Anyone worked with S5?

Darrin Sanders

Darrin Sanders

Knifemaker
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I did a search but didn't come up with anything. The reason I ask is that I have a new neighbor that works in a plywood plant and is in charge of sharpening & maintenance on all their cutting tools. He brought me a blade that turns out to be S5. Supposedly I can get all the old blades for free. They are 120" X 3" X 1/4".
I found a spec. sheet and it looks like they should make excellent choppers. Has anyone actually used any and have any tips tricks on annealing and re-hardening they wanna share?

Here is the spec sheet I found. It looks to be fairly simple and straightforward to work but I thought I would ask if anybody had any actual experience with this stuff.

http://www.hudsontoolsteel.com/technical-data/steelS5
 
I am fairly new to knife making, but i got some s7 recently and it is much harder on my belts than 1084. Drilling was much tougher, but it seemed to come out OK. I used a HT where I got the metal a couple of shades hotter than non magnetic then quick dip in canola then air cool until hardened. Blade seems to be holding up fine.
 
Darrin,
Used S5 for 4 1/2yrs it was free from a local cotton gin and a little thicker.
Will be hardened and is Really! tough to cut on the band saw for profiles... I used to cut to length pieces with a disc grinder or my metal bandsaw then throw them in the HT oven to remove the hardness.
Bring to non-magnetic temp starting in a cold oven and let them cool with the oven, took em soft enough to cut, same should work for a forge.
Tough as hell blades for choppers
If I remember right temp was 1450 with a 5min soak using a scale inhibitor, above that and it scales up alot.
Quench in room temp water your not going to hurt it. After tempering twice @ 375F for one hour ea time the blades spent the night in my freezer.
Let us know how things work out
 
I seem to remember Scott Gossman working with S5 and A8 several years ago.
He may be another resource you could ask some questions.
 
Thanks guys. Hankins, that sounds like it jives with what the data sheets say. Good info. on the water and scale above 1450. I have some anti-scale coating that I never use but I may have to break it out and use some.
Chris-Thanks for the heads up.
 
Well Hankins I finally got around to making a test blade. I annealed it like you said and it softened nicely. I cycled it at 1600, 1525, & 1440 cooling to black after each heat. I hardened it at 1650 with a 10 min. soak and water quenched. I've never water quenched a blade of any kind before and I'm here to tell ya that taking a blade that is 17" X 3" X .25" from 1650 to room temp. in water in a matter of seconds is VIOLENT. As I was getting ready to pull it out of the furnace I was wondering how many pieces I was gonna have before the quench was over. You know what? It came out all in one piece and is as straight as an arrow. It was an expecience to say the least. Hopefully I'll get to finish and test it soon. I'll let you know the results when I do.

Thanks for the info..
 
@ Darrin,

To make the quench less violent I would use Brine for the quench, its a little more stable (surface tension and viscosity) and 10% faster than just H2O.

Careful with tool steel composition. I know that Hudson Tool Steel often doesn't have the same % of elements as other companies, so look to your providers data for whom you are buying.

Lastly, i'd recommend S5 over S7, because of its high silicon vs chromium. I imagine the silicon will last longer in a forge and not decay as fast as a chromium metal, being more hammer friendly. (I have problems with chrome decaying fast in propane reducing atmosphere). Not to mention, S5 should make a really good San Mai material. I imagine that silicon content could help keep a cleaner metal with less "chunky" slag, and may be easier to forge weld
.

I'm currently looking into potential for S5 O1 sanmai for swords. (previously 5160/O1 swords & knives)
 
I made a test blade out of this stuff and I find it to be as tough as anything I've ever tested. (including L6 & 3V) I was thinking that it would be an excellent sword steel but hadn't considered its use in San Mai. Now that you mention it, I bet a 410 SS & S5 San Mai sword would look amazing.
The next time a use S5 I will use brine. If you ever get around to making that San Mai, please post some pics.
 
Darrin is the plywood plant you are getting it from Hunt?

I worked there for almost 10 years, other than cheap plywood it never occurred to me they might have something else worth packing home.
 
No, its from Roy O. Martin. However, I can and do get 15N20 Bandsaw blades from a friend who works at Hunt. You remember Lance Blackmon? BTW, where do you live?
 
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