I received my copy today of "
Damaszener Stahl: Mythos, Geschichte, Technik, Anwendung" by Manfred Sachse. This 1989 13"x11" book of 253 page is devoted to Manfred's research into damascus history and it's production. Most of this well indexed book is about bladed weapons. He does, however, have a chapter exclusively on damascus barrels. Manfred is the only publish modern researcher on the subject who has spent considerable time at the avail. In addition, he set up a forge where he produced damascus faggots weighing from 3 to 5kg and even produced some as large as 1.5 tons. He has experimented with producing most of the damascus types and patterns he has observed.
Some interesting bits from the book.
In 1863 near Nydam, Denmark 2 ships were found buried in a bog containing damascus swords from the 4th to 6th century.
Francois Clouet (1751-1801) director of the Daigny steel works in France actively recruited workmen from Liege and Franchment to aid in the production of damascus barrels.
In 1798 William Dupein in England was developing a process for damascus production. The work was carried on by J. Jones who received a patent in 1806.
In 1804 Nicolas Bernard was producing damascus barrels in Versailles.
Anton Crivelli of Milan (circa 1822) was working with damascus barrels. He wrote a paper in which he mentions Nicholson, O'Reilly, Wilde of Sheffield and Clouet.
In 1828 Anossov of Russian became a major producer of damascus barrels.
In 1829 Cavaliere de Beroaldo Bianchini writes a paper about damascus barrels from Vienna.
He also mentions Juan Sanchez De Miruenna of Spain as being a producer.
He identifies the later 19th centers of production as Liege, Birmingham, St. Etienne, Suhl and Brescia. In 1906 Liege produced 850 tons of damascus barrels. Of this there were enough to make 156,000 damascus sxs shotguns.
While Liege became the center of damascus barrel production, Solingen equaled Liege as the center for damscus hilted weapons.
An observation from Sachse. Gas or Oil fired furnaces are a waste of time for damascus production, as they result in high levels of decarburization.
He defines something called "Concealed Damascus". Apparently the surface is ground until no texture or "water marks" remain.
By the way. Thanks to Doug Mann who recommended this book back at the begining of this thread. It took forever to find a copy
Pete
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