I created this video at the request of the Boot Hill Museum, in Dodge City, KS. The museum is undergoing a complete renovation and they have some damascus barreled antique guns that they would like to display. As the curator of the museum searched for information on damascus gun barrels, she found me. I was asked to create a video for them to show in the museum, documenting how these barrels were made. Because of my work with damascus gun barrels, they seem to feel that I am a noteworthy Kansan. So, they wished for the video to also include my work.
The black and white clips of the old barrel smiths were filmed in 1925, in Nessonvaux, Belgium. The old movie was a project of the Musee de la Vie Wallonne (Museum of Wallonne Life), to document everyday life in the Wallonne region of Belgium.
A copy of this old movie can be purchased from www.damascus-barrels.com. The owner of this web site, Pete Mikalajunas went to Belgium and purchased the rights to distribute the movie from the Curtius Museum (Liege, BE), which now has possession of this old movie. The museum has since changed their mind about Pete distributing the movie and is now trying to stop him from it. There is a second movie of barrel making that the museum has. Both old movies can be viewed in a theater at the museum. The museum confiscated Pete’s cell phone as he went in to watch the second movie, so he couldn’t secretly record it. I’ve never seen this second movie.
[media] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFrZulegvFs [/media]
I really enjoyed this video Steve. The craftsmen of years gone by were able to do so much and I particularly enjoy watching a Smith work with an experienced striker. Imagine what some of those fellows could do with modern equipment. You showed the craft very well and made an outstanding firearm. I sure appreciate you sharing this and taking the time to document it. Unfortunately so many of the old crafts have all but vanished.
Chris
good job! awesome to see a new video of this gun-making branch.
Saw the old one years back and was amazed of the technique used.
You da Man, Steve.
Karl B. Andersen
Journeyman Smith
Pretty amazing Steve - that was a lot of work!
Thanks for all the compliments!
I have a second barrel forging video, which I have yet to edit. This video will be a long one; perhaps as much as an hour. It is of some barrel forging work that I did about two weeks ago. The reason for the work that I did in this second video, was to answer some questions posed to me by firearms historians. The answers to their questions cannot be found in the history books on firearms manufacturing. I have a theory about what these answers are and the video is of me demonstrating the plausibility of my theory. I hope that my video will provide the firearms researchers and historians with new avenues to search for historical documents that will give definitive answers to their questions.
This video may not be of significant interest to all knifemakers, but anyone interested in damascus gun barrels will find it so. It was an opportunity for me to have a unique forging experience. I don't know of anyone who has attempted what I did in this video. Many probably do not know the opportunity exists, and those who do, have not considered trying what I did. I made some observations during the work, that were even surprising to me. I'll post the video on the ABS Forum, once I have it edited.
That was an awesome video, Steve. Damascus barrels are beautiful and complicated looking but I didn't know just how complicated they were to make. Please share the next video with us.
