'Soldering' the end of a wire prod

[sarabande]

I want to make a flexible wire 'prod' for the sea water inlet to the donk, so that I can displace invasive limpets or push out a chink of seaweed at the inlet seacock.

I have various diameters of wire rope from old rigging, and need a DIY means of fixing the cut end strands of the wire together so that they do not unravel and jam. If I use flux and solder, or dip the (heated ) end into molten lead, will that make a good binding agent ?

Alternative DIY suggestions please I don't want to pay for talurits, etc.

TIA

 

[Pinnacle]

Heat shrink?
Electrical tape?
Superglue?

 

[Corribee Boy]

Solder used to work on my bike's brake cables, so why not give it a try?

 

[Norman_E]

A stick welder with a 316 rod will easily weld the wires together. Soft solder may do it but it does not seem to take very well on stainless steel, though the use of a phosphoric acid based flux will usually allow a joint to be made with proper lead/tin solder. The lead free stuff is less certain.
One certain method of making a neat job is to use silver solder and a decent blowlamp. The steel needs to be fluxed with an acid flux and glowing red hot for most silver solders. The solder needs to be melted by contact with the hot metal, not by the blowlamp flame.

 

[lw395]

Soldering galv wire is easy.
Stainless less so.
Talurits are cheap enough if you have the tool, but for your purposes, a bit of small copper tube hammered or squoze flt in a vice would be ok, even an electrical crimp perhaps?
You might find abit of old dinghy rigging with a crimp on already?

 

[elton]

I would weld the end with my MIG. I very much doubt solder will take. I believe they put nipples on the ends of steel cables by compression.

 

[William_H]

I would just use the 1x19 wire as is. If it splays a bit it will help the cleaning process . If that is too much of a problem trim the end off again with your wire cutters. olewill

 

[rogerthebodger]

Crimp on an uninsulated but splice of a sutiable size