Originally Posted by
spclark
Somehow I come away thinking that twist-welding isn't true welding in any way.
Yes, the wire strands are being heated to a point where the material loses much of its resistance to deformation. Twisting, done at this point, imparts significantly more contact between the individual wire strands than what they'd had in their original layup as wire 'rope'. Once cooled the affected strands are held tighter together as a result; they ought to be separable still, if done with some care, but are likely to be more brittle.
That's true, but the point I was making is that heating the stainless cable too much will lead to corrosion issues. The video posted on the first page pointed that out as well. They recommended priming the end of the wire to protect it after 'welding'. That's also in an aviation scenario where the cable end is probably in an enclosed engine compartment, not the underside of a MTB