doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Black and white Damascus

Who is doing good black and white Damascus finishing? A couple of the good black and white finishers are no longer doing it. I don't know who is out there now.

Rich, there is a fellow advertising in the latest DGJ. A name I have never heard of , but I don't get around much. I guess that he's serious, since he has a nice ad in the upper left of one page, as I recall.

I�d recommend you visit with the folks at Bachelder Master Gunworks.

I've had Bachelders refinish several Damascus barrels for me in black & white. I'm very pleased with every one of them and normally would recommend Bachelders in a heartbeat.

I do have to throw in a caveat though. Brad Bachelder passed away earlier this year. I believe his son Parker has taken the reins for running the gunsmithing business. Parker has been involved with doing the Black & White finishing when Brad was running the show so his work should live up to Bachelders well earned reputation. I personally haven't seen any of the work out of Bachelders since Brad's death, but have been thinking of sending them a set of barrels as a test to see if they are still hitting the high bar set by Brad.

If it were me. I would call Bachelders and ask to talk to Parker, then make my decision to send him my barrels based on my feelings from the conversation.

Bachaelders did a H&H in black and white and its BEAUTIFUL!

I have had Aaron Zimmerman do one set for me a couple years ago and the work was good. But that is all I have had to go on. It is a little bit of a part time endeavor for him and leadtimes were out there.

I only contracted to Bachelders one time for a set of barrels, about 3 years ago and the experience was less than favorable. Repeated promeses of �2 weeks� turned into a year and the results were sub par. And the lack of professional courtesy shown me in the process was inexcusable. And I was seeing a lot of issues with dark spots on other barrel sets finished by them.
Now, i do have to say that the few examples I have seen come out of there recently look very good. However my personal experience and a LOT of stuff i have seen really soured me on that particular shop.

Since the retiring of Dale Edmunds, I have found myself not really being able to have a reliable source for damascus finishing.

Thanks to everyone who responded. Without Dale Edmunds and Craig Smith and with the Bachelors getting mixed reviews, there does not seem to be a lot of choice in this area. Maybe Aaron Zimmerman. I appreciate all the thoughtful comments.

Steve Bertrum was going to get the process going a few years ago. You may want to check with him.

Bachelders is certainly not fast, it took about 4 months (right about what they told me up front though). I've handled 4 of their refinished guns, all of which were absolutely top notch. I always spoke with Parker when I called or went in, he was always very professional and helpful. I'm intending to send them another set in the spring. I'm sorry Mr. Dudly had issues with them, I've got nothing but good things to say about them!

I only offer Brown and white Damascus finish.

I have had two guns through the shop that were restored by Bachelder, both guns had brittle portions of the action after rehardening. One broke though the rear tang hole, the other the trigger plate chipped a piece off. Way too hard and I am one who wants a hard skin on an action. The black and white Damascus finish on the gun they did was very uneven. To be fair, I could not achieve an even finish with the black and white process either so I do not offer it.