Anyone wanting to learn just about everything you'd want to know about Damascus should go to Dr. Drew Hause web site about Damascus. He has many pictures of the different types of Damascus, how it was made, who made it, how strong it is, and what different manufactures called the same Damascus patterns by different names. I have guns with twist, 2, 4, and 6 bar patterns, laminate, and my favorite, the Etoile pattern. It looks like five little stars in a circle within the finger pattern, over and over. I have two friends who have a chain pattern in their guns Damascus pattern, one a Remington and the other a L C Smith. For many years the fine pattern Damascus was thought to be stronger than the cheap twist, but it isn't. The fine pattern Damascus took longer to make so it cost more and was used on the better grade guns offered. In a 1800s World Fair in Europe a Damascus barrel [ and gun ] manufacture from Belgium took first place with his name, Piper, in the Damascus pattern over and over around the barrels from breech to muzzle. There's three examples of names in the barrel steel. I just wonder how many barrels were thrown away trying to do that.
Years back barrels were made by wrapping a flat piece of steel the length of a barrel around a rod and forge welding it the length of the tube, from muzzle to breech. This meant one long weld the length of a barrel. Many times these blew up because the weld went with the barrel. Damascus was considered stronger because the weld went around the barrel. Then Remington started using a 2" in diameter 9" long piece of steel with a 3/4" hole drilled in the middle. They would heat it and with a rod in the middle that could be drawn out when done would stretch it out with rolling mills. This meant a gun barrel, shotgun, pistol, or rifle, without any weld. They were very strong and it didn't take many hours of hammering to make. They used them in their Rolling Block rifle and pistols, shotguns, and sold them world wide which probably saved them from one of their bankruptcies.
I shoot my Damascus barreled guns every week with reduced pressure reloads. I'm not worried about the barrels but wooden stocks over a 100 years old. At my SxS shoot coming up May 14th there will probably be over 30 shooters using their old Damascus SxSs. We have lots of fun comparing and looking at each others guns. And most of all, shooting them.