tong shape for elevator cable welding??

B

boyntonstu

Joined
Dec 25, 2003
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What shape tong would you advise a newbie as the best shape for grabing elevator cable from a forge and manipulating it etc.?

Seems that a duck bill would be the one to start with.

Just a newbie.

BoyntonStu
 
If you want to weld cable, and still be able to get it out of the forge I suggest this. Get some nice thick leather gloves, and cut the cable down to a useable length (about 3 feet). Any cable size that you are going to mess with should go relatively stiff at this length, and you aren't going to be heating more than a few inches at a time anyway.

At this length you can use your hands (gloved of course) to grab the cooler end of the cable, and manipulate it at the anvil. You can make more than a 6 inch billet easily, and you can hot cut what you need from it easily and still have alot of length to handle it. Just make sure you use a boatload of flux, because what you can't see in the twist of the cable can make a real pain out of welding it properly.

Nothing is more aggravating that grinding a blade made from cable to find crap inside.

Doc

ps. I guess I didn't completely answer your question. Once you have mad a billet out of most of the 3 ft length of cable, you can quench it and flip it around and finish welding the other end of the length. Once you get to a length that is no longer handlable by hand you can always use a pair of tongs you already have around instead of making something new....
 
I used a duckbill for cable, so I agree with your choice! That said, I prefer to weld a 2 foot handle onto a segment of 1-1/4" cable maybe 6-8" long, that works better for me, personally. I used to use tongs, until the second hunk of cable got dropped into the vertical forge by a student... then, I switched to rebar handles. Soon after that, on the advice of Bill Buxton, I began using 1/4x1" mild steel as the handle. The flat is easier on the hand and easier to turn as you work the cable in the shoulder of the anvil. Doc's idea of a 3' hunk of cable is a good one, but, being a feeble old fart, I like the lower mass of the handle...
 
I just take a piece of 1 1/4" cable 8" or so long, weld the ends up with a mig welder and then weld a handle on it. But you can take some angle iron and some flat stock and make a set of tongs pretty easy. Weld a piece of 3/4" angle iron about 3 inches long on the edge of 2 pieces of flat stock, how ever long you want your tongs. Then lay the 2 pieces of flat stock in the X position, and drill a 1/4" hole though both pieces. bolt them together with a short bolt. Now you've got a set of tongs and the cable will lay in between the angle iron without twisting or trying to jumb out. After you get the tongs made you can heat the handles in the forge and adjust to fit your hands and grip better.

Hope this helps

Bill
 
Do you all use just hammer and anvil or does anyone use a semicircular hardy for example ?
 
I don't know what anyone elses experience is, but I have found nothing that works better than an anvil and hammer with cable .

Cable tends to go out of square when welding so much that i find mysef turning alot and hammering down the length to get good welds. Lots of flux, high heat, and finding the right hammering impact tend to be the difference in a good weld without alot of work. I don't know how the hardy would work as I have never tried anything else.

Doc
 
I work the cable in the round by hand, working an inch per heat to weld, "blocking" it into the shoulder of the anvil so that when you strike with a hammer it forces it into both surfaces. I hammer-weld the front and back inch, first, then the next heat I twist using a vise and a pipe-wrench with a second handle welded onto the head. Then I work the rest in the round, and don't flatten with the press until the very end. You can feel the cable solidify as it welds.

I have used the press and squaring dies effectively for wldin into a square bar, also. I have a section of black pipe I plan on making some "rounding" dies from, and trying that, too.
 
At www.webshots.com go to Community and do a photo search for cable knife. (new photo (#2) uploaded today)

I bought this knife about 25 years ago from a blacksmith in Virginia.

It is the reason why I am involved in building a forge, etc.

Unlike most cable knives discuseed here, it was made out of 5/8" cable.

Is this the shape that you are making?

BoyntonStu
 
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