cstar 

I've seen videos on YouTube of people making their own straddle cable knarps using solder and a mold. I'm wondering if anyone here has experience doing this, and if so, what kind of solder and soldering iron and other supplies are appropriate? My foremost concern would be finding a solder comparable or better in strength to the original zinc alloy (?) cable knarps.

Alternately, I realize you could make a cable end out of a piece of round metal rod which has a hole drilled through it for a cable to slip through and a set screw threaded in perpendicularlu to clamp the cable. I've seen that sort of thing for sale. Is there a kind of aluminum up for the task, or is brass a better bet?