# Damascus Chameleon Short Story



## EricMack (Oct 8, 2006)

Pictured is the Damascus Chameleon created by Mr Bulk, with a finely polished body and nitre bluing by Dennis Greenbaum (Osprey Guy). I talked Charlie into giving this a try late last year, and they've just recently been finished up. We don't believe a full flashlight has ever been done with the entire body created from dam steel before, and I am pleased to see other makers making or considering lights made from Dam Steel. The Dam was provided by Del Ealy, and a production run of 25 lights plus a couple Protos were produced. It comes with the Chameleon controls, 5 levels, and uses a TX0H emitter. For those interested, LOTS more can be read here: http://flashlight-forums.com/index.php?topic=2280.0

Here is one of the two Protos, notice the early heat treated finish:






The production run of 25 were also heat treated, but to a little differen't color...





The run:





The Tail:






Finally, two of the lights, mine and Arewethereyetdad's, were sent to Dennis for some extra special finishing up, and nitre bluing. You can see Dennis did his usual fantastic work, and the finished lights are impossible to accurately photograph. They literally turn differen't colors as the light plays across them. Really fine work, Dennis! :bow: 
















:thumbsup: 
EM

Photos by Bulk and Dad.


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## arewethereyetdad (Oct 8, 2006)

Eric, glad you posted the Dam Cham story. My only regret is that my brownish pics do no justice to this incredible work of art. I MUST have Wave Particle photograph this beauty, as the glossy color-changing Chameleon (so aptly named) needs to be shared in its full glory and not just through my feeble photo skills. Regardless, I'm glad you opted to share the story here on CPF!


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## EricMack (Oct 8, 2006)

You are right, Dad, I think WP is The Man to best try to get some real great shots, though yours are not too bad! :laughing: He's kinda busy right now though, so I thought I'd share something early while we wait.


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## MR Bulk (Oct 8, 2006)

Glad you guys like how they turned out, Dennis is certainly a fine craftsman and this incredible finish proves it. It will be interesting to see how he handles a larger batch, especially if they remain "in the white", meaning right from the lathe. This is because I had your two units heat-finished first before I sent them to him, and Dennis told me that it would have been easier just to get them from me with no treatment whasoever since he would be polishing the surface back down anyway prior to his nitre bluing process. Oh well, live and learn.


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## Osprey_Guy (Oct 8, 2006)

When the bodies for these lights showed up at my place I had no idea they'd be as rough as they were... If you look closely at the first two photos in this thread you can see all the deep score marks encircling the body. I had to sand all those down...carefully...so as not to risk re-shaping the nice edges, corners, etc. I then took the finish up to a high lustre prior to nitre bluing.

So far none of us amateur photographers have been able to capture the really beautiful, gem-like, almost irridescent finish. Here's the attempt I made when I photographed the two lights prior to sending them back to the maker to have the "guts" installed (the pic may take an extra moment to load):





This at least gives an idea of the colors (although they're much more purple than we see here)...but this still doesn't come close to showing how nice the finish looked.

Thanks Eric for giving me the opportunity...and the challenge. And thank you Charlie for your comments...and the incredibly cool lights! :thumbsup: It was more work than I expected...but very satisfying results. If you decide to go ahead with the run of the Lion Cubs in Damascus let me know...I would like to be involved. 


Dennis Greenbaum


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## Dogliness (Oct 8, 2006)

The Damascus finishes are really pretty incredible. Good job, Mr. Bulk and Dennis. Nice!


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## MR Bulk (Oct 8, 2006)

Osprey_Guy said:


> When the bodies for these lights showed up at my place I had no idea they'd be as rough as they were... If you look closely at the first two photos in this thread you can see all the deep score marks encircling the body. I had to sand all those down...carefully...so as not to risk re-shaping the nice edges, corners, etc. I then took the finish up to a high lustre prior to nitre bluing.
> 
> So far none of us amateur photographers have been able to capture the really beautiful, gem-like, almost irridescent finish. Here's the attempt I made when I photographed the two lights prior to sending them back to the maker to have the "guts" installed (the pic may take an extra moment to load):
> 
> ...





Yer welcome, and I will. :thumbsup:


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## PoliceScannerMan (Oct 8, 2006)

#23 of 24 signing in, it really is a beautiful light. Something pics will never do justice with. Dennis, you did a fine job on those two DC's. I put mine up for trade a couple weeks ago for a Ti Chammie, I'm glad no one took me up on it, b/c I would have regreted it. These lights are very special.

It came with green trit, but I installed a blue one, I felt it went better with the blue damascus.

To hold it in your and and look at all the folds and layers in the dam steel is really something. I am proud to own one of the first 25 Damascus lights ever crafted! :rock: 

While i dont believe in shelf queens, looks like this one will sit. I'll carry it every now and then.... :laughing: 

Thanks to Charlie, Eric and everyone else who let these become reality! :thumbsup:


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## DFiorentino (Oct 9, 2006)

Color me jealous...  I just have a soft spot in my heart for unique artwork and this very much qualifies. She's a beauty Eric!

-DF


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## WAVE_PARTICLE (Oct 9, 2006)

I might as well check in too! These DamChams truely are special....by far the most beautiful lights I've seen yet. Damascus is a very interesting material. The reactive parts of the metal can be customized/changed to suit tastes (with a little bit of work) as can be seen in EricMack's and AWTYD's DamChams. I left both of mine untouched. I am honored to be able to have these in my meager collection:






:thumbsup: WP


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## Walt175 (Oct 9, 2006)

Oooooooo, pretty........


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## matrixshaman (Oct 10, 2006)

Awesome pieces of art!


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## Geologist (Nov 20, 2006)

:bump:

#7 checking in here - pure art - the Queen of shelf queens!


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## Concept (Nov 21, 2006)

They sure are purdy!


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## gregw (Nov 21, 2006)

#8 of 24 checking in here..


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## HPDSNYPER (Dec 3, 2006)

_Beautiful !......Looks like the calm before a storm..You know. Just before lightning strikes, the sky turns gray and you can smell the static in the air....Then, BOOM! lightning stike. These lights look like lightning. cooool_


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## Josey (Dec 3, 2006)

These are drop-dead beautiful lights. Nice to see Charlie posting here again, too. Oh, yeah, that is kind of a meager collection, WaveParticle. These lights make me realize that I need more money.
Josey


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