Pete, ... I really do appreciate that you and the other Damascus experts here patiently share your knowledge with those of us who are still in Damascus Kindergarten. I could almost cry when I think of all the great deals I passed on over the years because the gun had those "unsafe to shoot barrels". It might interest (and sadden) you to know... the guy I bought the A. J. Aubrey from last week also sold me a Damascus Baker 12 ga. parts gun and a set of uncut 26" 16 Ga. Baker Damascus barrels. As I was digging through a couple hundred barrels, he remarked that knifemakers have been buying up a lot of his nicer Damascus barrels. He said they forge weld a thin layer of tool steel between 2 layers of Damascus barrel steel to make Damascus knives that have a hard core that will hold an edge. Apparently, some of those high dollar custom knives we see are recycled shotgun barrels.
Keith, we all have something to learn here. I have said this before. I learned from Oscar, Russ and Miller. Miller would catch my mistakes and correct me. Russ would slap me in the head when I needed, then kindly point me in the right direction. Oscar spent countless hours on the phone answering my dumb questions. About a year ago, a huge discussion developed and many people were able to add their knowledge. There is more information available today than ever. A real gem is Google Books. They have a stated goal of adding 15 million books in the next few years. Start with Greener and go from there. It reached it's height with the Belgians where they took it to an art form. Eventually they were able to weave names into the barrels.
I am aware of the knife makers doing that. As a matter of fact, some of my more interesting exchanges have been with knife makers, blacksmiths and the muzzle loader makers.
They create that sandwich because true gun barrel damascus is a terrible product for a blade. It is a bundle of welds.
Pete
