....I have read in several writings of the cold hammering of barrel tubes after welding. Greener states that this hammering greatly increases the density of the metal and was done to the best barrels....
....I expect that barrels of complicated damascus patterns, like Bernard and chain, were more likely to be welded by experienced smiths, due to their skill of uniform manipulation of the material. Barrels were probably graded after finishing and etching to display the damascus pattern. Barrels with very uniform patterns would be saved for best guns....
I've wondered if the mentioned cold hammering, in the context of a low carbon steel, was a form of work hardening. Or, the perception of increased density by smiths of the era.
Maybe(?), after the tensile tests a 'typical' damascus barrel sample could be sent off for spectrometer chemical analysis. Say three or four samples off the same barrels, just to get a feel for how different or similar readings would be off same barrel. I'd spring for it if Doc Drew wanted, and if his lab wouldn't do it, maybe even the local Fastenal might.
The experience of good smiths seeing a forming pattern even if it wasn't visible was my thought process about the barrel grinders. I was just suspecting that there were some barrel grinders that could size up a blank better than others, and had a better sense of where the pattern was before it was finished. I wonder if more time consuming patterns were walked over to grinders that had the knack, just to give things a better chance to come out as hoped.
