5160 vs S7

K

KnifeFury

Joined
Sep 21, 2006
Messages
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After receiving my first Ranger Knives blade have been planning my next one! :D

After doing some searches on other Ranger Custom Knives I have seen that Justin will work with S7 as an alternative steel.

However, "S7" is not listed on the typical sites I use for reference:
http://www.cutleryscience.com/reviews/blade_materials.html
http://www.zknives.com/knives/articles/knifesteelfaq.shtml
http://www.agrussell.com/knife_information/steel_guide/
http://www.azom.com/materials.asp

Justin made the below comment on Knifeforum:
The S7 strength will be more noticable when you get into big blades and doing a ton of heavy chopping. S7 is extreamly tough and will take the beating like nobodies business. The 5160 can take a great beating but will chip before the S7 will. Other than that the are pretty close in terms of performance. Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Has anyone sampled the S7, or know if it is known by another designation?

I wanted to find some further details on the steel before committing to it in a custom blade.

Thanks for the help.
 
S7 is tougher but wear resistance is lower than 5160 which is already low compared to some other steels. S7 will cost easily twice as much as the 5160 blade, so that is also a factor.

IF price were no issue, it would be a no brainer for me and I'd go S7
 
I think Cobalt has it pretty much covered. Another way of looking at it is the primary use of these steels: 5160 is a spring steel, S7 is a shocksteel used in jackhammer bits. When it comes to impact toughness, there is little that can hold water to a shocksteel.
 
S7 doesn't get as hard as 5160. Neither has a lot of wear resistance. 5160 is more conducive to forging.
 
I have RD-9's in S7 and 5160. I have more fun w/my S7 RD-9, but that's more because it's a custom with features Justin added just for me (extended front guard because I'm a klutz and a ridged thumb ramp for security and comfort) than the added impact resistance. Talked a swordmaker into putting a bainite/martensite heat-treat on the 5160 RD-9 (all it took was asking nicely and paying nicely) and it's tougher than it originally was. That said, Justin's 'standard' heat-treatment of 5160 will make your knife tougher than you need. Much tougher unless you find entertainment in chopping things just to see pretty sparks. In such cases, higher carbon steel, while being less tough, will be more entertaining.

In use, you might not see a difference between either steel, but sometimes the wow factor is worth it and you may never know when that added oomph actually is needed. Kind of like buying a wallett with boron carbide panels normally used in body armor. Extravegance for its own sake until someone shoots at your back pocket.
 
I would like to see a picture of an S7 edge after chopping up 3/4 plywood. I tried this with various steels, including 5160, and they all took fairly major damage (impactions) to the edge. I would be curious as to how S7 would perform.

If it chips, don't blame me....
 
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