Album: Damascus Anomalies or Barrels Behaving Badly

"Engines Of War: or, Historical and Experimental Observations on Ancient And Modern Warlike Machines And Implements, Including the Manufacture of Guns, Gunpowder, and Swords with remarks on Bronze, Iron, Steel, &c." Henry Wilkinson, 1841 "The spiral thus formed is raised to a welding heat, and dropped on to a cylindrical rod, which being struck forcibly on the ground (called jumping) the edges of the spiral unite, and the welding is then completed by hammering on the anvil. The other spirals are added according to the length of the barrel, and the forging is finished by hammering regularly all over. The ends of the spirals should be turned up and united at each junction of spirals, to avoid the confusion in the twist occasioned by merely dropping one spiral on another." "Shooting Simplified" By James Dalziel Dougall 1865 - "There are various kinds of flaws in barrels, such as 'cracks', 'sand holes', and what are technically termed 'grays.' They are those little specks in the iron from rust showing more upon them than upon the smoother surface." W.W. Greener "The Gun" 8th Edition 1907 - "By tracing the twist, a confusion will be found to exist for about an eighth of an inch, every six or seven inches; and from this appearance you may conclude that, for a barrel so joined, the welder had not the best price." "The numerous twistings and weldings of gun-iron rods and ribands are fully detailed and it must have occurred to the reader that the Damascus barrel is one mass of welds from breech to muzzle. This is so. Unfortunately a certain amount of burnt metal, or scale, is imbedded within some of the welds, and in the finished barrel this fragment of scale forms a 'grey' which will not colour in harmony with the other part of the barrel, but is made more apparent by the finishing processes of polishing and browning. These 'greys' may appear some time after the gun has been in use, the hard metal composing the barrel being eaten into by rust. They are developed in the inside by the chemical action of powder gases, and are almost ineradicable. The harder the Damascus the greater the liability to 'greys.'

From a booklet published by E. Heuse-Lemoine, "Manufacture of Damascus Gun Barrels" - Our barrel industry only reached this enormous productions and gained such an extent on account of its excessive cheapness which results partly from the low rate of wages paid even to the most skilful workmen; and partly from the advantageous geographical situation of this part of our country which in a small area combines all indispensable elements to this industry. Indeed the river 'La Vesdre' and all its affluents are driving a great number of hydraulical wheels which economical motive power is used for boring, polishing, turning and grinding the barrels. The coal pits of the Highland of Herve are situated close at hand which furnish the necessary fuel to the Damascus works; and it is worthy to be noted that these mines furnish a special kind of coal, scarcely to be found anywhere else and is very suitable for our barrel-smiths who we dare say are very skillful to their art, having never done anything else in their life. It is not to be that these men must become first rate Masters in the art of forging, if we consider that the average number of heatings to soldering heat, a barrel receives at least 150 for the fine Damascus tube being 300 heatings for a double barreled and that if one of these heatings has not well succeeded, that is to say that the barrel has not received its rigourous precise temperature, the tube may be spoiled, either by the alteration of the Damascus, or by the traces of even the smallest want of soldering; you can easily imagine the skill which these workmen possess.