S-7

D

Dan Van

Joined
Jul 27, 2006
Messages
41
I have some well intentioned inlaws who gave me a piece of .200 x 4.00 x 18.00 ground S-7 for my birthday. I've been wondering what to make with it. I know that it is a good shock resisting tool steel used to make chisels etc. and is also used in plastic injection molds where highly corrosive materials are being molded. I have not seen any knives that use this material. Would it be advisable to use it for blades or find another use for it?

Thanks, Dan
 
from what i have read and know it is very shock resistant but the edge wear is not great. so it can take a beating but the edge will wear away a bit faster then a standard knife steel. but this is just from what i have read not from actual experance. i would have not problem making a knife out of it, I have a bunch of S7 that i will be forging into blades and look forward to testing them out. but it wont get real hard, i think its as quenched is max of somthing like 60Hrc or less and a temper of 400 will give you a hardness of around 57Hrc. so its not bad for big choppers but you could do better for small knives. I say use it and have fun. did you get the chemical break down with the steel, how much carbon does it have. crucible says S7 has around 55 points of carbon
 
I have never made a knife out of S7 but...
I did make 4 sets of cutters for my 8 hp chipper!!!!
Those cutters were 1/4"x 1.5" 3." with about a 20 deg angle. Razor sharp.
The neat thing about those cutters, I ABUSED the HECK out of them. A lot of wood and brush went thru that chipper. Finely What broke was the 3/4" Drive shaft on the gas motor. I scraped the chipper and gave the blades to my neighbor who had the same chipper.
 
S-7 make one heck of a good axe. I make some from it about ever month.
 
I use S7 for the file guides I make and found out real quick how fast it destroys belts. So after HT I use a SiC wheel to finish them. So if you are going to grind knives out of that chunk get a good supply of belts first.
 
I love S-7, a tough as nails steel, works great, with convex edge. this a poor bowie chopper getting Press Braked with a S-7 edc,, (that is currently serving in IRAQ)


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Thanks for your input and advice. Looks like maybe I'll attempt a couple of beefy straight blades instead of folders. Thanks, Dan
 
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