The ones in the pic are made from 3/16" diameter bar 'cos thats what I had lying around and works well for this feaure.

Basically they are made in the same way, its just the amount of twists in the second op and the direction of twists that make them look different

Take a piece of stock about 12" long, and fold in half, bringing the strands together.

Repeat this three or four times (the ones in the pics are made from four off)

Then heat and twist each one of these leaving about 1" each end count the twists and make the remaining pieces the same,

The tighter the twists the more "corn on the cob" like appearance (as the first two of the three, the more open one is not twisted as tightly)

Place these twisted pieces together and grip in tongs or wire together, then fireweld the ends to form one piece, the ones illustrated were done in pairs then all together

Reverse in tongs and repeat for the other end

Then for the first two styles, evenly heat the piece allowing it to soak all way through, then put in the vise or whatever and twist in the same direction as the previous twist on the single/doubled strands, the tighter your twist the smaller the bits, try to keep an even twist (this is relatively easy due to the tightness of the twisting)

If it bends out of line use a wooden block on the anvil and a leather/wood/copper/lead soft faced hammer, heat the piece again and place on the block, rotate and hit and you should get it straight in no time.

This is ready to put into use, weld on the ball (you can always use a large nut that will fit over the end of the fireweld, saves a bit of collar forming) then scarf the other end ready to fit to the handle

For the open twist version, Twist all the same, but not as tight as the previous two, weld the ends as before.

Place in the forge and bring up to an even heat, put in the vise and twist, this time in the opposite direction as to the way you originally twisted the bars in the pre assembly, this open up giving the knitted cage appearance.

Straighten as previously but take care not to crush the profile

Note the number of turns and/or counter turns so you can match them for the rest of the set of fire irons or whatever you are going to make if you need more than one off.

The pics here are of an item being made by Richard Jones just to illustrate what to look for more interesting than just text, sorry for picture quality but you should get the gist of it.

Most such discussions are not worth the quibbling *except* for the fact that this forum is teaching the next generation of smiths and so we should be extra special careful not to mislead them. We've had to deal with so much misinformation back when it was just word of mouth or repeated in a book or two---"Packing" anyone?---So given a chance lets get the new people set off right! (save for when we pull their legs about something...)

My comment (up a few) was in regards to the foggy and arbitrary line between 'traditional' and 'not traditional'. Not mis-information.

My comment (up a few) was in regards to the foggy and arbitrary line between 'traditional' and 'not traditional'. Not mis-information.

Nothing wrong with that, but as Thomas said "Let's set the new people off right"

The site is supposed to be blacksmith oriented as opposed to engineering, and yes I do occasionally use a hacksaw, mainly for cutting off rivets or bolts to length, and yes I also practise the art of the angle grinder, but if you are going to learn blacksmithing, its fire and hand tools first.

John, THanks for the pics and explanation. Got it. I can do that. :)

Well I managed to Butcher mine into four slices. It was pretty bad. I cleaned up each rod and twisted tight together. It looked ok twisted tight but... This is where things went bad. Because each square bar was not consistent... (Calling them square is a bit of wishful thinking actually) Because of the inconsitencies when I went to un coil it looked quite horrible. One of the bars had a bad nick in it and was thin. This one looked particularly horrible. Needless to say the uncurling made a very inconsistent "rats nest" handle. I tried tweaking but it was a lost cause. Need to take more care to be consistent with the cuts. :(

I'm liking the welded options more and more..