fake damascus barrels

[charlie cleveland]

I was reading a sears 1908 reproduction catalogue it was a Aubrey double barrel...it said the barrels were modern steel with a fake Damascus finish on it...I ve heard of this butjust let it pass....this is the first written proof I ve seen of this....what do you fellas think....charlie

[hugh rather]

I have seen this discussed in other forums.Many say these are not safe to fire due to poor quality steel used . I have seen muzzleloading " muff pistols " with clearly etched pattern on the barrel.Had one hammer shotgun with false damascus made by H. Pieper co. in Belgium.Never fired it.

[Drew Hause]

Here you go Charlie
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Yn-0vx1pk19eHwzrfVTEdWz-dlL4VmbBLoH53uqGkFE/edit

1895 Montgomery Ward catalog

https://photos.smugmug.com/Damascus/Faux/i-g4CxbNv/0/9465257c/M/T.%20Parker%20MW%201895%20Catalog-M.jpg (https://drewhause.smugmug.com/Damascus/Faux/i-g4CxbNv/A)

1902 Sears catalog

https://photos.smugmug.com/Damascus/Faux/i-PM7GrLb/0/6da548fa/L/T.%20Parker%20Sears%201902-L.png (https://drewhause.smugmug.com/Damascus/Faux/i-PM7GrLb/A)

You'll note the name on the illustration is T. Parker.
"Wilson's steel" was simply a Sears tradename.

To be clear, Faux Damascus, either roll-graved or décalcomanie was never offered on a U.S. manufactured double, but was available on Belgian tradename guns sold by Sears, Wards, and U.S. sporting goods and hardware stores.

[Breck Gorman]

Cheap iron barrels were imprinted superficially with a Damascus pattern to fool uninformed buyers. Still fools people today. Back then it was known as “Sham Dam”.

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

I have learned something today ,thanks Charlie for bring it to light, I guess its sort of like "Fools Gold". Gary

[todd allen]

I've heard about fake Damascus, but never read an actual meaningful discussion about it.
Thanks, all.

[John Allen]

On the other hand, I have seen sellers tell people that their real damascus barrels were fake damascus. That was common in the 50s,60s,and into the 70s when folks were afraid of damascus barrels. The sales pitch was that the barrels were "safe" fluid steel made to look like "unsafe" damascus.

[charlie cleveland]

thanks researcher.... and every body I thought this to be interesting subject....char;ie

[Craig Budgeon]

Thanks, Charlie, I never gave the subject credence before today.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

30 plus years ago a local sporting goods store had a pair of extra extra clean Remington doubles, a 16 and a 12 that had clearly come in together. I remember eavesdropping on a conversation between the owner and potential buyer where he was explaining how they were fluid steel with an etched damascus pattern. It makes me chuckle when I think of it. He seemed so earnest....

[charlie cleveland]

I ve been told this gun has fake Damascus barrels no I did not believe them at that time...but the next fellow that tells me this I might believe him...passed up a 10 ga greener because of this....don t really know why because I ve always shot what I wanted to in these dangerous barrels and never worried about it.....charlie

[Breck Gorman]

Years ago, I took a Damascus refinishing class out in Colorado at Trinidad State NRA summer session taught by Mark Beasland. There were about 15 Students who brought about 35 barrels to work on that week. We brought project guns that we could afford cheap to learn. One of them was Belgian faux Damascus. Mark said that one or two show up every year he teaches a class.

http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2010/06/barrel-making-fake-damascus-barrels.html

Here is a link to a succinct explanation of how they were made. Cheap iron tubes. Some of these clunkers still survive.

[Drew Hause]

Breck: the person (who also posted on Shotgun World but refused to identify himself) who posted that blog borrowed the explanation and images from my PictureTrail (now defunct :( ) and website (which costs me money to maintain), linked earlier. I got many of my images from gentleman here, or had to find them on the internet, and early on didn't do a great job of documenting the sources. Many contributors asked to remain anonymous.
An attribution would have been nice, but I'm not selling anything, and the information is free.

[Breck Gorman]

Had no idea. Forgive me.

[Drew Hause]

No problem Breck. As said, I'm only interested in collecting and saving information and not selling anything.