Restoration prospects for Damascus-Twist-Lamenated Steel

[Todd T]

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

[OH Osthaus]

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

[Todd T]

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

[Holeshot]

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.

[OH Osthaus]

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

[Todd T]

Thank you! Very helpful

[paul stafford jr]

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

[Mills]

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

[Double Lab]

Pictures please Mills. Dale does wonderful work.

[Mills]

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