The coolest thing about a masterpiece like that, is its like a fingerprint, no 2 will ever be the same. The patterns in the way you work your magic are entirely unique to you and your style. Nice work sir. Nice.
Imagine Birmingham, England in the 19th century. Thousands of highly skilled workers producing millions of hand made parts, and assembling beautiful guns to be exported all over the world.
Euripodes, I don't have an apprentice. But, I am working to make sure that my knowledge of this work is recorded to be shared. Thanks for the appreciation!
I am just blown away by your supreme skill Steve, where did you learn and as i live in England how can i buy one of your knifes? The pattern is just beautiful, you are an artist no question. Respect's sir.
SuperDiddzz Thank you for the appreciation!! I have about a 2 1/2 year waiting list of knife orders. However, I also make some knives to put on my table at knife shows. I occasionally have some of these knives available for immediate sale. They can be seen on my web site. www.culverart.com/knivesavail.htm Or, you may email me about placing a knife order. steve@culverart.com Thank you again!!
Thanks Phanum, glad that you enjoyed it! I thought that I sounded pretty dull. LOL! Video production is not my forte. I might have tried to do a better job, if I had realized that so many people would watch it!
excellent presentation. thank goodness there are still some of us that do things "old school)...I use old methods with wood projects...keep up the good work!
One of the best Japanese bladesmiths started off as a gunsmith. If you don't learn good forgewelding technique as a gunsmith making forgewelded barrels you don't last long.
Many thanks for posting this excellent video, I find it strange that in this day of available information, there are still ignorant people that consider Damascus barrels to be weak ! how do they think that some of them have lasted for 200 years! Tell them to send me their Damascus barrels!
I owned an old Parker CHE and I gather that was about the end of Damascus firearm production, it also was beautiful but only shootable with .410 inserts. Yours has a "tight" no void look that needs to be taught to young fellows so we don't lose that craftsmanship.
I am glad I found this video. I have always wanted to see this process, having heard the process. This was professional and amazing to watch, Great job.
Now I have even more respect for the old chaps who made the barrels for my double 12 bore! 30inch barrels with the patterns on each barrel a perfect mirror of the other. Even the top and bottom ribs are Damascus as well. I think the gun dates from about 1875 as it has rebounding locks but still the Jones underlever. The gun carries the name of Weekes & Son of Dublin but I think it was probably made in Birmingham, by the proof marks. The top rib carries the words 'New Barrels by Cox & Clarke of Southampton', which is near where I live. No idea what happened to the original tubes! It's properly nitro proofed for 1-1/8 ounce charge and still gets a few outings with my precious stock of old paper case cartridges, some of which are 50 years old. Modern plastic cartridges work perfectly well, but it's just not the same! Snicking back the hammers and dropping a fine, fast cock Pheasant is VERY satisfying...
+1946nimrod Thanks nimrod!! The 1875 date opens the possibility that the barrels were Birmingham made. British barrel making ended around 1903. Virtually all barrels after 1903 were made in Belgium. The nitro proof marks indicate a late proofing on the barrels. There's something special about the smell of the smoke from old shells. I don't know if it's the chemicals used or the aging of them. Maybe a hint of cordite? Just makes you smile.
+Steve Culver Indeed, almost certainly Birmingham barrels as very few provincial gunmakers would have had the facilities - or the knowledge - to make their own. I have various recipes for a Browning mixture - drinking them cannot be recommended. Keep up the good work!
Wow! Thanks for posting this. A true artisan at work, is what I thought to myself. Hopefully you have someone you can pass your knowledge on too. It would be ashamed if true craftsmanship like this would be nothing but a memory.
Wow! What a lot of work went into making that short barrel! I can't imagine the work involved in making two barrels long enough for a double barreled shotgun. Thanks for documenting this process!
You can get blackpoweder if you have permit. You cant get smokeless propellant uness it is for a licensed company. The law regarding a lot of this stuff is so complex here it's stupid
That has been the accepted theory. I do not profess to be an expert in ancient metallurgy, but recent discoveries suggest that we do not know everything about where pattern welding originated. Smokeless powder did not end damascus barrel manufacturing, but it was the destruction of the damascus barrel industry during WWI. Many old Damascus barrels were proofed for smokeless. You can today buy a gun from WW Greener with damascus barrels. These are made from 100 year old barrel forgings.
Saw you on Forged In Fire...as soon as you said you made spiral welded damascus gun barrels, i went straight to Google to find your work. Great Job...awesome work. -Monty from NC
Just....amazing. Absolutely mind-blowing. It's wonderful to know someone is doing such out of the ordinary work, and doing it so well...My hat's off to you, Sir.
Congratulations!! Very very very nice handwork! I hope it would be my job if I could have a second life!! Now Im retired and its my hope for many years to learn....such little parts of this art! Thanks from France.
i gotta say that this is the coolest barrel iv'e ever seen. i couldn't believe how cool the pattern is! I know where to go if i ever want some of this steel ! =D
Thats alot of fkng work, wow, amazing what people can do. That guy must be physically in shape,extreme hard work. I am impressed. Back in the 1800s when they did this all by hand they didn't have battery operated drills or anything like that it was done in absolute unbelievable work exhausting work I'm sure it's amazing
With a coal or charcoal forge, you can control the heat in a very small section of the steel that you are working. Propane forges have large heating areas and are best for heating a large amount of steel. To weld a barrel, you must localize the welding heat in a very small section of the tube. My large propane forge, that I use to weld most of my damascus, was unsuitable for welding barrels. That's why I built the small barrel welding forge that can be seen on one of my videos.
"How do you keep scale from being trapped between layers when forging them together?" Well..... it's danged hard to do. Experienced manipulation of the welds is the key. Even the old gun barrel welders had problems with this. WW Greener (of Greener Gun Co.) stated in a book he wrote that they called slag inclusions "greys". That's because they inclusions wouldn't blue, but looked like specks of grey in the finish of the barrel.
Forge welding temperature is a very narrow range of heat. The mandrel is cold when you put it in the tube for closing the welds. There is no time for the mandrel to get hot enough to weld, before the barrel tube is below welding heat. The mandrel can actually cause problems with closing the welds in the barrel. It sucks the heat out of the coils and shortens the amount of time available to get the welds closed.
MegaGouch The pattern is called, "Two Iron Crolle". The pattern is displayed in the damascus after an etching process that affects the two steels differently. Nickel in the 15N20 resists the etchant more than the non alloyed 1084. There are so many different bluing/browning mixtures that it is impossible to state with certainty how each will color the steels. Finishing damascus often includes etching and then sanding to remove color from the steel that is less affected by the etchant.
My only complaint is the resolution of the video. I wish it were in glorious full HD. This sort of work deserves high production value. That said, it was still one of the most interesting videos on pattern welded steel I have seen.
This video is rather old and was shot with a camera that was not HD. RU-vid's formatting was not as good at that time either. So, less definition than is common today. I have a GoPro camera for shop videos now. Check out my video, on this channel, of the Freedom's Steel Pistol build.Thanks for the compliments on the pattern welding process!!
+Toolrific Thank you!! I made this barrel to be used on the flint-lock pistol part of a combination weapon. There is a video on my RU-vid Channel, of me firing this piece.
I read an article in the publication Double Gun Journal where in 5 damascus steel barreled, late 1800’s American shotguns, proof load after proof load was fired in these barrels and NONE of they ruptured. In one shotgun the barrels ever so slightly went off-face. That’s it. Claims of modern, smokeless powder posing a risk are greatly exaggerated. I have a Colt 1873 hammer-fired shotgun with Damascus barrels. I fire 7/8’s load of 8-shot. No barrel rupture, barrels never came off face, no barrel-receiver wobble.
Many old shotguns that were originally proofed for black powder were subsequently reproofed for nitro powder. A gun in sound condition is perfectly safe to shoot with proper pressure and shell length loads.
Thank you Glenn! Yes, these barrels take a LONG time to make. This video is a condensed look at it. The machine work to finish a barrel is also extensive.
For flux, I typically use 20 Mule Team borax. I have been experimenting with adding hard-wood charcoal dust to the 20MT. I used up to a 50/50 mixture for some of the welding on this barrel. Still testing this mixture, so have not decided if it is worth it. I build my own propane forges. They are very efficient and will run at a welding heat with a reducing fire.
Fascinating. I think the accepted theory is that Western gunsmiths learned the technique from the Moghuls of India in the 17th century. Only the most expensive sporting guns used the technique and it did not survive transition into the smokeless era. Pattern-welding really only made sense with the more primitive steel of past centuries.
After drawing out the individual rods: 'wow those look sick! now just bore a hole through right?" after welding: "hmm. still going eh? they look ok i guess. hope it gets back to looking sick though." after coiling: "you did it again my friend! quite badass" after welding, drawing out and cleaning: "NOOO it's just a regular steel tube now :(" machined: "how could you... make something... so.... beautiful."
Wow, what an amazing piece of steel! Incredible workmanship. The finish on that is insane. Out of pure curiosity how much would a raw forged barrel sell for?
Thanks Eric!! I'm not certain that I could put a sales price on raw forged tube. I don't have this process down to a point where I would consider making a raw barrel to sell. Besides; the machine work to finish out a raw barrel tube is very complicated. I would have serious concerns about passing a barrel tube off for anyone else to do the machine work on. Don't mean to be elusive. Just can't put a price on it at this time.
Val I used 1084 high carbon steel and 15N20 steel. 15N20 is basically 1084 with 2% nickel content. I use this combination of steels for the damascus that I make for knife blades.
Actually, the 19th century barrel smiths were very efficient with the process. Their charcoal forges were a much better heat source than a propane forge. Too, the iron and steel that they had available were much softer and easier to weld than modern steels. I had to work much harder than they did.
There are tens of thousands of old damascus barreled shotguns still in service. They are used every day, by hunters and sport shooters around the world. Like any old gun, they should be checked before shooting by a competent gunsmith; someone who understands damascus gun barrels. Many old shotguns had chambers which were shorter than today's 2 3/4 inch shells. Each old gun must be checked to see what the chamber length is. Safe ammunition for these old guns is made by a couple companies. One company is RST Shells. You can learn a lot about damascus barreled shotguns on the damascus-knowledge.com web site. sites.google.com/a/damascusknowledge.com/www/home There is also a great gun forum, where you can find information and ask questions of very knowledgeable gun collectors. www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=cfrm&c=1
The problem started when nitro powders were introduced, and people didn't realise that only half the amount was needed as an equivalent charge. Black powder is slower burning.
My apologies for being so slow to respond to all of the kind compliments and questions. At this point, I am a bit of a RU-vid newbie. I didn't expect the video to draw so much attention.
Lane, I've not had anyone ask me about making just a barrel to sell to them. But, I would consider a serious request. A barrel of about his size would be in the $3,000 to $5,000 price range; depending on the specifications of the barrel ordered.
For flux, I typically use 20 Mule Team borax. I have been experimenting with adding hard-wood charcoal dust to the 20MT. I used up to a 50/50 mixture for some of the welding on this barrel. Still testing this mixture, so have not decided if it is worth it.
I suppose anything could be possible. There were many old guns that had brass barrels. However, you can't hot caustic blue brass. The brass will be destroyed by the bluing salts. You could cold blue it. My intention is to replicate exactly as possible, the methods and Damascus patterns that are found in old barrels. An octagonal barrel is definitely possible. I have seen many old guns with octagonal damascus barrels.
Lane Making a damascus barrel is so very time consuming. That's the reason for the high cost. I could maybe build some more tooling to speed the process up, if I did this enough to make it worth it. But this isn't all that I do, so it's not high priority. There's lots of good forging information on the American Bladesmith Society Forum. You should check it out. You have to be an ABS member to post, but anyone can view.
The steels that I used in this barrel were 1084 and 15N20. These are not steels that I feel are best for a gun barrel; but rather, they are steels that I am familiar with forge welding. While discovering the process of welding a barrel, I was having a number of issues with closing the welds in the coil. I chose to use steels that I was familiar with to minimize the number of unknown variables.
Must have taken many years as an apprentice back in the day to learn how to properly make a musket barrel. How many teenagers scorched themselves on red hot metal or squat a part of their hand while hammering, I'll never know. They themselves would eventually become masters of the art, and take on young apprentices themselves some day I imagine, creating the tools that would be used to make history on the battlefield. History aside, it's fascinating to see how a damascus barrel is made, looks like that one is going to be used in a reproduction muzzle loading pistol. Why is it so much longer when it is loaded though? It appears to be maybe 5" when completed, but when loaded it looks like another 10" or so was attached. Is that what a breech plug is supposed to be? I guess it's the 'breeching system' that was referenced a couple times at the end. Need to brush up on my knowledge of muzzle loaders, the repeating firearms made between 1888-1956 is the primary era my interest started with. Great vid, thanks for sharing. Cheers!
Thanks Norman! The breeching system that I used for proof firing the barrel, was just a piece o f raw bar stock that I had in the shop. It's just a temporary tool and the length of it is arbitrary.
Sir you are without doubt an artist, that barrel was quite simply stunning, the patterning is beautiful. how strong are these barrels? would it be possible to manufacture a modern revolver barrel this way for instance?, I assume a Damascus billet could be formed to make the revolver frame from as well. I think a nice single action Colt Peacemaker in Damascus steel would look rather nice, although I dread to think how much it would likely cost to produce ( I may have to sell a relative or three)
I had not taken into account the very high temperature needed for steel to expand sufficiently. However, there is still a weak point. If you used two similar steels, the bond between the two steels may be pure, but the bond itself is a product of the two combined steels (aka bond product), and therefore a different metal all together. The difference between #1 and the bond product, and #2 and the bond product are the weak points. A true bond would ONLY be one product steel across the barrel
I cant help but think about all those workers in Belgium in the mid to late 1800s doing this on water/steam powered machines. Turning out barrels by the thousands. Day in and day out... For decades...
Loving the video. Have a couple questions. 1) I'm assuming the process is the same for longer barrels? Any issues with jump welding unsupported, especially through the middle of the barrel when doing the jump welds in the forge? My thought is that the coil might bulge or slip when being welded in such a manner, and the tool you have seems to have a quite short mandrel, more for holding the piece rather than adding any rigidity.
