question cable?????

Keyforgeknifes

Keyforgeknifes

Active Member
where do you get cable's from how do you know that they are hi carbon steel is there a certain cable tog get?

asking because want to do some cable dumascus but don't no were to get the cable

also if any one has some cable i mite am looking
 
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Two types.... Extra improved plow share, and Extra Extra improved plow share are the two cable type that are best suited to blades. That is what they will be called if purchasing brand new.

Before you go there, be warned, while many turn to cable because they think it will be easier then making laminated Damascus ..... NOPE! Not the case. To create flaw free cable Damascus, is one of the more difficult forging jobs.

Here's another aspect of using cable that needs to be strongly considered. Cable is all one steel type, what creates the pattern in the finish billet/blade, is the decarb between the individual wires in each "lay" of the cable. What does that mean? It means that the larger the individual strands of wire in the cable utilized, the better quality you will likely achieve in terms of cutting ability.

Based on experiments, following by analysis I had performed, each wire in cable will decarb between .005-.010" depth during the forge welding, shaping, and finish forging of a cable blade. (how much exactly depends on how good the forge welding technique) That means if you happen to have cable with individual wires that are say .020" which is typical in many popular sizes, and your forge welding decarbs to .010" (that's from all directions on an individual wire), then you've practically totally decarbed the cable..... in other words you've ended up with pretty much nothing of value to create any cutting implement. This is the point where many try to go ahead and make a blade, then when it won't harden, they have more questions.....refer back to what I said about decarb. ;)

I've not forged cable in a number of years, simply because I feel it's a novelty at best. And blades that did make decent cutting implements were always forged out of cable with individual wires that were 1/8"+. ;)
 
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Another thing to consider is to get some piano wire and twist it into your own Make sure that the steel is listed as spring steel or something like 1080. Cut it into 6" lengths or so, bundle them into about 3/4"-1", weld one end together and heat them to welding temperature. You can then clamp the loose end into a vice and twist the bundle tight. You can forge weld the bundle solid from there. This way you don't have to worry about having to burn the grease out of the cable.

Doug
 
thanks guys that helps my brother wants a cable damascus knife so I will probably still make some but I thank I mite try stacked first.
 
I've only made it twice once,in the typical method once. The second time I tried something a little different because I felt like I wanted more control of the end result since it is a lot of work. So I did my soak in kerosene heated it up un-twisted knocked it around brushed it and retightened, then I put the 1 inch cable in a thin 1 inch i.d. pipe with powered steel and sealed the ends. It came out pretty good and still had the typical cable Damascus look. The first time I had flaws second time I didn't.
 
The last time I tried cable the cable blew apart while I was cleaning it. I still had a bunch of small twisted pieces so I threw them in a can thinking the pattern would look cool in canister damascus. Yeah...naw. By the time I drew the can out to billet size the pattern was almost non existent. If anyone ever has the same idea my advice would be pack as much cable in the can as possible. That MIGHT work well. Mine was loosely packed.
 
Along the lines of what Chris is referring to.... I get a LOT of help requests from those without much experience with "cans"... who are confused as to why they don't achieve the pattern, or more to a fine point, the type of pattern they expect. It's almost always the fact that they simply didn't/don't understand just how much the are drawing things out once they stuff it into a "can". Sometimes, if you want the end pattern to be close to how things are arranged when you fill a can, it's best to do only the amount of forging to get a solid billet, then anneal and saw cut "slices" from the "can". It takes building up some experience before you're able to predict just how much things are gong to "move" as you forge. ;)
 
Exactly as Ed said. I learned a lot from that can alone. The steel was solid and beautiful, the pattern sucked eggs.
 
If there was any curiosity I still had that blade laying around. I cleaned the rust off and gave it a quick etch. Some 15n20 powder might have been cool.
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Something else to consider is to get some piano wire and turn it into your own Make sure that the steel is recorded as spring steel or something like 1080. Cut it into 6" lengths or somewhere in the vicinity, group them into around 3/4"- 1", weld one end together and heat them to welding temperature. You would then be able to clip the remaining detail into a bad habit and bend the pack tight. You can manufacture weld the pack strong from that point. This way you don't need to stress over consuming the oil out of the link.
 
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