Hi to all, new on here just been reading loads. Anyway got to thinking can you make knife blanks from old crane cable? And if so would it give you the damascas steel look?
It's just that at my place of work they change crane cables on a regular basis.

Thanks in advance.

Hello and welcome from another new member of this awesome site. If I remember correctly Wayne Goddard wrote about it in his book The $50 knife shop. (this is the book that got me into blacksmithing) He calls it cable damascus. There is a whole section on the matter in his book (chapter 6), so depending on the material the cable is made of, I believe it should be possible.

Look in the Knife making section, and start a search

Here's a starter http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/22884-cable-damascus/page__hl__%2Bcable+%2Bdamascus

Yes it does make cool patterns, it just takes a while in some cases to get the forgewelding down...read read read up on it here. Do web searches on cable damascus and learn all ya can about the process, for some folks its easy for some folks its hard. There is a learning curve with it just like anything, but learn to control your hammer and fire... I almost exclusively make my own steel from cable, eventually I plan on smelting my own.....Just make sure you read read read first.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/27959-loneforge-creations-2/
This how mine turned out. This is 9/16 sling cable and folded once. Etched in Ferric Chloride. My recommendation is go for it.

This is a cable knife I started on yesterday and finished up today. Probably about 4 hours in it. Not counting the 30 minute etch in muriatic acid. I had made a v-block a while back and used it to do the welding in. I made a spring fuller yesterday to help divide up the blade from the handle and the forged element on the end from the handle. Here is a link to the rest of the pics, https://picasaweb.google.com/LDWynn/11InchCableKnife?authuser=0&feat=directlink
This is an old album of how I used to weld up a cable knife. Things have changed a little since then. https://picasaweb.google.com/LDWynn/BirthOfACableKnife?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Nice blade ^^. The handle is very nicely done. My fav part.

The handle is very nicely done indeed, the blade is not to my taste. To me it could use longer bevels and a better forward termination.

Here is another knife I finished today. I think I am going to take this one to ABANA. I am not that great at grinding. I just get as much of a bevel as I can, I do not even know what forward termination means. I do appreciate the comments though.

Nice knife Lyle, I've been using the one I got from you for a few things, It keeps an edge really well!,
If you have time could you post a pick or link to one of your spring fuller, i've looked and can't find a good one.

the weld on the hilt looks so symmetrical to now that I look at it !

So it will hold an edge?