Restoration prospects for Damascus-Twist-Lamenated Steel
 

I have been looking at a few guns with "patterned" steel barrels and was contemplating a professional restoration. I was wondering how to determine if the barrels can be in fact resurrected to their original state. Some of the guns I've seen are in poor shape so I wanted to bounce it off the experts as to what I should look for when evaluating an old work of art and bringing her back to her original beauty. Is a Damascus pattern more of a patina finish? Is this process very involved?

Thanks for any and all insight!

Todd

Patterned steel is patterned because of the mix of irons/steels

look for thick walls and as little pitting as you can find. unless they have already been cleaned up, it would be very unusual to not find some pitting or frosting in the bores, barrels should ring if hung by the barrel hook and lightly tapped (no metal - i flick my finger nail on them)

the patterns are in the barrels - and is determined but the constructions- twist is a candy cane sort of look - damascus is a swirl and there are variations in each

if you are new to it, it may be best to have them checked by an expert

take a look here for some great examples
http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=12067

search the hammer guns threads for damascus or twist and you will find lots of pictures

I appreciate the reply. What I'm looking at has a brown patina in which you can barely see the twist pattern. Assuming no pitting and proper thickness....the gun is structurally ok; is it safe to say that twist pattern can be enhanced significantly by a professional? Are some just too far gone? I've seen some gorgeous examples of these barreled guns that I'd love to own someday

These barrels had no Damascus pattern at all when purchased, they were actually cold blued, when the bluing was removed they were silver colored. After professional restoration they look like this.

the pattern will vary from gun to gun even within the same material, but i can't think of why it cannot be restored finish wise

the process is basically a matter of cleaning back to bare metal and rebrowning the fresh metal. time consuming and fussy work.

there are several people who do a great job search the forum for Bachelder or Edmonds and you will find some redone barrels posted by members

I expect these will look great redone

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...ps15596222.jpg

Thank you! Very helpful

barrel wall thickness will be most important .040 thou. or better is nice this will allow backing boring to get rid of the pits , don't worry about dents they are taken out when they are refinished , matching hammers on older guns is a must but I think the most important thing is a stock that is not broken, don't worry about worn off checkering , small chips same goes for the forend, most of the woods appearance problems are easy to solve. I always look at the stock first

I just got a set back tonight that Dale Edmonds refinished and it was astounding.

Pictures please Mills. Dale does wonderful work.

Pictures are forthcoming. I need to get some time and good light.

This is the DH 10 Brian Dudley helped me restore. It was a total wreck and now looks like a work of art. All new wood, original barrels refinished by Dale and two new sets of barrels, both twist, 12 gauge and 10 gauge. On a 3 frame, so now I have a 3 frame 12 gauge. Just awesome all around. Stay tuned for photos.

Yesterday was a good day. In addition to the DH 10 arriving, Julia's VH 16 gauge arrived too, so we had new guns raining on us. Will get up photos of both.

can't wait to see it - i picked up shorter open barrels for the 2 frame ten (came with 32"), i would love to add 12's to the set

These do not do the project justice, but here are some preliminary before/after photos

Before
http://i1306.photobucket.com/albums/...psb0aaf384.jpg

http://i1306.photobucket.com/albums/...ps48069659.jpg

After

http://i1306.photobucket.com/albums/...psfdba40e3.jpg

http://i1306.photobucket.com/albums/...psfbc680ee.jpg

http://i1306.photobucket.com/albums/...psd9c30883.jpg

mighty nice gun..i love to see these old guns brought back to a shooting shape and making thempurty again.. now we wana here how many ducks that 3 frame 12 got.... charlie

Thanks Mills, very nice.

Thanks for the comments. It has not shot any ducks, yet, but I only got it back yesterday. It will get a turn at ducks soon enough. Probably clays this weekend too.

Back to the original intent of this thread, Dale Edmonds did a fantastic job. They were even worse than they appear here in the before pictures. I thought they were headed for the scrap heap. Fortunately, there was enough wall thickness and now they look great. I just sent him another set of barrels and recommend him to anyone. I will add that Brian Dudley did most of the work restoring this gun from repairing the parts to replacing the wood and he sent these barrels to Dale. I recommend Brian and Dale

The 10 looks great mills. Who recolored the frame.

Brian just kind of cleaned it up. I kind of like it

Very nice job by them both Mills. Nice to see that gun put back into proper shape. Always amazed by the talent of some folks. Thanks for the post

I just love to see another wonderful old parker saved and not parted out , warms my heart. nice save mills

one other thing , looks like a very nice match on the tubes Damascus pattern some are not well matched , lucky dog

Thanks guys. Yes, I enjoyed saving this one

Mills;
Your gun looks great with the original patina left in intact. Brian did a nice job retaining it, the barrels look great; now go out and enjoy it in the marsh.

Thanks Daryl. The engraving on the receiver is worn. Brian cleaned it up and removed dents, etc. We did not recut the engraving or re case color it, basically because we did not get around to it (or I did not). Now looking at it, I kind of like that some of the gun's patina has remained and will probably just leave it alone. More photos to come.

bring them pictures on...charlie