The History, Art, and Science of Pattern Welded Shotgun Barrels

[bdft]

For your edification;

Gold is for the mistress - silver for the maid,
Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade.
“Good” said the Baron, sitting in the hall,
“But, Iron - Cold Iron, - is master of them all.”
-Rudyard Kipling

The history of pattern welded shotgun barrels starts about 125 years after Alexander the Great made it to India, where Wootz/ Bulat/ Crucible steel was first forged 200 B.C.E. Etruscan smiths had been laminating blades for 400 years, but Wootz was a vastly superior product and the surface of finished weapons showed a pattern called “watering,” “firind”, or “jawhar.”

https://sites.google.com/a/damascusknowledge.com/www/home

 

[Grouse Man]

It is truly gorgeous. Nothing like it.

I wonder what it would be like with modern technology and production methods?

 

[Waba]

What an amazing resource, not only the video but the rest of the site as well. I got completely engrossed in reading ( just the section on Crescent Firearms was worth the price of admission ) and 2 hours just blinked away.

Thank you so much for sharing. Excellent.

 

[canvasback]

Rev Doc Drew is a regular poster on the DoubleGun forums and always willing to share and expand his knowledge. One of the guys who makes that place a "must" if you want to learn more about old SxS.

 

[canvasback]

It is truly gorgeous. Nothing like it.

I wonder what it would be like with modern technology and production methods?

There are guys trying to replicate it but a lot of knowledge has been lost and needs to be "re-discovered". Before they can apply modern tech and production methods they need to figure out how it was done in the first place. I know a guy who has a Henri Pieper gun and the repeating pattern on the barrels reads "Pieper". There had been rumours about barrels like that based on a century old photo, then one was discovered. About five years ago, the guy I know bought a Pieper with blued barrels. In getting them ready for a re-blue, he discovered they not only were Damascus but had the Peiper pattern.

 

[tiriaq]

There are samples are on display in the Musee de la Vie Wallon in Liege. Among the barrels are "Prince Albert", "Zenobe Gramme". There is a Remington Double in the US with "Remington" in the pattern. The words are not a surface treatment. This was confirmed at the Musee. A slice was taken from an unfinished tube and etched. The letters are in the matrix of the metal.