Where do you find cable for your cable blades??

S

stefanj

Joined
Aug 5, 2007
Messages
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I am looking for some cable to try some forge welding. I believe I can get my forge up to temp since I just forge welded a small piece of W2 to a rail road spike (propane was almost out so I had to shake it to keep it up for a couple more minutes). I would like to try and forge weld a couple of knives using cable.

Thanks,
 
I looked up a local company that manufactured slings and they were more than happy to give me any scraps they had leftover once I explained to them what I was doing with it. They were even able to tell me what kind of cable it was so I knew what I was working with. Thats where I would start, if not I think Darren Ellis was selling some on his website.
 
Any logging happening around you? Snoop around older sites, they often leave an entire cable in the woods, once it starts to fray in one spot, bring a torch.

There's a rigging guy down the street from a friend's shop, they have lots of scraps too, I wouldn't buy it.
 
I purchase new cable from a Mazzella Dealer. Look in the phone book. I have their catalog and know exactly what kind of steel I'm dealing with and what kind of core. That way I don't have to deal with taking it apart to get a paper core out of it. Plus, it's clean with know grease or contaminants forced into the strands.
 
Luke Sheridan said:
Any logging happening around you? Snoop around older sites, they often leave an entire cable in the woods, once it starts to fray in one spot, bring a torch.

There's a rigging guy down the street from a friend's shop, they have lots of scraps too, I wouldn't buy it.
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i tried this once, was some old mining cable draped over a cliff buy my place, drove my jeep down in the woods, took my oxy,act. tanks and torches come back with a ton a 1 1/2 - 2'' Sh**. here it was all rope core. to me it ain't worth the aggravation. but the strands are big enough to do smaller projects.
 
My advice to you is to spend the money and buy new, virgin cable that is known to both weld well and make a decent blade. Darren Ellis has a nice selection of sizes. Sheffield Knife Supply also carries it, but I believe theirs is Extra Extra Improved Plow (1095). That's what I've used, and it welds great.

There are a million different varieties of cable. Trying to start with found cable, you could spend all your time dicking around getting frustrated and burning propane trying to weld something that isn't going to work anyway.

Do yourself a favor and don't stack the deck against yourself being penny wise and pound foolish. You can add in the variable of mystery cable later.
 
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i agree with fitzo totally,too much mystery in mystery cable for me, know what you are working, useing known heat treat methods will incease your chances for useable results- i purchased a variety of cable from darren from 3/4in up i would recomned useing 1in and larger -the larger the better
bb
 
Follow that big crane boom sticking up in the air and see what kind of nice ironworkes are around:) Most guys are willing to let you have scrapped chokers especially if you are putting them to use (Ie not looking for scrap weight)
A few things to look for, Tags:by law chokers have to start out their life and in most cases have to have a tag on them to be in service.This contains lovely information like extra improved plow steel or improved plow steel and the letters IWRC (Independent wire rope core) which is what you want.The tag wil also have a manufacturer name on it which is helpful for steel type.

Personaly I wouldnt pay for cable because it come with my day job I save my money for W-2.
This all boils back down to the good ol' how much is your time worth question. ;)
 
Extra Improved Plow Steel - oil field rotary drilling - its used on the block lines, lots of them in Texas. On an active rig they change out the lines about every month or two, its a safety thing - endless supply if you know a driller. It is basically a throw away product. I have a buddy who gets about 130 - 160 feet or so (that's the line length), usually 1" - 1 1/4" cable. here is a youtube of me forging one into a square bar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAVzrBwQg2Q
 
Thunder said:
Extra Improved Plow Steel - oil field rotary drilling - its used on the block lines, lots of them in Texas. On an active rig they change out the lines about every month or two, its a safety thing - endless supply if you know a driller. It is basically a throw away product. I have a buddy who gets about 130 - 160 feet or so (that's the line length), usually 1" - 1 1/4" cable. here is a youtube of me forging one into a square bar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAVzrBwQg2Q
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Now that is cool!!!!!!
:thumbup::thumbup:

I like the press!! And that block you forged looks so nice compared to my stuff which has a bunch of nasty hammer marks from when I start getting tired(since I am basically beating the snot out of the steal with everything I have).
 
Stefanj, the press is easy and cheap to fabricate, it cost about 100.00 or so dollars to build, Harbor Freight air over hydraulic jack, 70.00 on sale, plus $30.00 or so worth of 2" square tubing and flat bar. There is a topic over at fogg's bladesmith forums where you can see my press and two others that have been built, link is here: my $100.00 mini press. I really think this mini press will open up 20 tons of hydraulic forging power to everyone, even those of us who don’t have or don’t want to invest $3000.00, 7 foot of space, and a couple of tons of weight to use a full sized press. It is a small press but it performs very well, I do not have any trouble pressing out 1" cable or 7 layers of tool steel. Some others are using it for mokume gane, etc.
 
Thunder said:
Stefanj, the press is easy and cheap to fabricate, it cost about 100.00 or so dollars to build, Harbor Freight air over hydraulic jack, 70.00 on sale, plus $30.00 or so worth of 2" square tubing and flat bar. There is a topic over at fogg's bladesmith forums where you can see my press and two others that have been built, link is here: my $100.00 mini press. I really think this mini press will open up 20 tons of hydraulic forging power to everyone, even those of us who don’t have or don’t want to invest $3000.00, 7 foot of space, and a couple of tons of weight to use a full sized press. It is a small press but it performs very well, I do not have any trouble pressing out 1" cable or 7 layers of tool steel. Some others are using it for mokume gane, etc.
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That is awsome!! Another project for the future!!
 
Well I have some cable that I made my first real attempt at forge welding (Thanks for the Cable Bruce!). I learned a good lesson in the process being that when people say flux will burn a hole in the insulation of a forge it doesn't mean a small little hole, it is a big gaping trench!!! Thats what I get for not applying my ITC100 to my forge floor! Luckily I had my secondary forge.
I was able to start my forge welding, I should have wire tied the opposite end of the cable I was welding since I caused it to fray some when I started to hammer on the opposite end slightly. It was easily fixed by heating the end that frayed by grasping it with some pliers on one end and vice grips in the other and twisting. I then forge welded the opposite end to prevent this from occuring again. I was able to get a good solid weld but noticed that on the spine and blade edge there appeared to be cracking. I am not sure the cause of this? I made sure to have the entire piece nice and hot before I hammered on it. I am thinking that maybe one of the causes is that the I might have tried to hammer a little toooo long and the piece was cooling down when I landed a hit. The deapest crack was about 1-2mm and slighty on the edge of the spine. I filed it down since I didn't want to leave a small space like that which could hold moisture or something causing damage.

I did land some bad hammer blows but it is getting better and I am not hammering as bad as I used to!!! Still a work in progress however in that area and I'll be working that for as long as I can forge.

I'm trying to remember how to properly prep and etch aka bring out the pattern in the blade along with trying to intergrate a little bit of a hammon in there?

Thank you to everyone who has helped me, and please forgive my spelling (been a long day, and beating on some steel is my relaxation)!
 
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