With Only a File and a Graver

[Bruce Day]

.......much can be done.

These were made not long after the Civil War had ended, before the airplane, automobile, telephone. They are still useful and the epitome of craftsmanship.

[calvin humburg]

Thanks Bruce love thoes laminated barrels and....!

[George M. Purtill]

as always Bruce - thanks for the eye candy.

[Dean Romig]

Very nice Bruce! I kinda miss the yellow terrycloth though.

[david lipps]

amazing

[Bill Murphy]

Tell us about the fluid steel B, especially the ownership provenance.

[Bruce Day]

DuPont estate.

[Bruce Day]

It is a later top action hammer gun with Parker Joseph Whitworth compressed fluid steel barrels. It was ordered by Dupont and came from the Dupont estate. The Whitworth process of producing compressed fluid steel in order to void the steel of air bubbles and impurity pockets was one of the first, if not the first, to reliably produce barrel blanks from fluid steel in distinction to castings. With the coming of the compressed fluid steel process, damascus barrel making declined, as damascus barrel manufacture depended greatly upon the skill of the barrel maker and was manpower intensive.

[calvin humburg]

Are Whitworth barrels and laminated barrles different? If not, are all laminated barrels Whitworth?

[Bruce Day]

Are Whitworth barrels and laminated barrles different? .....

yes

[Robin Lewis]

Calvin,

Here is a short writing I found on the internet that may help. Lam barrels are a form of welding steel while fluid steel is a solid ingot steel. The pressure references how they take imperfections, such as air bubbles out of the fluid steel to improve consistency (strength).

http://books.google.com/books?id=YdlCAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA495&lpg=PA495&dq=patent+1865+3018++fluid-compressed+steel&source=bl&ots=sO4thzjptp&sig=cZnGHSCx36EywqlbbdAhhosn_CE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=utxVUOaxJfG90QH03IGIBg&ved=0CEEQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=patent%201865%203018%20%20fluid-compressed%20steel&f=false

[Rick Losey]

Are Whitworth barrels and laminated barrles different? If not, are all laminated barrels Whitworth?

Laminated steel is more similar to twist or damasus - the main difference being that there is no iron strip, they start with steel formed into strips that are then joined forming them around a mandril.

[calvin humburg]

My dyslexic mind transformed [It is a later top action hammer gun] into I thought they were talking about the top hammer gun with I believe laminated barrels hence the dumb question. Usually confused ch. Thanks for help getting things stright.