Refinishing damascus barrels

[Harold Lee Pickens]

This has been going thru my mind for some time now. I love the look of damascus/laminate barrels, and am debating having the barrrels refinished on this WW Greener sidelever 12 ga. from 1875. Was reading other posts today, and saw Edgar's "It's only original once." Love shooting the gun at SC and have also taken a few pheasants with it. Oh yeah, the gun was given to me by a friend who had no use for"that old wall hanger". The stock was cracked and was accraglassed, but has nice wood, that would probably "pop" if lightly refinished, but the barrels would be my primary goal.

[todd allen]

That looks like a great candidate for refinishing.
As an aside, I had a very interesting conversation with the late Brad Bachelder regarding the refinishing of a 16 gauge Parker hammer gun. The gun is in excellent shape, but the finish was removed.
Brad said that some would poo-poo the gun for being refinished, while others would be making a run on buying it.
There is probably a percentage of original finish that would be considered a threshold you don't cross on an all original gun. What that is would probably depend on the grade, and historical significance of the particular gun.
What that % of finish is, I don't know.

[Rick Losey]

Harold

It’s an English gun. Do it

They don’t have the hang up we do with American guns

Refreshing one there is basically maintenance

[Dean Romig]

I was very pleased with the result of Breck Gorman’s refinish on my Bernard barrels.





.

[Brian Dudley]

Refinishing the barrels would certainly improve the appearance. An aged hammer gun can always Benefit from it.
But, the darkness/lightness of the finish can make or break it. Too high of a contrast can really stick out like a sore thumb.

[Drew Hause]

Harold: please keep in mind that U.S. doubles were almost always finished in "black & white"; British were "browned".

This is a 'before'

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1373/6511424/17428644/318821015.jpg

And 'after' by Paul Stevens in England

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1373/6511424/17428644/411626185.jpg

This is Greener's "Silver" (Laminated) Steel refinished by Paul

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1373/6511424/18063717/376458885.jpg

[Brian Dudley]

Here is a good example of what I was speaking of above. This is a Charles Green: Rochester, NY built 10g.

I Repaired and mildly refinished the wood to maintain a aged look. And chased the checkering. As well as ultrasonic cleaned the action.

Breck refinished the barrels to a lower contrast which really looked good to complete the package.

86218

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Yes, I agree with Brian and Drew--I have seen some guns where the appearence of the gun just didnt fit the newly refurbished barrels. I need to take a good look at the gun, it may actually be laminate and not damascus--dont know what Greener was using in 1875. Cant discern much of any pattern on the barrels, even under the fore end. Drew's picture of Greener's laminate may be it.

[Richard Dobbs]

How does one ultrasonically clean the action and what equipment is needed. Many thanks,
Dick Dobbs

[CraigThompson]

How does one ultrasonically clean the action and what equipment is needed. Many thanks,
Dick Dobbs

To start with you need an “Ultra Sonic Cleaner” . I’ve put entire actions and apart actions in to be cleaned . I prefer the apart way of doing it just to be able to get all dry and oiled .

[CraigThompson]

Breck refinished one set of DH barrels for me and I thought they came out very well . He also relaid a top rib for me on another set of barrels that again I thought was great and it saved the day keeping me from wrapping that set of barrels around a tree :eek:

[Dean Romig]

I’ve read that you should remove leaf (flat) springs before ultrasound cleaning. These kinds of springs are subject to fracture from the ultrasound.

I’ve had no experience with this but thought I’d pass it along as a warning.





.

[Richard Dobbs]

Many thanks. Guess I'll have to visit my jewelry store friend or my dentist.
Dick :)