De-rusting and etching Damascus gun barrel

RDGAC · 19th April 2011, 10:31 AM

Howdy lads and lasses! Been a little quiet here of late, not too much to keep me occupied on the ethnographic weapons front; my jezail's barrel's in the works, and another of the monsters on the way, but that apart, no developments. Except...

Having taken a look at Spunjer's thread on the Silver Surfer (I do like the name, by the by

), I've begun to wonder if it might be worth trying to sort out this Damascus barrel we've got on the Museum jezail. In considering this, I have obviously to observe two conditions: that I do it right, and do the right thing. To address those in reverse order: whilst I'm aware that the consensus, on the whole, is that museums (and indeed collectors) should seek to preserve the objects in their care in their current condition, rather than seek to restore them, I'm increasingly of the opinion that this is a special case.

It seems a tragedy to let the world see one more rust-encrusted gun barrel, when a quick strip-down, taking no more than ten minutes, will reveal that that barrel was once, and might yet be again, a thing of exquisite beauty. Don't we have enough aged, unrestored muskets kicking around? Or am I just getting consumed with my (entirely transparent) desire to see the whole barrel regain the appearance that only its protected parts now hold, and have before me a genuine example of the wonders of Indo-Persian craftsmanship, whose qualities I can at last show to our beloved punters?

Morally, I can't help feeling that the best thing to do would be to work towards the eventual goal of restoring the barrel as best I can. But practically - even if the argument is sound, in other words - we still have the problem of doing it right; this is point one, of course. How does one go about this? What are the risks? This particular barrel is, as those of you who saw my first thread here will have seen, badly rusted. Mottled with it, in fact. So the question becomes, how do I remove the rust and then, moreover, how do I etch the barrel? Is there a high risk of damaging the pattern in that process?* The practical question that vexes me the most is that of avoiding damaging the remaining pattern on the barrel's surfaces; if, in the course of rust removal (chemical, preferably, to avoid mechanically damaging the pattern), I remove the patterning I'm trying to bring out, it's a bit of an own-goal.

So, yes. Arguments and help, go!

* Do beavers mate for life? Is there any means of knowing if there is a god? Has anyone seen that tin opener I lost some while ago? Etc...

19th April 2011, 10:31 AM	#1
RDGAC Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: York, UK Posts: 167	De-rusting and etching Damascus gun barrel Howdy lads and lasses! Been a little quiet here of late, not too much to keep me occupied on the ethnographic weapons front; my jezail's barrel's in the works, and another of the monsters on the way, but that apart, no developments. Except... Having taken a look at Spunjer's thread on the Silver Surfer (I do like the name, by the by ), I've begun to wonder if it might be worth trying to sort out this Damascus barrel we've got on the Museum jezail. In considering this, I have obviously to observe two conditions: that I do it right, and do the right thing. To address those in reverse order: whilst I'm aware that the consensus, on the whole, is that museums (and indeed collectors) should seek to preserve the objects in their care in their current condition, rather than seek to restore them, I'm increasingly of the opinion that this is a special case. It seems a tragedy to let the world see one more rust-encrusted gun barrel, when a quick strip-down, taking no more than ten minutes, will reveal that that barrel was once, and might yet be again, a thing of exquisite beauty. Don't we have enough aged, unrestored muskets kicking around? Or am I just getting consumed with my (entirely transparent) desire to see the whole barrel regain the appearance that only its protected parts now hold, and have before me a genuine example of the wonders of Indo-Persian craftsmanship, whose qualities I can at last show to our beloved punters? Morally, I can't help feeling that the best thing to do would be to work towards the eventual goal of restoring the barrel as best I can. But practically - even if the argument is sound, in other words - we still have the problem of doing it right; this is point one, of course. How does one go about this? What are the risks? This particular barrel is, as those of you who saw my first thread here will have seen, badly rusted. Mottled with it, in fact. So the question becomes, how do I remove the rust and then, moreover, how do I etch the barrel? Is there a high risk of damaging the pattern in that process?* The practical question that vexes me the most is that of avoiding damaging the remaining pattern on the barrel's surfaces; if, in the course of rust removal (chemical, preferably, to avoid mechanically damaging the pattern), I remove the patterning I'm trying to bring out, it's a bit of an own-goal. So, yes. Arguments and help, go! * Do beavers mate for life? Is there any means of knowing if there is a god? Has anyone seen that tin opener I lost some while ago? Etc...