Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1896 — DAMASCUS GUN BARRELS. [ARTICLE]

DAMASCUS GUN BARRELS.

Secret of Their Manufacture Descends from Father to Son. The United States Consul in Liege describes, in a recent report, the manufacture of and trade in damascus gun barrels, wholly hand made, in the valley of the Vesdre, in Liege Province. These barrels are for sporting guns, and the industry’ is many years old, the workmen in the villages in the valley being almost all gun-barrel makers, and the trade descending from father to sou. The best barrels are a combination of the best primary substances, welded and forged by the. martelage a froid process; the steel comes, from Westphalia, the iron is manufactured at Couvln, in Belgium; the coal, which is especially suited for the work, from the Herve highlands, in Belgium, while the motive power of the factories is obtained from the River Vesdre. The industry has lncreased greatly in recent years. These armes de luxe, as they are called, are made by men working in pairs, each pair in its own little factory, quite independent of all others. They are paid by the piece, the wages being good, and about 2,000 men are engaged on the work In the valley. Medium quality barrels are made of coke iron and steel, while the superior quality, which are produced in the Vesdre Valley, are made ..of charcoal iron and steel. An Ingenious “marriage” of these metals gives a composition which, when manufactured, guarantees the required solidity and resistance. The improvement in thope damascus barrels dates from the introduction of percussion caps in place of the old flintlock. Formerly iron barrels alone were produced; now, to manufacture tha curled damascus, the Ingot is composed of thirty sheets of iron and steel, each having a thickness of four millimeters, which are enveloped in a sheet-iron box, placed in an oven and welded together at the lowest possible temperature. Each barrel receives 150 welding beats while being forged, and if a sin-, gle one of these is unsuccessful the barrel may be a failure, either by alteration of the damascened work or an imperfection in the welding. There Is no official test of these armes de luxe, but they are thoroughly tested by the manufacturers before delivery. The annual production of damascus barrels in the Vesdre .Valley js about 300,000 pairs, of a value of about 3,500,000 francs. Of this the wages alone—for all the guns are hand made-amount to 2,000,000 francs. The principal mar-, kets are Great Britain and the United States. About half the barrels made in the Vesdre Valley are‘sold to manufacturers of arms In Liege to be sweated.—Washington Poe* ,