Again, due to too much time on my hands, I've been playing to make little toys for cable making. I am grateful to a good mate in the Rudge Owners for describing the idea, (which is probably well-known to some folk here). There may even be commercial versions avaialble, haven't looked.
But, the creation of a mini-bird's-nest of the wire strands to fit the chamfered side of cable nipples is a very good thing I reckon, as when it is filled with solder you get a totally unburstable cable.
A simple tool that can be made in various sizes - using a split length of steel, with a groove cut up the middle longways, a belled area one end, and a matching bell-ended punch with a shallow hole up the middle to take the bare end of the cable which the punch bears on.
Put split clamp in vice with cable clamped in it, put punchy end over the cable, whack it . . . and this is what you get (see pic). Brilliant for clutch and brake cables, which is what I've been making so far. As smaller version for throttles and ignition cables sits in the same box of kit.
Anyone else who's bored half to death might find it useful therapy to do similar!