Board of Trade Journal, Volume 10 1891
http://books.google.com/books?id=-X3NAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA556&dq
The most important industry of Liege is the manufacture of firearms. There are over 180 gun-makers in the town alone, and in the district the industry gives employment to more than 40,000 workmen.

The New York Times, May 3, 1896 “Costly Belgian Gun Barrels”
The United States Consul in Liege describes, in a recent report, the manufacture of and trade in damascus gun barrels, wholly hand made, in the valley of the Vesdre in Liege Province. These barrels are for sporting guns, and the industry is many years old, the workmen in the villages in the valley being almost all gunbarrel makers, and the trade descending from father to son. The best barrels are a combination of the best primary substances, welded and forged by the martelage ‘a froid process; the steel comes from Westphalia, the iron is manufactured at Couvin, in Belgium; the coal, which is specially suited for the work, from the Herve’ Highlands, in Belgium, while the motive power of the factories is obtained from the River Vesdre. The industry has increased greatly in recent years.
These armes de luxe, as they are called, are made by men working in pairs, each pair in its own little factory, quite independent of all others. They are paid by the piece, the wages being good, and about 2000 men are engaged on the work in the valley. Medium quality barrels are made of coke iron and steel, while the superior quality, which are produced in the Vesdre Valley, are made of charcoal iron and steel. An ingenious “marriage” of these metals gives a composition which, when manufactured, guarantees the required solidity and resistance. The improvement in these Damascus barrels dates from the introduction of percussion caps in place of the old flint lock. Formerly iron barrels alone were produced; now to manufacture the curled damascus, the ingot is composed of thirty sheets of iron and steel, each having a thickness of four millimeters, which are enveloped in a sheet-iron box, placed in an oven and welded together at the lowest possible temperature. Each barrel receives 150 welding-beats while being forged, and if a single one of those is unsuccessful the barrel may be a failure, either by alteration of the damascened work or an imperfection in the welding.
There is no official test of these armes de luxe, but they are thoroughly tested by the manufacturers before delivery. The annual production of Damascus barrels in the Vesdre Valley is about 300,000 pairs, of a value of about 3,500,000f. Of this the wages alone- for all the guns are handmade- amount to about 2,000,000f. The principal markets are Great Britain and the United States. About half the barrels made in the Vesdre Valley are sold to manufacturers of arms in Liege to be mounted.

Manfred Sachse estimated that more than 700 workers were making damascus in the Liege region in 1897.

Commercial Relations of the United States with Foreign Countries During the Year 1903
By United States Bureau of Foreign Commerce, United States Dept. of Commerce and Labor. Bureau of Statistics, United States Bureau of Manufactures.
"Gun Barrel Industry in Liege"
http://books.google.com/books?id=piEZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA330&dq
"nearly 70,000 persons of both sexes are engaged in the making of guns, barrels, and stocks..."

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