How I weld cable damascus

B

bkshafer

Joined
Jul 31, 2004
Messages
54
This method may not be very practical for everybody out there but here it goes. I work in the oilfields and getting suitable wire rope for knife making is pretty easy. In fact I know were about 60 feet is just setting on the ground begging to be turned into knives. Anyhow, my forge is modified to hold a jig that allows me to twist the cable while still in the forge.
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First, I cut the cable in sections about 4 feet long. Then I get the forge hot and feed the cable in about 6 inches at a time to burn off all the grease. After all the grease is burned off I allow the cable to cool off enough to handle. I then take all the strands apart and attack them individually with a wire brush. When they have all been brushed I reassemble the rope and get ready to weld.
With the forge at welding temp I feed just enough cable through the forge so I can hold it in the vice. When the wires are hot enough I flux the heck out of them and then back into the forge. At this point I close the vice and wait for the rope to get to welding temp.
When it is hot enough I twist the cable with a modified pipe wrench
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The wrench is a 14 inch pipe wrench with a handle welded to the top jaw. Works great for this application. I got that idea from the video by Jim Hrisoulas.

Since the cable is kept hot while you are working on it twisting it up tight is really easy.
 
After twisting as much as I like I take the cable out of the fire and to the anvil and hammer lightly to make sure the center is completely welded together.
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After welding the whole thing together I employ the services of my 11 year old son to help draw out the billet.
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The 8 pound sledge hammer teaches him who is the boss pretty quick
 
The piece of cable I used here started out at 47 inches long with an o.d. of about 1.185 inches. After welding it was about 37 inches long with an o.d. of about 1.07 inches.
The cable made one total rotation about every 7 inches before welding. After welding it made one rotation about every ¾ of an inch.
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I don’t worry about the very ends getting welded up. I end up cutting off about the first and last 3 or 4 inches.
I think the welding process here (not including the cleaning part) took less than an hour. It would go faster if my forge was more efficient.

Hope this is useful. Thanks for looking.

Brian
 
Brian,

Welcome to the forum.

Thanks, that was very educational to a guy like me. I look forward to see the knife you make out of that.

Nathan
 
That's HOT!! Brian. You have inspired me to make a foot feed ratcheting twister, and welcome to the forums man.
Do you have any blades you have made this way?? I'm sure all would like to see them.

Thanks, Dave.
 
Cool set-up. I need to build a new forge, the old one's about burnt out and I may add a removable pipe vise to the back side for something like that.:thumbup: I've seen, can't remember when or who posted, a hydrolic clamp something like your set-up, yours looks easier for me to build though.
 
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