Jeff, the French were pretty much like everyone else--Brits, Americans, etc--where Damascus and fluid steel are concerned. There was a period of time (last couple decades of the 19th century, first decade or so of the 20th) when both would be seen. Gradually, Damascus became more and more rare and fluid steel more and more common. Conventional wisdom is that fluid steel was stronger and better suited to smokeless powder. But the truth is, once boring fluid steel barrels was perfected, it was a cheaper process than producing Damascus--especially good quality Damascus.
I'd say you were very lucky on that Roblin. Expect you could make a little profit should you try to market it today.
Last edited by L. Brown; 12/26/07 02:25 PM.
