Welding Cable

[Doug Lester]

I may be getting a little ambitious for someone who is just finishing his first knives but I have started to weld up some cable and am having a little bit of a problem. This is the first time that I have forge welded anything. The cable that I'm welding had already come apart into it's seven strands so I decided to weld each individually and then weld them together on edge to form a billet. The problem is that, try as hard as I may, there are a few individual wires that just won't weld down. I have brushed the section, refluxed, reheated, and rewelded and they still stand up proud. My pyrometer says that the forge, a single venturi burner model, runs at 2100 degrees and I let the cable get up to a bright yellow so it should be hot enough to weld. Is my best bet to go ahead a flatten this strand, the rest of it appears to be welded up solid, and grind these loose wires off?

Doug Lester

[Don Halter]

2100* sounds a wee bit cool. I generally run my forge at 2300-2400 when welding.

Sometimes I get a strand that came out of the bundle and it just never wants to get welded. The problem is that it's sticking up enough, and small enough, that it comes down below welding temp too quickly just in moving it to the anvil. I usually just boost the temp up, then twist hte billet while still in the forge, Try using your tongs and just sqeezing it down while still in the forge, then pull out and tap down with hammers.

[DiamondG Knives]

What Don says sounds right on, on small strands like that, they heat fast and cool fast.
If its a real pain, Id grind it off, or on occasion, Ive welded it into the bar with an Oxy/Acet rig.

Just my $0.02

God Bless
Mike

[csc]

like said before Try welding a little hotter and take it out of the forge and twist it hard with a pipe wrench and a vise, or it could be dirty. What kind of cable can make a difference, I have used in the past crane cable mostly.
Chad

[EdStreet]

I just bought a cable damascus knife from a member here and he has a really good tutorial on his website on this very thing.

http://www.aescustomknives.com.ar/do...ledamascus.htm

Ed

[Geno]

I weld up each end before welding in the forge.
This keeps all the wires together at all times.
Stick or tig welding the ends before forging helps a lot.
Be sure to grind off ALL weld metal before stacking,etc...