Trio of refinished barrels
 

I received 3 Damascus barrels from a fellow PGCA member to refinish, a Lefever H, Parker 16g GH and a Remington 1894. Not a lot of discernible pattern, thick oxide on the Remington, plenty of dents and a loose lower rib on the Lefever. Worth the effort in the end with some pleasant surprises.
Before

After

Parker GH close ups

Close ups of Lefever H with Damascus twist. The area where one riband ends and the next begins is remarkable. There is a basket weave pattern where the ribands were hammer welded fused together. It looks as if individual strands were woven. There are two examples in this photo.

Now for the Remington with a mesmerizing Etoile pattern. Looks like stars on Van Gogh night horizon.

you sure done a fine job on the barrels....i like them all but the remington barrels sure catch my eye...job well done....charlie

Starry Night Over The Rhone by Van Gogh

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The Etoile pattern on the Remington is gorgeous.
But the Lefever Damascus Twist pattern fascinates me, because on closer inspection, it really is woven. Not only at the riband end welds, but in the rest of the body, the pale steel billets pass over and under each other. I’ve read that the effect is due to mushrooming of the metals during hammerforging. But I don’t think so. It looks like it was woven before it was ever wrapped on the mandrel and hammer forged. Twist is underrated in my opinion. I’d like to know other’s opinions.

Three wonderful examples of why we like those hand made barrels so much.

Excellent work and beautiful patterns!

Wow that is an incredible job very well done:bowdown:

Beautiful contrast Breck.
Remington called that pattern on 1894 C grades "Etoile 3. B.P."; Ithaca called it "American Flag"

The lopin lower left would be "American Flag"; lower 3rd is "Washington"

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../412652502.jpg

Remington also had an "Etoile 3. B.P." with very fine "stars" within the scrolls

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../403867979.jpg

This is a Parker with "Washington" and the "stars" within the scrolls are mostly tiny rectangles

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../317324708.jpg

Here's another Damascus-Twist pattern with an end-on ribband

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../282227713.jpg

Steve Culver thinks the lopin was something like this, and that the "mushrooming" was from external hammering

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../405710290.jpg

I agree.





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Steve Culver’s interpretation makes a lot of sense. Thanks for making that clear.

I would call:
1. The Rem is American Flag Bunting , a Damascus pattern.
2. The Parker G is Crolle, a Damascus pattern.
3. The Lefever is Twist, not Damascus at all.

Nicely done refinishes. I appreciate composite barrels and regularly use such guns for target and hunting. Photos to follow of a Mod 1883 Colt shot gun with nice Damascus when the stock gets its final Brian Board mastery.

Breck: I dug out my image from Charles Semmer's book of the labeled Remington damascus sample rod and you were correct; Remington called the pattern "Etoile (Star) 3. B.P.". Both it and "Washington N 3. B.P." were offered on the 1894 C grade. I corrected my post.

5 Washington and Etoile variants in the Joseph Juleinond de Nessonvaux sample box

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../411660177.jpg

As said, Ithaca called the pattern "American Flag"

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../409894739.jpg

Baker called this pattern "Best London Damascus Twist"

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../271046270.jpg

and some Ferlach and Liege makers called it "London". The lower sample is acid etched

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../325223725.jpg

And just to make it more confusing, Bruce is correct that neither "Twist" nor "Damascus Twist" are twisted before being helically hammer welded on a mandrel, ie. not a "crolle" (curled) pattern
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...LxMESM3W0/edit

There are many types of twist, ranging from stub twist, best twist and London twist. The plainest twist I have seen was the short lived Parker in house made twist. The high grades of twist are highly attractive in my opinion.

Found my images of Damascus Twist Parkers

1888 12g No. 0 toplever hammer gun with Damascus-Twist refinished by Dale Edmonds. Courtesy of David Purnell.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../305238492.jpg

No. 1 toplever hammergun refinished by Brad Bachelder

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../386972891.jpg

Parker Twist, original finish

If a person wants to be correct about it, common misnomers are

Damascus Twist... should be just Twist

Underlifter when applied to a Parker ... Parker termed it a lifter action and there are no Parker side lifters , top lifters or anything else.

Not sure I'm ready for the quiz, but studying sure is pleasant. I really enjoy the knowledge of my colleagues. Thanks!

Looking at those great Remington barrels, easy to see why a customer would go for a CE-Grade rather than the CEO-Grade --

Attachment 75069

Attachment 75070

I have Parker Twist barrels on a P grade with original finish and they do not look at all like yours, Bruce.

Gary: This is c. 1875 Parker "Stub Twist"

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../414008378.jpg

This is c. 1890 Parker "Fine English Twist", which was of course not made in England

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../356490813.jpg

I was thinking those were barrels of Parker made Twist . If not, is the consensus that they are English Fine Twist ?

John Davis' research suggests that Parker Bros. made Twist and Laminated Steel barrels in-house 1877 to possibly 1882.
Scroll to the bottom here
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...4S6OIN1bA/edit

1877 Lifter possibly with Parker Twist courtesy of Mark Landskov; refinished by Brad Bachelder

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../399191929.jpg

Lifter era catalogs listed "English Twist", but there are Lifter examples with ribs marked "Stub Twist" and "Plain Twist".
Possibly someone could check an early top lever catalog for the descriptive term?
1890s No. 1s were listed as "Fine English Twist"; Quality T hammer guns with "Twist".

My P grade (1903) looks like Drew's example of "Fine English Twist". I tried to take some photos but cannot get them to come out clear enough.