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Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks
A personal technique to forge steel cable showing the strands but leaving no hammering marks.
From some time now I had this idea in my head about an integral cable damascus knife on which the only ground part were the bevels, and the rest of the knife showed the exact shape of the original braids of the cable.

I wanted the bolster to be round, without showing the hammer marks and leaving the cable strands twisted as on the original instead of a welded steel mass to acid etch later.

Once I had that idea, I started thinking how to make it properly and surprisingly enough, the results were exactly as I wanted them to be.

First thing I did, was cutting a piece of 1" diameter cable of the same lenght of the desired knife (both blade and bolster)

Then I tied up the ends with a piece of wire to prevent it from coming apart. After that I took off about half of the inner strand of the cable to replace it with a barstock of steel of the same diameter of the extracted strand. (Pictures 1, 2 and 3)

In this case, I used a threaded 3/8" barstock. (Pictures 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8)
Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks
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Just done. (Pictures 9 and 10)

After that, I cutted the extra inner strand on the other end. (Picture 11)

Then I welded that end of the cable and took the wires away. (Pictures 12, 13, 14 and 15)

After that, I placed the cable into a 304 stainless steel pipe. The purpose of the nut is to hold a stainless steel washer against the pipe to close this end of the container.

The pipe works to (as well as to prevent the decarburization of the steel) reduce the hammer marks by softening the hits, thus allowing the preservation of the original shape of the cable. (Pictures 16 and 17)
Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks
Picture 9   Picture 10   Picture 11   Picture 12   Picture 13   Picture 14   Picture 15   Picture 16
This end will get closed with an electric welder. (Picture 18)

To close the other end, I made 2 cuts on the pipe at 90 degrees from each other so I can hammer it close. (Pictures 19, 20 and 21)

Forging the blade. Since I can't shape the tip of the knife because it's inside the pipe, I "only" hammered it til the desired thickness. If I over hammer it, the pipe might break. (Pictures 22, 23 and 24)
Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks
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Of course, I have to reheat the cable on the oven several times before I can stop hammering. (Pictures 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29)

Forged cable, still wrapped on the stainless pipe. (Pictures 30 and 31)

In order to take the pipe away I used a grinder to cut the steel (wich didn't weld to the cable as it was stainless) (Picture 32)
Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks
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Future blade now retieved from the pipe. (Pictures 33 and 34)

Shaped blade. (Pictures 35 and 36)

Beggining of the grinding process. The idea is to make a knife without changing the original looks of the cable, but still very capable of use. This will have this rustic finish but very utilitarian grinds, both in the main edge as on the swedge. (Pictures 37, 38 and 39)
Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   blank image
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Finished Blade
Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   Tutorials - Making Cable Damascus - No Hammer Marks   blank image
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