The customer requested a damascus grip cap, butt plate, and forend inlay for his single shot .45-70.
We didnt have any billets, so away we go...

I didnt get enough pictures of the process.

First step is to layer your dissimular steels. In this case we used 1018, 1084, and L6; 19 layers to be exact.
You must stack the steel first, then weld the seams. After welding the seams the billet goes into the forge to be forge welded and pressed. Bars are drawn out in our hydrolic press to a length of 22" or so.

Once cooled down we cut the billet into 5ths, about 4" in length each. For proper forge welding and end result you also must remove all slag from the previous time spent in the forge. Since we started with 19 layers and cut it into 5ths, we then stack the billets which will result in 95ish layers. before going into the forge we weld the seams agian

The forge welding, drawing into a bar, cutting, removing slag, and stacking happens agin. This result in a billet with 475 layers. At the end we press the bar in the hydrolic press using a special die that looks like gear teeth. this draws the steel grain structure into a ladder style pattern. You'll see below on a butt plate what im talking about.

billet being cut into 5ths after the first forging process:

billets cut and starting to remove slag

billet on the welding bench for arc welding. seams on the sides and ends are welded

Way on down the road turned into grip cap and forend inlay. Just after etching:

Grip cap heat colored and lacquered(bad picture):

Butt plate made, heat colored, and lacquered. the damascus shows up great!: