No worries Krakow.
THIS would be the short version of the good news, and was confirmed in my study also
"When I looked at this particular set of damascus barrels using a metallographically prepared sample I saw
NO EVIDENCE of weld joint failure, slag in the weld joints, porosity in the weld joints, etc.
The damascus barrel...(failure) spiraled around with the weld pattern, but it was not on a weld, rather it was on one of the in-between areas. The spiral welds (ribband edge welds) remained tight and the parent metal is what failed."
Oops - bad news for that 'mass of rusting and delaminating welds just waiting to unwind like a slinky' narrative
But for those of us who like pictures
20X 3% Nitrol etched image. The top is the edge of a barrel segment blown out at the time of the barrel burst and
the fracture is clearly across the crolle pattern; steel is grey-black, iron silver-white. The crack appears to be in the iron thin strip (alternee).
The straight lines in the lower right are evidence of shear deformation at the time of the high pressure burst.
