Greener measured the strength of the barrels (strongest to weakest) as:
Wire-Tist
Stub Twist
Charcoal
3d. Skelp
Damascus
Wiswould’s
Clearly at some point, damascus and laminated steel production was refined and improved to the point that British Laminated Steel was the winner of the Birmingham Proof House Test of 1891.
And for all you home chemists-here you go (I don't believe OSHA would approve of this stuff
)
On the Staining of Barrels
There exists innumberable recipes, and in fact almost every maker has his own method. The first I have found to answer uncommonly well, and which it would be a difficult matter to excel. It consists of the following ingredients:-
1 oz. Muriate Tincture of Steel
1 oz. Sp. Wine
½ oz. Muriate of Mercury
¼ oz. Stong Nitric Acid
1/8 oz. Blue Stone
1 quart Water
These are well mixed, and allowed to stand a month to amalgamate. After the oil or grease has been removed from the barrels by lime, the mixture is laid with a sponge, every two hours, and scratched off with a steel-wire bruch every morning, until the barrels are dark enough; and then the acid is destroyed by pouring on the barrels boiling water, and continuing to rub them until nearly cool.