Cable Damascus?

[JohnnyChance]

Yeah, let's see some pictures of cable damascus.

Could you buy new cable to avoid grease and other contamination, or does that kinda defeat the purpose of getting used (cheaper?) cable and recycling it? Maybe you guys can get Aldo to wrap you up some cable made of a mix 1095, O1 and 15n20 (or whatever), with some flux between the threads. Or would that just make it TOO easy on you guys? Haha.

[PierreRodrigue]

I dont know about too easy, but it would look sweet! Here are a couple cable blades, non kitchen though...

[Mike Davis]

Yeah, let's see some pictures of cable damascus.

Could you buy new cable to avoid grease and other contamination, or does that kinda defeat the purpose of getting used (cheaper?) cable and recycling it? Maybe you guys can get Aldo to wrap you up some cable made of a mix 1095, O1 and 15n20 (or whatever), with some flux between the threads. Or would that just make it TOO easy on you guys? Haha.

HAHAHAHA!!! If we make it too easy...Well...then maybe i can do it lol. Here is a random pic off the interwebs.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_DtZs-VfMJf...zashi_1990.jpg
Nice thing is...I can easily do an integral bolster. Usually when you buy cable, it has a ton of crap in it to start with, what i have is a hundred times cleaner than any i have ever bought.

[Mike Davis]

oops lol, Thanks Pierre Nice looking stuff!

[DevinT]

The best pattern comes from decarborizing the surface of the wires. It forms a layer of ferrite at the weld interfaces between wires. Because ferrite does not etch well it will show as a latice pattern. Take the temp up and don't flux too early to allow a little oxidation.

Prep the wire rope by arc welding the ends, heat and twist it so as to make it tighter, flux, weld, finnish.

Hoss

[PierreRodrigue]

Thanks Hoss!

[Mike Davis]

Good stuff! Thanks Devin! I will try that for sure!!!

[WildBoar]

Here is the cable damacus blade from Stephen Fowler, below his san mai pass-around blade:

[PierreRodrigue]

Toughest thing with cable is avoiding inclusions, I throw awaw as many as I keep.

[j.g.emmerling]

This is my first post, and I'm a little slow on the uptake as I just read this cable welding info. So, I thought I'd add my experience welding cable:

I only weld cable that is 1"+ in dia. It seems that smaller than that, the wires often burn prior to coming to a welding temp. It is important to completely mig weld the ends to keep the cable from fraying. Most larger cable usually has grease inside. This is not a problem as it can be burned out in a less than welding heat. After burning the grease, I take the cable to the slack tub for a quick dunk, then wire brush the scale. I open the cable slightly and flux all around. After that, back into the forge at a less than welding heat, then out to the vise for tightening with a pipe wrench that has a handle welded on the opposite side of the stock handle. As mentioned, sometimes more than one heat is necessary.

I slowly bring the cable up to welding temp letting it soak and trying not to burn the wires. This is interspersed with several trips to the flux. When it's time to weld, I go straight to the power hammer and lightly forge a flat on one side, then work the other equally, ultimately squaring the cable. The cable is brushed, fluxed again, brought to a welding temp and taken to the hammer. This time I round the cable by breaking the edges, then slowly rolling and pulling the cable out toward me. I'm sure most smiths know how to do this. Then it's just a matter of cleaning up the round. I've found that this method seems to help eliminate inclusions.

After forging it flat to about 3/8" thick, I cut, stack, and re-weld, sometimes several times.

It seems to me that cable is not a good element for blades as if it is on a cutting edge, it will probably be the least noble of the other steels used in the blade, and when etched, will be somewhat ragged. It does give a nice textural look though.

I'll try to post some pics of cable and my super duper flux formula.

John