Thanks...I didn't have the Mannesmann patent...Bradley and Eose didn't have drawings to post pics of...but I really want to thank you for getting the ball rolling on American made damascus. In the past, damascus experts rejected any notion that other than "uncle Bob" (or someone) at Ithaca, damascus simply was not produced in America. In fact damascus steel, the earliest available form of carbon steel, was produced to some degree, in nearly every industrial nation.The information you've posted points to the the real truth about damascus actually being rolled rather than forged since c1880's. In the past at this BBS system, that kind of information, that flies in the face of common long held beliefs, could have got you a gang bashing here. Everyone took Greeners forging information and used it as a corner stone. I seriously doubt that any of the post 1890 barrels were forged. I'm guessing that post 1890 barrels make up 95% of the damascus doubles out there. It's been a long time since I read the Eose patent, but I think rolling damascus weighed heavy into it, and that was 1863..
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It's hard to believe that most of these guys actually think that a team of 3 Belgian Elves, working for Lochet-Hebron, worked for days hand forging each tube, as pictured in Greener's book. Yeah right! Then they added shipping to America where the workers at Ithaca Gun Co, knit the barrels together, built a gun around them, the sold it for $40 retail.
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Most of damascus barrels that we see were machine wound onto a negative draft mandrel, and rolled off the assembly line like hotcakes. [no pun intended...wootz cakes] Probably some of the, stubborn about tradition, Brits, continued to hand forge a little later but it wasn't Greener.
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Pete, one last thing...about your last post...it's made up of highly concentrated data that leads directly to volumes more information. The problem is, all the hours of work it takes to construct such a posting is lost once the thread dies. Had you printed it, photographed it and posted the image, readers could save your entire post as 1 image. This way, your hard earned posting would never die and have a better chance of getting into the hands of the next researcher. With all the time you've already spent, I don't feel right about asking for more. I was just hoping that some future researcher could stand on your shoulders for a better look....
Bob
