This is interesting also!
Commercial Relations of the United States with Foreign Countries During the Year 1903By United States Bureau of Foreign Commerce, United States Dept. of Commerce and Labor. Bureau of Statistics, United States Bureau of Manufactures
Published by G.P.O., 1904
http://books.google.com/books?id=piEZAAAAYAAJ "Gun Barrel Industry in Liege"
http://books.google.com/books?id=piEZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA330&dq=damascus+barrels#PPA328,M1 GUN-BARREL MAKING HEREDITARY.
While the Province of Liege can justly boast of its industries in other lines, including zinc, iron, steel, locomotives, automobiles, motorcycles, steel rails, structural bridge iron, and cut glass and tableware, its specialty, for which it enjoys such exclusive notoriety, is the prime manufacture of guns and gun barrels, the quality of which, whether it be of the ordinary and cheaper grades for which the United States offers a lucrative field, or for the superior class sold in Great Britain and throughout Europe, are equally unsurpassed.
Extraordinary facilities, low wages for expert service, and acknowledged capability of the barrel smiths, give Liege the almost exclusive manufacture of this product. The genius of the workmen in the art of barrel making is traditional and is inherited. Their ancestors, engaged in the same work, were experts.
This trade is handed down from father to son. Each succeeding generation seems to add to the perfection acquired. It is not an unusual thing to see a father and two or three sons working in the same shop, while a daughter is probably employed in another part engaged in some lighter branch of the trade.
OUTPUT OF LIEGE FACTORIES.
The Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre at Heristal, located within the environments of Liege, is among the largest small-arm manufactories in the world, employing about 2,000 persons, including women who become experts in polishing and fitting, many being able to drill a gun barrel equally with the men. When on orders, this institution has a capacity of 500 Mausers in a day, besides its other puns and motorcycles, for which it is also noted. Nearly 1,500 small machines are in operation, all of which materially add to the building of the gun. This shop manufactures gun barrels only for the Mausers, the barrels for other guns being purchased from the barrel makers.
Jupille, a small place of ancient origin, doubly noted as the place where Pepin of Heristal died in the year 714, and for the residence of Charlemagne, is located about 6 miles from Liege, and has within its limits the largest gun-barrel manufactory in the world. The capacity of the works is 2,000 for every working day. This company enjoys the exclusive right to use the Krupp steel in the making of its gun barrels.
MANUFACTORIES AND HOUSE WORKERS.
The boring of the steel bar is an interesting operation. The machine on which the same is made is automatically constructed so that when the drilling is complete the machine stops automatically. Some use oil to lubricate the drills while others have a small stream of water following the drills to wash out the borings. When it is known that nearly 70,000 persons of both sexes are engaged in the making of guns, barrels, and stocks, it is not to be wondered at that Liege is the grand depot for this industry. Most of these persons work at home, having arranged, in connection with their houses, a small shop no larger than an ordinary woodshed. The large manufacturers give out the stock and barrel in the rough to these independent operators, who carve and drill the same into the required shape, receiving compensation by the piece. The barrel is not paid for, however, until it has passed the usual test at the Government proving ground and bears the stamp of perfection. This system relieves the gun manufacturer of responsibility, for if the barrel prove defective, the maker must stand the loss. Very few of the test specimens are rejected so perfectly are they constructed. The law governing the test is quite severe, and any violation of the same in an attempt to sell or dispose of a gun without the Government stamp, or to counterfeit the said Government stamp, is met with severe penalty. This restriction applies as well to the guns of higher grade as to those of the cheapest make.
This industry is synonymous with the growth and development of Liege since the end of the last century. It gives to the people a living competence, while the Government's revenue derived therefrom is large.
The old flintlock is again being manufactured for the Kongo. It is made with the usual long barrel and is painted in gorgeous colors. The gun is put out wholesale for something less than a dollar.
STEEL V. DAMASCUS BARRELS.
At present a certain rivalry exists between the damascus and steel barrel makers. Each with proofs of the greater merit of their material attempts to point out the weakness of that of his rival. The damascus makers, much fewer than those manufacturing steel barrels, with hereditary tenacity and ancient prestige, vehemently resent the imputation that, steel is superior to their fabric, while the steel makers are just as emphatic in their contention that theirs is the superior material, and while they will admit that in former years the damascus was superior both in finish and strength to that of the steel barrel, they say that the quality of steel has now reached such a high state of perfection that it is much more reliable than the damascus, and that the damascus finish of the barrel alone, with its perfect and regular blending of the iron and steel, twisted into certain defined figures in manufacturing is the only sense in which the damascus is superior to the steel barrel. They further contend that, as the steel is a solid and compact mass, it must be essentially more durable, and therefore has a higher power of resistance than that of their rivals.
They admit that formerly the steel barrel was liable to have in it a seam running horizontally the whole length of the barrel, and that it was then necessary to wrap it adversely with ribbons or bands to prevent an opening of the seam under the pressure of firing, with corresponding danger to the shooter, but that the steel barrel of the present make has in it no seams or dents of any sort, and being a perfect solid mass can obviously withstand a greater pressure than the damascus, which is alternately mixed with iron and steel. The damascus makers offer in support of their contention that their barrels are welded, soldered, and made by hand, formed of a specially made quality of steel and iron properly twisted and blended under a perfect and precise temperature, and the resisting power must therefore be greater than the others, that if after long usage and under repeated firing pressure the barrel is dangerously strained and near the explosive point, it will indicate the danger of bulging or some other irregular condition; but should the gun barrel of steel make become dangerous, it gives no prior warning, being a compact and solid piece, and that the danger of a steel-barrel explosion is more serious in any event than that of the damascus make. They further say that the steel-barrel makers are not consistent in their contentions and that they oftentimes resort to coloring their barrels after the damascus finish and sell them as damascus, and in consequence have done the damascus barrel much injury, as very few people handling or using sporting guns know the difference between the genuine damascus barrel and the one having the damascus finish artificially put on with a coloring mixture. The manufacture of damascus tubes or barrels is confined to one district that extends from Nessonvaux to Chaudfoutaine, noted for its ancient workshops, the prime quality of its gun barrels, and the capability of its workmen who in early days were chosen on this account for service in the imperial manufactories.
THE MANUFACTURE OF DAMASCUS BARRELS.
I recently visited Nessonvaux—the quaint old village above mentioned—where since remotest times the gun-barrel manufactory has gone on uniterruptedly to the present time.
There is an ancient atmosphere about the place, while the crude and humble workshops of the damascus makers, in comparison with the steel manufacturers, shows that the latter product is in much greater demand. The damascus people say that as the steel barrel is so much cheaper it naturally has a greater demand, but that the better quality of guns, such as the finest of the English make, have their barrels.
At Nessonvaux the workshops adjoining each other in rows are no larger than an ordinary shed or room, while each shop is supplied with a forge and bellows, with the necessary tools and two workmen, the principal of which does the important work while the other operates the bellows and acts as a striker when necessary.
These small shops have existed for over one hundred years, the present owners having operated the same, which came to them from their fathers, since 1854. I saw nothing suggesting the word modern, the work being systematically pounded out on the anvils, and the twisting being done with small hand machinery.
The steel and iron used in the making of darnascus is specially made. Certain kinds of coal found in distinct localities in Belgium is used in the perfection of the damascus material.
To begin with, the workmen are skilled in their art, the same having come down from generation to generation and is now being handed down from father to son. They know no other employment and have no desire whatever to break over their traditional environments. Their daily avocation is a congenial one and the compensation derived from the same is sufficient to satisfy their modest wants. That skill and a knowledge of their trade is necessary can be readily seen when one considers that each damascus barrel or tube, welded by hand, receives one hundred and fifty heatings or three hundred for the double barrel, and if in every heating it has not been worked at a precise temperature, the same may be spoiled by the disarrangement of the damascus finish or a lack of the necessary soldering.
The manufacture of damascus barrels commenced when the flint stone gave way to the fulminate. It is, however, known that many of the crowned heads of Europe and members of the aristocracy used these barrels on their fowling pieces in early days, but were crude when compared with the damascus barrel of to-day.
HOW DAMASCUS BARBELS ARE MADE.
Having secured steel and iron of the proper quality, sheets are cut into proper dimensions and placed in alternating rotation one upon the other, viz, one steel one iron, one steel one iron, etc. About thirty of these sheets are placed in a sheet-iron box or tied together at the ends with sheet-iron bands to keep them in place while being heated. This alternate mixture of iron and steel in set proportions, hammered and twisted under certain degrees of temperature, constitutes the substance known as damascus.
Refined charcoal iron is necessary for the manufacture of a fine damascus. Coke iron blends the ingredients and makes a dim and imperfect figure.
After the bundles above described are arranged, they are put into heating furnaces, the temperature of which must be low, for if too hot it would burn and destroy the strength of the materials. After the bundles are heated they are welded and sent to the rolling mills to be laminated and made into small square bars. These bars are turned over to an experienced workman who makes the ribbons. From three to six of these bars or strips are united together, according to the quality of the figure desired. These in turn are then welded and laminated into ribbons. Much care must be taken in twisting these ribbons to obtain proportional results with reference to the damascus figure.
The twisting of the strips must be done with geometrical precision if the regular damascus figure is to be maintained, while the twists must follow the graduations of thickness of the ribbons. Having made the ribbon of the desired size and thickness, it is carefully wrapped in spiral form around an iron bar which has been covered with a sheet-iron sleeve of its own form to give solidity to the spiral mass and to better facilitate the introduction and withdrawal of the bar after each heating without injury to the wound ribbon. The formation thus far presents a spiral or springy substance which has the elasticity of a spring, and the bar above mentioned must be placed on the inside to enable the workmen to properly weld the joints, which is successively done by hand hammering on anvils having certain defined grooves. The barrel has not yet assumed a solid form, but the spiral is so closely wrapped that it represents a tube or barrel, the hollow place being maintained by the iron bar with sleeve covering, which bar can be inserted or withdrawn at will, the sleeve better facilitating its movement and preventing injury to the barrel or spiral.
RESULTS OF CARELESSNESS.
Unless due care is exercised this sleeve can be the cause of great damage to the gun barrel, for, in its various hammering and the reduction of the finished barrel to the proper gauge, parts of this sleeve adhere to the inside of the tube, and the shooter will notice the scaling off of this foreign substance, which is called splinters. It is not part of the barrel proper, and is the result of carelessness. This happens only with the barrel of inferior make. With the higher grade of barrels the minute examination of the same would invariably reveal this defect.
The barrel is welded and hammered into form in proportion to the outside dimensions, which proportion must be maintained to increase and preserve its strength and flexibility.
The next step is the boring out, straightening, and polishing, the latter being done on an emery stone, which permits of better results than the lathe, inasmuch as it better preserves the proportional thickness throughout, and, the makers say, gives better satisfaction than the lathe.
The straightening is done in a small, vise-like machine, arranged slightly higher than the operator's head. The barrel is placed in this machine while the force is operated through a hand lever. The barrel is focused on a subdued light about 20 feet from the operator, while his eye is placed close to the barrel at the end above his head, which end is gradually brought down until the proper focus is secured. The eye must be accurate to get results, while the work is rapidly done.
The alternate layers of steel and iron produce the white and black stripes which, when accurately twisted and worked, gives that figure on the barrel known as the damascus. The shades of the figures are heightened by the application and rubbing in of certain acids, which is called the process of bronzaga, or putting into color.
While the steel and damascus makers champion with zeal their respective fabrics, and offer apparently convincing proofs of the merits
of their contentions, I was unable to get an unbiased opinion on the subject. I did, however, speak with a maker at Nessonvaux who manufactures both kinds, and who was pronounced in favor of the damascus, which species is, however, his principal article of manufacture. In support of his contention he handed me a copy of an official certificate of a test made at his request. The test was made in 1901.
RELATIONS OP EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES.
In the course of my investigations and conversations both with the manufacturers and employees, I found the relationship of master and servant a pleasant one.
The working people were active and happy, contented in following the trade of their forefathers and the compensation it afforded. I nowhere found manifested a spirit of restlessness or discontent among the employees. While the wages were extremely low, even for the most expert service, a look of prosperity surrounded their homes as well as their persons. 1 find but little poverty here, even though Belgium is the most thickly populated kingdom in the world for its size. They enjoy their holidays in innocent games and music. All are musical and can either play musical instruments or sing. Music is in the air, and workmen and masters have the art of composition. This is due to the grand opportunities afforded Belgians through the Royal Conservatoire kept up by the Government, and which institution has a staff of musical professors in all branches known throughout the world.
The Belgian people of all classes, whether in their homes, workshops, or cafes, are happy and contented with their lot in life. 
