guns marked fine damascus finish

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elijah_lee

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Ok so it looks like I just bought a project off EE and the seller has alerted me to the fact that the barrels are marked fine Damascus finish but he says it doesn't look like Damascus at all,I have ran across this problem in the past and it seems like it's a finish put on to give the illusion of a nice Damascus gun and it seems to have worn off,I'm going to check the gun upon arrival for nitro powder proof marks under the barrel as I have the intention of restoring it and using it for skeet shooting with light loads and maybe some light #5's for squirrel and rabbit.whats your take on all this
 
Some fluid steel barrels were produced with a 'Damascus' pattern on them... with the 50 year overlap it took a while for fluid steel to be accepted by the shooters back then.
 
I am guessing the gun is belgian. Guns labelled damascus pattern or damascus finish are steel barrels with an etched on pattern. If they were damascus all the way through, the labelling if present would say something like stub twist or london fine twist. In terms of outside appearance, some barrels I would have sworn had an etched on pattern, had the pattern come right on through after drawfiling, sanding and re rusting

cheers mooncoon
 
Depends what you paid for it, put it in a gun vise with a long string to the trigger and fire a proof load of a standard cartridge ;-)
 
I paid little for it but the action works just the barrels are a bit losse(just needs to be tightened,it's a pain to do but it's doable)
I'm definitely going to fire it now as I'm going to strip the bluing off and reblue it so I'll be able to tell if it's Damascus really fast
 
elijah_lee said:
I paid little for it but the action works just the barrels are a bit losse(just needs to be tightened,it's a pain to do but it's doable)
I'm definitely going to fire it now as I'm going to strip the bluing off and reblue it so I'll be able to tell if it's Damascus really fast
Click to expand...

You might try packing the chambers with wet cloth or wet paper towels and then file the rear notch of the lump down a bit and soft solder a mild steel shim on top of the area you just filed, followed by filing that shim down until the gun will close with a tight fit. I think that is a far better method than the Bubba method of peening the sides of the lump. Of course, if the gun has a Jones underlever then none of that applies

sanding and re bluing will probably not show damascus if present. You can sand a small area clean and wipe with copper sulphate which will usually show a pattern if present. To bring the pattern out you need to use a rusting agent and after draw filing (if necessary) then sanding and degreasing with lye, you rust for 1/2 day, hold the barrels under very hot to boiling water, card wet with fine steel wool, then rust for about 15 minutes with ferric chloride, card wet and back to rusting with a mercuric chloride solution and repeat for 2 or 3 days. Fine tight figure eight grains need a much more dilute rusting solution after the first day or everything will rust evenly

cheers mooncoon
 
Rethink the rebluing. If it has any collector value it'll drop by half.
As mentioned, barrels got etched to look like damascus. If it is damascus, you can see it in the barrel.
 
It has very little value as the stock is going to have to be patched in many places and it's so far gone that if I didn't do the restoration for myself and a gigs gun it wouldn't be worth the time and money put into it, the only reason I'm doing it is because I have a soft spot for old SxS guns and want to see them back in use instead off being called "wall hangers" I hate that term the only SxS guns that should be hung on the wall and not shot are true antique Damascus guns with a high collectors value.who knows I may put this gun up for sale after it has been restored and sell it to a small game hunter who will use it like it was intended
 
hi
to check if its patternwelded damascus ... just find a spot that is hidden on the barrel and sand it up to 600 grit ( wet sand the high grit papers with a dab of mineral oil ) ... degrease it ( wipe with rub alcohol, let dry.. rub with some baking soda powder till no grease is left.. then wash off with luke warm running water... . and rub on some dilute ferric chloride with a cotton ball.. if its patternwelded damascus... you will see the layers in the metal... if its a faux damascus, you will not !

if the barrel was initially, etched lightly ... then pattern can be rubbed away over time...

you can bring back the pattern with dilute ferric chloride... or you can with dilute nitric acid ( but that is another story )

post some pic's ... and we can see what were up against
 
you don't need to go down to 600 grit paper for sanding; if its been used a bit, 180 grit will do fine. I would suggest after cleaning any oil off with solvent, using lye to saponify (ie change to soap) any remaining grease / oil. Also relative to dilute nitric acid, I suspect it is a fine line between too dilute and too strong. When I tried using it to etch the damascus grain more deeply, it frosted the metal (ie fine pits). In the 1800's a strong copper sulphate bath was used to etch the barrel and create the high raised pattern seen on some guns. (according to either W or WW Greener, I can't remember which)

cheers mooncoon
 
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