doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Laminated steel finish issue

I�m refinishing a set of Belgian laminated steel barrels. I�ve polished them back to bright with 320 grit paper, rust blued them twice then dipped for 7 seconds on ferric chloride. After the acid dip, I burnished by hand and neutralized the acid with baking soda. I�ve done several other barrels using this method and had very good results. This time, with these barrels, I get absolutely zero contrasting bands between the steel and iron.

Any suggestions?

Dave

Dave, When I was teaching Damascus finishing at Trinidad we had this happen at least once a class. Many of the belgian turn of the century hardware store guns had fake pattern. Some stated damascus "finish" and some did not. The finish was applied to the barrels not in the barrels, once it is removed it is gone forever. One poor student brought 3 sets of barrels and 2 were fake.

Thanks Mark. I would have never guessed that as on the top rib it is stamped Belgian Laminated Steel.

Dave