- Circa 500 A.D. – Near Nydam, Denmark, a
ship sinks with a cargo of pattern welded
sword blades. The Vikings (793-1066) used
similar blades.
- 850 – Abu Yusuf ben Ishaq al-Kindi
describes Damascus ( WOOTZ ) swords.
- Circa 1000 – Pattern welded sword blades
were also produced in Indonesia (Kris)
and Circa 1100 in Japan (Tachi).
- 1071 – The Mohammedan Saljuks defeat the
army of the Byzantine emperor at
Manzikert and then capture Jerusalem,
leading to the first Crusade in 1096 with
the eighth and last in 1270.
- 1132 - The first documented use of brass
cannons to capture a city, Fujian.
- Circa 1200 - Iron musket barrels first
made.
- 1382 - During the siege of Liege 'hand
cannons' are used for the 1st time during
a conflict.
- 1453 – Mohammed II the “Conqueror”
captures Constantinople and makes it the
Ottoman capital.
- 1488 - Dannemora iron mines in Sweden are
opened. Walloon furnace is used in the
finery.
- 1526 - Bartolomeo Beretta di Gardone
delivers 185 arquebus barrels to the
Arsenal of Venice.
- 1550 – Brescia locks are seen throughout
the Mediterranean and Middle East.
- 1570 – Pattern welded gun barrels were
manufactured in India by Ain I Akbari.
- 1577 – Ferlacher Genossenschaft founded.
- 1580 – Miquelet lock invented in Spain.
- 1600s – Forge welded Damascus, crolle
pattern, barrels are being produced by
Ottoman makers.
- 1634 – Hungarian gun maker Caspar
Hartmann makes Damascus barrels for King
Gyorgy Rakoczi I.
- 1650 - Spanish produce pattern welded
barrels.
- 1683 - Siege of Vienna. The defeat of
Kara Mustafa Pasha by Jan III Sobieski at
Vienna. This was the key date in the
development of European Damascus as
suddenly thousands of pattern welded gun
barrels were available for examination.
- 1700 – Liege is producing Damascus
barrels.
- 1718 - Portugal is producing Damascus
barrels.
- 1771 - Jean Jacques Perret published
L'Art du Coutelier and describes the
process of ‘twisting ribbons.’
- 1790 – Jean-Francois Clouet, director of
the Daigny Steel Works, expands Damascus
production in Liege and Franchimont.
Damascus SxS flintlocks appear in St.
Etienne.
- 1798 - William Dupein obtains a British
patent for a skelp gun barrel of iron and
steel.
- 1799 - Napoleon expanded the production
of Damascus barrels in St. Etienne and
Liege. Production of sporting arms is
curtailed.
- 1804 – Nicolas Bernard is producing
Damascus in Versailles.
- 1806 - J. Jones is granted a British
patent for a method of making barrels
from skelp coiled round a mandrel.
- 1808 – The Vesdre Valley of Liege had 22
gun barrel factories using hydraulic
power for their trip-hammers. Helical
welding begins to replace the previous
barrel making technique of folding an
iron band over a mandrel then
longitudinally welding the edges.
- 1811 – H. Anschuetz claims Suhl makes
Damascus "equal to any else in the
world"
- 1811 - Beretta begins Damascus production
on a regular basis
- 1817 - The method of welding barrels
under a trip-hammer was patented by Asa
Waters, of Millbury, Massachusetts.
- 1820 – “Damascus iron” is manufactured in
Birmingham by Wiswould and Adams.
- 1822 – English barrel maker Thomas Smith
at Harpers Ferry Armory is producing
skelp barrels.
- 1822 – Anton Crivelli of Milan is working
with Damascus barrels
- 1829 – Cavaliere de Beroaldo Bianchini
writes a paper about Damascus barrels
from Vienna.
- 1830 - Pavel Anosoff is producing
Damascus in Russia, and reproduced
Wootz/Bulat in 1841.
- 1830 – Juan Sanchez De Miruenna of Spain
is making Damascus barrels.
- 1834 – Levi Coon at Mott's Corner, NY is
making skelp barrels.
- 1836 - The practice of welding barrels
under trip-hammers, instead of by hand,
is introduced at Harper's Ferry.
- 1846 - Use of decarbonized steel for gun-
barrels by Remington, who made steel
barrels for North & Savage, of
Middletown, Connecticut, and for the Ames
Manufacturing company, of Chicopee,
Massachusetts.
- 1848 - Thomas Warner, at the Whitneyville
works, incurred so much loss in the skelp-
welding of iron barrels that he
voluntarily substituted steel drilled
barrels in his contract, making them of
decarbonized steel.
- 1849 - S.S.M.O.A.L. or Société de Secours
mutuels des Ouvriers Armuriers Liège (
Mutual Aid Society of Liege Arms Workers
) is formed. This early mutual aid
society is largely geared to helping
workers with things like housing, food.
- 1850 - About this time pattern welded
barrels using billet composition to
create repeatable patterns become common.
- 1855 - Henry Bessemer patents his process
for mass production of steel from molten
pig-iron.
- 1865 - Emile Martin and Pierre Martin
obtain a licence from Siemens for his
furnace and apply it to steel
production. Their process is known as
the Siemens-Martin process.
- 1873 - all small-arms barrels turned out
at the national armory at Springfield are
made of decarbonized steel(a barrel of
which will endure twice as heavy a charge
as a wrought-iron barrel), Bessemer steel
being used until 1878, and afterward
Siemens-Martin steel.
- 1874 - Joseph Whitworth patents his fluid-
compressed steel process.
- 1886 - City of Liege officials approach
the owners of the barrel making houses
and suggest the establishment of a trade
school. The owners reject the idea
stating the guild system provides all the
education that is required.
- 1882 - English gun trade to the USA
totals $1,169,000
- 1889 - Fabrique National is founded in
Herstal.
- 1890 - McKinley Tariff enacted by the USA
on all imports. English gun trade to the
USA totals $349,000
- 1892 Ernst Heuse-Lemoine files a Belgian
patent for the composition of Damascus
patterns.
- 1895 - Union des Fabricants de Canons de
Fusils de la Vallee de la Vesdre Les-
Liege established.
- 1895 - Fabrique National workers go on
strike over factory conditions
- 1897 - U.F.A Union des Fabricants d'Armes
U.F.A ( Union of Arms Workers )
approaches the officials of Liege and the
L'école d'Armurerie de Liège ( School of
Liege Gun makers ) is founded. This
marks the end of the "guild system".
- 1903 - Damascus barrel production ceases
in England
- 1905 Professor Buturlin conducts pressure
tests of various barrels.
- 1905 - English gun trade to the USA
totals less than $20,000
- 1906 - Liege produced 850 tons of
Damascus barrels (100 tons for export),
156,000 SxS shotguns, and 1.5 million
guns were proofed at the Banc d’Epreuves
de Liege.
- 1908 - All members of the barrel makers
guild are locked out. The people of
Nessonvaux and Liege open their hearts
and their doors. They take in the
children of the barrel makers guild and
provide them with food and shelter.
- 1909 - Greener identifies Birmingham,
London, Liege, Nessonvaux, Saint Etienne,
Vienna, Suhl & Brecia as centers of
Damascus production.
- 1912 - Lochet barrel factory goes on
strike.
- 1913 - Germany invades Belgium,
Netherlands and Luxembourg. Damascus
production in Liege ceases.
- 1924 - Silent documentary is produced in
Nessonvaux showing Damascus barrel
production.
- 1963 - "How to Make Damascus Barrels" is
published.
- 1964 - England, damascus barrels are
reproduced.
- 1966 - Jean Puraye publishes "Le Damas"
- 1968 - Wallace Gusler reproduces American
skelp flintlock
- 1983 - Jud Brennan reproduces damascus
barrels
- 1991 - Sachse reproduces damascus barrels
including barrels with names woven into
the damascus.
- 1995 - Damasteel is incorporated using
rapid solidification metallurgy is
produced in Sweden.
- 2001 - Heinz Denig produces damascus
barrel that passes proof.
- 2005 - Zbrojovka Brno announces damascus
barrel production using traditional
methods. Sample barrels are created. No
known examples are released.
- 2012 Steve Culver produces a damascus
barrel!
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