"Market Forces" At Work

You might be wondering about that title, I'll explain.  With the rise in popularity and interest in vintage doubles of the last two decades, many "restorers", "experts" and unscrupulous "used car salesmen" have sprung up, offering either services that they are not qualified to perform or items for sale that are not as represented.  One of the areas of doublegun work that sprouts "experts" on a regular basis is that of refinishing damascus barrels.  I've seen far too many examples of the work of these individuals, and the hidden damage that is caused by their ineptitude and ignorance, and will include photos of just the most recent example here.  The process of refinishing pattern-welded barrels, by necessity, involves acid-etching in order to reveal the pattern between the iron and steel components.  Now, the acid cares not whether its action is on the exposed or the hidden areas of the barrels (that being the area between the ribs).  It would seem that many of these refinishers are either ignorant of or just don't care about that little detail.  The problem is that the acid that gets into the space between the barrels and ribs happily goes about rusting and eating away at the barrel walls, unnoticed.  The only way to prevent this is to be absolutely certain that the ribs are COMPLETELY water-tight all along their joints.  There are a couple of ways to do this and the first is so simple that it boggles the mind that no one does it.  That is to simply submerge the barrels in boiling water and look for bubbles emanating from anywhere along the rib joints.  The air in between the ribs will expand due to heating and will be forced through any gap that exists.  Now this takes about an hour to do and maybe no one wants to invest an hour that they aren't getting paid for, maybe they just didn't think of it, maybe they just don't care and would rather get on with the "paying work".  If bubbles do present themselves then that leads to the second option, which when done right is always foolproof: relaying the ribs.  Oooh, that's expensive, the customer won't want to pay for that.  Oooh, I can't do that, so I'll just refinish the barrels anyway and hope for the best.  Most commonly, no thought whatsoever is given to the situation at all.  Sometimes the truly idiotic will drill a "weep hole" in the rib, in the hopes that somehow the trapped chemicals and/or water will magically exit the space through a tiny hole, while trying to trade places with the miniscule amount of air that is trying to now occupy the space that the chemical/water is hopefully vacating.  The only way that a weep hole can possibly work is if there is another hole of at least the same area at the other end of the barrels, so that air can enter as the water escapes.  It's simple physics and no matter how shit-hot of a gunsmiff you think you are, you're not breaking those laws.  Then there are those that espouse that a partially popped rib absolutely doesn't require a complete strip and relay.  That is bullshit-flavored wishful thinking.  These dipshits will then try to do a "tack-down" repair and soon find out  that rosin absolutely will not allow dirty steel to be tinned, so then they use an acid-based flux.  Now that their "successful" repair is finished, what about the acid residue?  Meh, it'll be OK.  The only right way to do the job is to tin all of the surfaces (after complete disassembly and cleaning) using an acid-based flux, then completely neutralize all acid residue using baking soda and water.  ONLY THEN is the rosin applied to all mating surfaces in advance of reassembly.  Well, based on past experience, I can assure you that this is not what is done by many of the used car dealers that peddle their "tarted-up" vintage wares, because the right way takes too long and costs too much.  I've got six guns in the shop right now with PERFORATED barrels in the area between the ribs because of either slipshod rib relays and/or refinishing, one of those is a steel-barreled gun and the other five are damascus.  Not surprisingly, five of those guns are from a "practical restorer"/dealer with a British accent.  Apparently, the British insert the word "practical" in place of "incompetent hack".  This particular person actually admitted to shortcuts in order to maximize profit (there's those market forces again) because he says the people who buy these guns won't spend more.  His "out" is that the guns "passed proof" which is all well and good but what happens in a couple of years, when the acid has perforated the barrels?  I guess that's the buyer's problem.  The steel-barreled gun was the victim of a partial "tack down" repair, using acid-based flux that was left in the space between the ribs because the seller didn't want to cut too deeply into his margin by doing it, or having it done, the right way.  The customer can't realistically be expected to know all about these things (though it would be to their benefit if they did) so they rely on the word of the gunsmith or dealer.  Sadly, this is rarely a safe course of action because I know of absolutely no dealers and literally a half-dozen gunsmiths that won't put profit before honesty.  There are those who preach that "the market" rewards the best, that the cream always rises to the top.  Well, the gun world must have missed that memo.