Damascus chokes

[Stan Hillis]

Originally Posted by edgarspencer

Mike Orlen says he won’t work on damascus barrels, but Mitch Schultz did a set for me and says they hone just like steel barrels and didn’t understand why some smiths won’t do it. Unfortunately, Mitch just retired and Briley bought his machinery.

He doesn't like to mess with damascus but he honed a set of Remington 1889 barrels for me several years ago to clean up the worst of some pits. But, he was definitely reticent to do so. He had kept my barrels for several months and I called to see why he hadn't honed them and the discussion centered around the fact that they are damascus. I asked him why he didn't let me know immediately that he didn't work on damascus and he agreed to go ahead and do them.

Anyway, they turned out fine, and it cleaned up roughly 90% of the pitting.

If I wanted to have another set honed, or chokes opened, I'd call Dean Harris and see what he says about them.

[edgarspencer]

Stan, as you may have surmised, Mike is a bit of an odd duck. I have the luxury of only being 45 minutes away, and while I forget who gave me the hint, it turned out to be a valuable one; Take them there, and wait for them. In a few cases, I've gone into town and had a cup of coffee, and come right back. He's not so good in the communications department, and despite carrying his house phone in his pocket, he never answers after 8 AM.
I was very unhappy with what I ended up with on the last set, and his answer was that my bore gauge must be off. I figure if I ever work with him again, I'll just tell him how much to take out, not what the final measurement I wanted.
I honestly think he's good, but a little awkward to talk to.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by edgarspencer

Stan, as you may have surmised, Mike is a bit of an odd duck. I have the luxury of only being 45 minutes away, and while I forget who gave me the hint, it turned out to be a valuable one; Take them there, and wait for them. In a few cases, I've gone into town and had a cup of coffee, and come right back. He's not so good in the communications department, and despite carrying his house phone in his pocket, he never answers after 8 AM.
I was very unhappy with what I ended up with on the last set, and his answer was that my bore gauge must be off. I figure if I ever work with him again, I'll just tell him how much to take out, not what the final measurement I wanted.
I honestly think he's good, but a little awkward to talk to.

I may be the one who gave you that bit of advice Edgar. I have dropped off gthree different sets of barrels at Mike's and he suggested he'd have them done pretty quickly if I wanted to go into town foe a bite to eat and a coffee and the barrels would be done by the time I got back... and they were.





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