Interestingly, every weld line is a 'zipper' weld, which Steve Culver could no doubt 'splain.
The barrel with all zig-zag (zipper) welds is indeed interesting. A we have discussed before, the zipper welds are caused by forge welding together twisted rods of damascus. The corners of the formerly square rods, create spiraling ridges around the twisted rods, appearing similar to threads on a bolt. Forge welding the twisted rods together, drives these “threads” into one another, creating the zipper weld lines.
As we also know, it is typical that a number of twisted rods are first forge welded together to make a riband. The connections between the twisted rods display the zipper welds. Whereas at the edges of the riband, the hammer blows to weld the rods together flatten the threadlike ridges and create a flat surface. This flattened surface become the straight weld lines between the turns of riband in the forge welded barrel tube.
This barrel tube does not display the straight weld lines. It is obviously made up of alternating right twisted and left twisted rods. It very much looks as though the barrel smith wound at least two twisted rods on the mandrel, without first welding them into a riband. This is entirely possible to do. Every smith is his own man, not constrained to do the work as everyone else. I suspect that he flattened the twisted rods on two sides, to make it easier to wind them on the mandrel. But, we’ll never know for sure. I guess the take-away here, is to not be surprised at anything you find.
BLACK BEING THE STEEL AND WHITE, THE IRON AFTER STAINING
I’m also curious about the statement that Drew posted. I’ve seen it before. Where did it come from, Brother Drew?
