June 25, 20178 yr Hello.. I had a few hours of what would be (Dead) free time... so I whipped this out not wanting to waste working time... Welded cable from a pre 1910 mine here in Nevada with some SS heat treat foil thrown in for colour/contrast just cause I can... "Fossil Bos Taurus" ivory and phosphor bronze mounts.. I think it came out OK for a "time killer" project... It's up on my site as we speak/... Hope these pics come out OK.. JPH
June 25, 20178 yr Some time killer! Your work is an inspiration as always. I'm struggling to picture in my head how the foil was incorporated. Did you untwist the cable and insert it between the threads, or some other approach?
June 25, 20178 yr Author Hello: This stuff was pretty rusty when I scrounged it so I did a vinegar soak after I unwound the strands into the 7 basic parts. Followed that with a rather aggressive wire brushing to get out as much rust as I could. Now this cable had a sisal fibre core so that went away . That made it a bit interesting when it came to putting the things together again but it worked. After I got the pieces as clean as I could I took some strips of the SS foil and spiral wrapped then around 3 of the six strands and then just bundled them together as best I cold and started to weld and twist. This is what I ended up with. Didn't turn out half bad at all if ya ask me.. JPH
June 25, 20178 yr I've heard of wire-cored rope, but not of rope-cored wire. Learn something new every day. Lovely work, JPH. Thanks for the insight into your process.
June 25, 20178 yr The sisal or other fiber core in cable is a stress indicator. (I don't recall the correct term and ain't gonna look) If you pull on it too hard the core is squeezed through the wire rope yarns in the modern synthetic safety ropes. The older types (and sisal says old type) the fibers crush and break so the cable gets furry with broken core material to give you a visual and tactile indication the wire rope has been stressed beyond safe limits. Beautiful blade Jim, interesting pattern with the foil. Have you ever used tig welding wire for color? I keep wondering what twisting a piece or 3 of nickle tig wire in a billet would look like. I say twisting, I'm visualizing wire rope right now but wadding, folding, cutting short pieces, etc. and laying them in billets of bar stock could get interesting. Every time I look at pattern welded blades I start thinking about developing patterns. The abyss pulls strongly. Frosty The Lucky.
June 25, 20178 yr Awesome, thanks for the extra explanation Jim. Definitely gives it something extra beyond the standard cable weld. Frosty, first you start work on a seax, now your daydreaming about pattern welded steel? You're standing on the edge of a cliff about to fall long and hard into the obsession of bladesmithing. Do Wiley Coyote proud and keep walking forward
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