil then welded into a solid barrel tube.
Total time required to go from damascus rod stock to welded barrel tube; 11 1/2 hours.
Note that as there were two, or more, smiths working on a barrel at the same time, this equates to a total of 23 man hours.
These estimates are ONLY the actual amount of time that the material would be in the forge, or on the anvil. There is no time included for building the forge fire and the necessary maintenance of the fire during the entire forging process. No time is allowed for the smiths to take breaks/lunch. Also not included is the time for the oft mentioned cold hammering of the barrel tube to improve the metal. I expect the cold hammering process to take at least one hour per tube.
The above calculations also do not include foundry time required to make the iron and steel. Nor piling, welding and drawing the lopin out into rods to be used by the barrel smiths. It also does not include time required for boring, straightening, grinding and finishing of the barrels to display the damascus pattern. I could do a SWAG estimate of the time required for that work. But, it would be just that; a guess.
