EVOLUTION OF GUNS AND RIFLES 
was thus formed, and was welded, hammered, and rolled, into a thick 
and narrow ribbon of metal, about f inch broad by inch thick. This 
was twisted spirally round a mandril, and the edges welded together, 
thus giving a fine twisted figure to the barrels, in addition to showing the 
fine grain of the interwoven iron and steel within the ribbon itself. Such 
“ stub twist ” barrels (as they were called) were constantly imitated, 
and the name was wrongly applied to many varieties of twisted barrels 
which were not of the genuine material. The fine spiral, by which sixteen 
turns of the stub ribbon only made 6 inches of barrel, involved the welding 
together not only of the rings of each coil, but of successive coils, in order 
to build up the whole length of the barrel. The welding was therefore of 
the utmost importance, and the perfection of the tube depended on the 
skill and the care of the workman. The best barrels were sometimes 
further hardened by light hammering when cold. 
William Greener, of Newcastle, who dealt fully with the subject in an 
admirable book written by him in 1834, says that if the purchaser goes 
to see his barrels forged “ A gratuity is, of course, expected, either of 
money or beer, and I believe a few pots of the blood of Sir John Barleycorn 
will infuse more strength into your barrels than you could purchase 
for ten times the amount in money, as it has the effect of making the hammer 
descend with increased velocity.” The production of stub twist barrels 
became hampered by the increasing difficulty of obtaining supplies of the 
old horsenails. This, however, mattered the less, as a new method of 
making best quality barrels now appeared on the scene. Damascus barrels 
were introduced about 1819; and in them the method used in preparing 
the metal for the highest quality of blades in the East was copied. The first 
process was to place bars of iron and steel alternately on each other — six 
of each. After being forged into one bar, this was rolled into a rod i inch 
square. This material was known as wire twist. The rod was then heated, 
and one end being held fast in a suitable machine, the other was twisted 
severely, till it had from twelve to fourteen turns to the inch, the rod there- 
by becoming round, and reduced in length from 6 feet to 3 feet. Three 
of these rods were then placed together, welded, and rolled into a bar 
U inch wide, from which the spiral tube of the barrel was formed. The 
Damascus barrel had an elaborate and very pretty figure or grain. Stub 
iron was sometimes treated in the same way, the bars being twisted 
upon themselves before being beaten out into ribbon form. Barrels so 
made were known as Stub Damascus. The danger of the occurrence 
295 
