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It followed me home


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That's an incredible haul!  If you aren't already an expert at cable Damascus you will be soon.  If you think that the guy you bought the cable from may have access to future resources you may want to visit him with a small, simple version of one of your knives as a gift.  Who knows, he may keep an eye out for you after that.  I guess it depends on the deal you got.  If you got the cable for a song then you may want to build your karma!

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1 minute ago, Lou L said:

If you think that the guy you bought the cable from may have access to future resources you may want to visit him with a small, simple version of one of your knives as a gift.  Who knows, he may keep an eye out for you after that.

Especially now that he knows what you charge for them!

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57 minutes ago, JHCC said:

Especially now that he knows what you charge for them!

The price I told him was not for a cable knife but instead a knife from bar stock. Nothing super fancy just a good working type.

59 minutes ago, Lou L said:

That's an incredible haul!  If you aren't already an expert at cable Damascus you will be soon.  If you think that the guy you bought the cable from may have access to future resources you may want to visit him with a small, simple version of one of your knives as a gift.  Who knows, he may keep an eye out for you after that.  I guess it depends on the deal you got.  If you got the cable for a song then you may want to build your karma!

I do plan on having one to show him if I see him again. It'll likely be an EDC type mad from this cable. 

I have done some cable in the past but it wasn't good cable so it didn't turn out too good. The individual wire were so thin that half the outer layer burned off and by the time I had it all good and stuck together I'd burned out what little carbon was in it. I still have some of that cable and will be trying it again one day.

 

I managed to cut a small piece off and left it without tape or wire holding it together because I wanted to see just how nasty the inside was. It's pretty bad, I'll definitely have to give it a bath in a degreaser before I worry about cleaning the rust off. I'm also hoping in the process of cleaning the grease and the rust that the dirt and grit will find its way out.

 

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8 hours ago, Michael Cochran said:

The price I told him was not for a cable knife but instead a knife from bar stock. Nothing super fancy just a good working type.

I do plan on having one to show him if I see him again. It'll likely be an EDC type mad from this cable. 

I have done some cable in the past but it wasn't good cable so it didn't turn out too good. The individual wire were so thin that half the outer layer burned off and by the time I had it all good and stuck together I'd burned out what little carbon was in it. I still have some of that cable and will be trying it again one day.

 

I managed to cut a small piece off and left it without tape or wire holding it together because I wanted to see just how nasty the inside was. It's pretty bad, I'll definitely have to give it a bath in a degreaser before I worry about cleaning the rust off. I'm also hoping in the process of cleaning the grease and the rust that the dirt and grit will find its way out.

 

 

   The cross section looks impressive for sure.  The thinner material is safely nestled in the center, that should help a lot.  I don't envy the cleanup process though.  Someone on here must have the perfect method for cleaning that up.  The degreaser may just be the start of it.  Electrolysis may just get "all up in there" in those hard to reach spaces.  With that much material it would actually be efficient to go all out setting up a system to clean the metal.

Enjoy the cable for sure!

 

GWIOW,

congratulations on the haul.  Those are unprecedented prices (free doesn't count!).  

I'll not involve myself in any squabbles whose history predates Hadrian's wall...but, gentleman, please do continue with your jibes.  Scottish, English, Irish debates are enjoyable entertainment.

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No pun here....the Picts are just awesome!  They struck fear into the hearts of the Roman army.  Half of my lineage is Welch (third generation American) and I cling to that Celtic heritage.  But the Picts....those lunatics did what no one else could do.

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1 hour ago, Lou L said:

   The cross section looks impressive for sure.  The thinner material is safely nestled in the center, that should help a lot.  I don't envy the cleanup process though.  Someone on here must have the perfect method for cleaning that up.  The degreaser may just be the start of it.  Electrolysis may just get "all up in there" in those hard to reach spaces.  With that much material it would actually be efficient to go all out setting up a system to clean the metal.

Enjoy the cable for sure!

I scrubbed those pieces thoroughly with a wire brush and even used one in my drill for the tough spots. Tomorrow I'll weld the ends together at work and see what I can manage the next chance I get to build a fire. I played around with a short section of one of the outer bundles today. I wire brushed it once I got it warm, not enough to glow yet, then I fluxed it and brought the heat up a little more brushed and flexed again. Then I welded the ends and forged them square. Got it hot and twisted it tight on itself and proceeded to weld it. I took my time but it stuck good and I have a small blade in the works from it. I can only hope that the full size cable will cooperate as good as the small section did.

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2 minutes ago, Michael Cochran said:

Practice, failure, and persistence are keys to learning. If you keep trying in spite of your failures you'll eventually see the success you desire. :) 

I've already found myself on that journey.  Haven't had a failure yet because I've learned something and had a good time all the same.  Made some ugly metalic beasties all the while!  

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went to the scrapyard yesterday; came out with 97 pounds of steel to go into my wife's car; part of my evil plan to get my driving my pickup restored!

The big piece was a very large rock breaker bar, old school, high carbon; the odd piece was a roll of chicken wire so I can close up the gables and get that blasted dove out of nesting in the shop and making a big mess.

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39 minutes ago, JME1149 said:

Brought home a nice 6" post vise from a local auction for $60. Good overall condition and the screw / screw box is perfect. Only issue is that the leg had been cut short. No visible markings I could find.

Very nice, and a good price!

The shorter height might not be a bad thing, especially given its jaw size and overall robustness. Alec Steele has a good video about a low-mounted post vice for striking (see here, starting at about the 3:30 mark), which might be a good option for you.

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Easy enough to A: fix it by welding (forge or arc or gas) B: make a prosthesis, C: make a mounting block or D mount it lower as mentioned previously.  GREAT price, well worth a bit of extra labour on it!   I had a vise with a greenstick fracture of the leg that at a forge meeting we forge welded back together and then forged out a strip of real wrought iron and wrapped it around the area and forge welded it in place as extra support.  It was a lot of fun!

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When Glenn started this topic I don't imagine he expected "it followed me home...from the library!"  Nice twist there.

Enjoy reading.  If you have the patience perhaps you can get out the old scanner and make a huge .pdf of those....says the greedy guy who doesn't have access to those books.

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