Damascus colors

[Double Trouble]

Brad:

Are you saying that not even the English makers had a brown/white color to their composite barrels ? I know nothing compared to you, but I always heard that the English did brown/white, while here in the states we tended to do black/white.

I have an old J. D. Dougall that (under the fore end wood) has nice brown/white damascus. That part of the finish looks original. (...but it's had 139 years to oxidize.)

[Parker Bachelder (Brad's Profile)]

John

As you know that question is a "hotbed" topic. I have worked on English guns my entire career. I have not researched English processes to the depth that I have American ones.
The English refinish their guns much more frequently than Americans, it is a part of their culture. The English never condemed Damascus as we did. They never stopped refinishing them.
I can only sight experience and observation. Every "London Best" original condition or factory refinished composite barreled Double that I have worked on, was finished black and white. I have observed brown and white in very early antique shotguns and rifles, but not in contemporary design composite barreled shotguns.
I believe that the English brown and white we see in vintage imports is a result of the way the refinishers did it, not the gunmakers.

Brad