Album: Damascus Barrels http://www.damascusknowledge.com-a.googlepages.com/home

FROM W. Greener "The Gun and Its Development" 1835 "The tenacity, durability, and beautiful figure of the barrels depend almost entirely on the proportions and arrangement of the steel and iron, the desiderata being the placing of the iron in the best position to give the regular and fine figure of the finished barrel." FROM W. Greener "The Science of Gunnery, as Applied to the Use and Construction of Fire-Arms" 1841 "The most endless variety possible may be attained; a figure with the carbonized material, showing only the ends or edges of various lamina, or portions of the face of that lamina, may with equal facility be obtained… It would be a never-ending task…to endeavour to describe a tithe of the varieties that might be made, and have been. The French and Belgians are very expert at this sort of ornamental work." FROM a c. 1890s brochure by E. Heuse-Lemoine, Nessonvaux, Liege "Damas Keening...produced great power of resistance united with the necessary lightness of the sporting gun, the transversal soldering highly preferable to the longitudinal, so that, by manual work ribbons were laminated and wound like a spiral." FROM The 'Field', "A Shoot On The Moor" by Baron Thomas de Grey Walsingham, who on Aug. 30, 1888 killed 1070 driven grouse. "I learned that Whitworth steel barrels are not desirable for a heavy day's shooting. The explosion in them makes quite a different sound from that given off by Damascus barrels: there is more ring about it, and I can imagine that this might prove a serious annoyance to anyone who minds the noise of shooting. Moreover, the Whitworth barrels became hot much more rapidly than the Damascus, and this is a serious drawback. I am replacing them with Damascus as in all my other guns."

In order to communicate effectively, we must have a common "language" of pattern welded shotgun barrels. What W. Greener called 'Wire Twist' in 1835 was known as 'Plain Twist', 'Skelp', Damas Rubans, or Laminated (in Belgium) by the second half of the 19th century. Every effort has been made to label damascus patterns by what they would have been named when the barrels were manufactured or the 'trade name' used by the gun maker. SPECIAL THANKS to the many contributors including Daryl Hallquist, Ed Arrington, Pete Mikalajunas, Dave Noreen, Dave Miles, Robert Chambers, Leighton Stallones, Ross Berck, and Greg Martin Auctions.