Thanks Gents.

Its amazing what a little elbow grease will do. I did not have to take much off the barrels to get where I am now. To get where I am now it took only about 4-5 hours and that includes polishing up to 320 grit. I am just nervous of taking off more in this one area as i already hit it twice. But one more pass will not hurt it.

Yes these are Damascus barrels, and sorry, I did mean earlier that I will be doing the proper black and white finish on them. I already have the ferric chloride acid to etch the barrels in a light solution. I have heard of the logwood boil method as well. I am contemplating on whether to do this. I will wait and see how the contrast comes out before I proceed. I am just not sure of the best way to coat the inside of the barrels to prevent the logwood from adhering to the bores.

Boiling in Logwood is the Parker method. If you are interested in doing it yourself, Oscar Gaddy wrote some very nice articles in The Double Gun Journal on both his Finishing process and also the Parker process. Look them up. There is a LOT over VERY GOOD info in his articles.

Rubber plugs or stoppers in both ends of the barrels should prevent the solution from entering the tubes.






.

Derek
Good for you, I am looking forward to the results of your barrels.
Tom

Same here. Oscar Gaddy's articles are your best resource if you are teaching yourself.

Corks or rubber plugs. Corks are easier to find and cheaper.

i believe you can do this your self with all the great advice and guidance you can get here...charlie

Corks are porous.





.

Rubber stoppers are available from McMaster-Carr

I bought a bundle of rubber stoppers off of amazon prime, they will get the job done in the acid bath no problem as they go in at room temperature. However I was not going to plug the bores during the normal distilled water boil after the rusting, I didn't think it was necessary as I would dry out bores with a patch each time. Also I am doubtful that the plugs will hold as the temperature rises inside the barrels, they will pop off due to the expanding hot air. I though about venting them somehow with a pipe or something protruding through the rubber stopper.

Brian, I did a quick search for Oscar's letters but did not find anything right away. Could you send me in a direction? Thanks in advance.