So I was out in the woods and found about fifty feet of 3/8" winch cable. One of the ends is broke. So I picked it up figuring that I would find a place to put an eye in the broke end. My question is where might I go to have this done and is this cable still safe to use or did the fact that it was broke has there been to much stress to on it?

 

personally, I wouldn't trust a broken winch line found in the woods.

However, Home Depot / Lowes should have the parts required to put a loop or hook on the end.

you could also ask around for a take off steel cable, from someone who is putting synthetic on and taking off a good (maybe unused) steel line.

 

Weakest link.
The wire rope broke in its weakest spot.
Unless you are pretty sure that spot was significantly weaker than the rest of the wire rope, consider the rest to be weakened too.
It broke in one spot, yes but the rest of the cable/wire rope might have nearly broke too.
You know it has all been stretched close to breaking limit.
Not worth the risk.
If it is much thicker than what else you have, you could still use it, but why?
Wire rope is heavy and bulky.
There are better alternatives around.
Again... Not worth the risk.
If we are talking synthetic, the same precautions apply.
If stretched towards limit, discard (just not in nature).
Consider the line to have max half strength of new. (safety margin)
(what is the product, what material, what strength as new? History? Too many unknowns. Not worth it.
You can splice your own as you know the condition and history. This is safety equipment. It can kill or injure you or someone you care for.

 

When in doubt about the extent of the damage, retire the wire rope in question immediately. Without laboratory analysis, it is impossible to determine the strength of damaged or used wire. Thus, you will not be able to tell whether wire rope with any amount of damage is safe to use. Retire the wire rope that is damaged.

Destroy, rather than discard, wire rope to be retired.
Wire rope that is not destroyed might be used again by someone not aware of the hazard associated with that use. Destroying wire rope is best done by cutting it up into short pieces.

 

I work in the aerospace industry where there are a lot of cable operated back-up flight control systems. These cables dont see anywhere near the tensile stress that your winch cable will see, but the FAA still mandates that if there is even one broken strand, the cable needs to be replaced. Its not worth having the thing break and possibly injure yourself or others.

 

Yeah, it definitely should not be used. Also, 50 feet is pretty short to use for your winch cable