Pattern welding, a different style

M

Mick Maxen

Joined
Aug 15, 2001
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34
As its not knife related, I wasn't sure where to put this. I have copied this from a thread I started earlier this year on britishblades, and thought you might like to see some different pattern welding

Sometime ago I was asked by a London gunsmiths to make some Salesman pieces, that showed the process of how damascus barrels were made. Starting with the individual layers and finishing with a shiny etched barrel to show the pattern, all in one piece. I did quite a bit of research, but only found a few photos. I developed a way of winding the bar in a spiral, but I could not work out if there was any preparation to the bar before it was wound up, that would aid welding it all up. I made a few pieces that I never managed to weld up succesfully. After all this messing about trying to weld the barrell up, the idea never got of the ground and was shelved.
Most of the bar got used for other things, so nothing got wasted. There has been a piece of the wound up bar kicking around my workshop for years now. A few days ago it turned up again, and I had a go at welding it up again.
Small, because the welded section is only about 3" long. Personal triumph, because now I know how its done.


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The hole through the centre is about 1/2"

Mick.
 
BEAUTIFUL!:eek:
I would love to have an English double like that! Box lock, straight stock please and Turkish Walnut if you don't mind. I'll make you a knife on trade...:D
 
The fanciest gun barrels had the company's logo worked into the design !!
 
That's magnificent Mick! :)

I've messed with wrapping it around a mandrel before, but I really didn't know what I was doing and it didn't come out.

Yours is really beautiful!!! :cool:
 
Congrats Mick! I have always dreamed of making my own barrels the old way. Some of the originals are so intricate that it boggles the mind.
 
splendid, that is a marvelous display af art and true craftsmanship!!

andrew takach
 
Very nice. It reminds me of the Sache book. Some of the barrels done were incredible. Yours is right up there.
 
Very nice, Mick. I wonder if the steel that we use is harder to weld/work because it has more carbon that your typical steel that they use in gunmaking? I have seen reference to modern gunmakers using 4140 (?) for receivers.
 
Joe,

Actually the higher the carbon content the lower the welding temp.. Some find it much more difficult to forge weld mild steel than High carbon. This is also why you need to get wrought so darn hot to get it to weld right. The chromium in 4140 would make it more difficult to weld than simple carbon steels.
 
The most common gun steel for both receivers and barrels today is 4140.
 
Another view of the same piece with the mandrel through the centre. This is the original mandrel just cleaned up a bit. The pattern welded part is about 5-6" long.

a1-barrell-stack.jpg


Mick.
 
Well spotted Phil
I copied this from the original post on britishblades, which I called "Pattern Welding. A Small Personal Triumph". I have been meaning to edit the first post, but will leave it be, now.
Or did you mean how its done ?

Mick.
 
I kind of get the personal triumph part, although wasn't aware of the previous forum context. I meant to ask how it's done. If you're willing to share, I'm sure many would deeply appreciate it (and ooh and aah to the max even more!). Thanks, Phil
 
That's awsome! You ever think about making at least a pistol out of it? Say a nice flint lock dualing pistol?
 
Hi Mick, I've been curious to ask a couple of questions if it's ok. How do manage the scale, just flux between the wraps?

As the barrel would get longer, how would you heat the work area. Seems like the pattern welded ribbon would feed in at sort of a right angle to the mandrel and it would start to get difficult to handle.

Can you descibe the "jump" weld.

Thanks very much, Craig
 
Craig, I don't seem to have any problems with scale, as I tend to flux quite heavily. I have only made short pieces of barrel, so the problem of the ribbon being at right angles to the welded barrel have never been a problem. I wind all the pattern welded ribbon onto the liner and then weld up in short sections of about 2". The way I weld these up is to stand the barrel upright and use short blows directly down onto the wrap. I think thats what is referred to as jump welding.
As I understand it, the reason these barrels were made with a mandrel through the centre, was that they had no way of boring a hole through the centre of a solid bar. But could ream out an already existing hole to size. The mandrel also helps to keep everything straight as you weld up. If you manage to weld the mandrel to the rest of it, you have ruined the job. Nowadays we could just drill/bore it out, but not then.

Mick.
 
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