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There really is no reason to address the scale issue Ed, because it is pretty much a non-issue. Scale begins to form as soon as red hot steel or iron comes in contact with the oxygen in the air. It is a form of oxidation that blacksmiths learned to control and remove when forge welding, long before they began making Damascus barrels. Over time, they discovered the best materials to use as fluxes to prevent scale when producing barrels, knives, swords, and other items. Some of these materials, like sodium tetraborate are still widely used today for forge welding. It is almost certain that a small amount of scale was trapped within the welds of Twist and Damascus, but it isn't enough to materially weaken the barrels. They were made with a built-in safety margin, and they were proof tested with high pressure loads. Like modern steel tubes that are proof tested, the defective ones don't usually make it out the door. Even after 100 years or more, Damascus barrels that are given proper care do not self destruct and rust away like a cancer is eating them from within. But even the best Kilby or Whitworth or Krupp fluid steel barrels will become pitted and dangerous if they are neglected and permitted to rust and corrode. There are literally millions of surviving Damascus guns that prove guys like Randy Wakeman wrong every day.

Same goes for the thing about acid flux being used to tin and solder barrels together. The flux is displaced by the molten solder, and none remains under the solder. As long as the corrosive residue is neutralized and flushed away after soldering, then there is nothing left in between those barrels to eat them away. And if that corrosive flux residue had been left in between our barrels and ribs, it sure wouldn't take over 100 years to eat holes in the tubes. The damage would have happened fairly soon after they were built.

What it boils down to is this... somewhere out there tonight... on some classic or muscle car forum, there is a guy saying he will never drive a 1963 Corvette split window coupe because it does not have 3 point seat belts and air bags. And there is another guy who says he would never drive a 1934 Deusenberg because it does not have dual circuit brake master cylinders, crush zones and engineered door and roof pillars to protect him in a crash. Most of us here grew up without ever wearing a bicycle helmet, riding in a protective infant car seat, or having pills in child-proof bottles and covers on receptacles. We played with fireworks and BB guns that could put your damn eye out. Somehow we survived. And I'll continue to live dangerously... shooting guns that have survived over 100 years without any problems. Besides, there are worse things than blowing up a gun: