And My 1st Cable Damascus Attempt

[Greg Covington]

This is the 3/4 cable from Quality Farm Fleet with a rope center. I pulled out the rope and retwisted. The billet was fluxed with 20 Mule Team Borax and folded once. Came out pretty well. No cold shuts or inclusions. This type of damascus has always been my favorite.....the next billet will be Bowie sized.

Does anyone have any advice as far as starting the billet? I can only find 3/4 to 1" cable and nothing larger. I was thinking about forging 4 together then adding more if the billet is not big enough.

I really am not sure how to proceed. I want a billet where a 8" blade and be made that will be about 1.25 wide and 5/16" at the spine. Any suggestions?

 

[Chris Crawford]

Looks Good! Makes me want to get back to the forge. -chris

 

[Bruce Evans]

NICE PATTERN!!!!!AWESOME BLADE!!!!!!
Now to your question: What I have done in the past to make a thicker billet was to weld a long bar,then cut it into 2-3-4 pieces that are about the width and length of the finished billet you are wanting.Make sure that the pieces are not way to thick as welding and stretching will distort the pattern,If you keep everything close to final shape and weld from both sides you will get the thickness that you are wanting and also the length.
I have tried stacking unwelded pieces and it worked fine on smaller size cable but it didnt work very well on 1 inch as it was just to tough to twist and make a decent pattern even though it welded fine.You will just have to experiment and see what you can come up with.
Bruce

 

[mikeS]

Very nice pattern, the discussion I've heard is to stack. Repeated foldings will wash out the pattern. If there is a riggers supply or wire rope co. nearby they might have larger cable.