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I wound up buying a offcut without proper labelling the tail end had a little white which means to the colour code possible S7, W1, 17-4ph 

the hints I can give: its precision ground, 1" round and has no rust. 

I paid for it like it's s7 so it was 30$ for about 10" 

all three are useful for tools, when i am forging that, I'll know if it's W1 if it doesn't air harden. Like 17-4ph and S7

should it become air hardening, S7 is impact resistant and 17-4 ph is not the best as a hotforging tool. 

Should I start in the direction of a struck top tool, a large drift, or chasing tools. What other directions could I choose with this to get effective usage tool. 

I also invite any input/suggestions for tools made with any of these metals @1" round. 

 

Afterthought - I'm starting to think it's not S7 because of the precision ground/rustfree surface. Maybe it is W1 what is a good tool in the event of it being W1.

(tool forum post because it is a mystery steel destined to become a tool, how good a tool we will know sooner than later)

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Just "for what it's worth", ... it seems to me, that $30 would buy you "several" :rolleyes:struck tools, of any sort you prefer.

Sure, I "get" that you want to make it yourself, ... but why make it out of "pricey" mystery steel ?

And how did the seller justify the price, without knowing what he was selling ?

:unsure:

 

.

 

 

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1 hour ago, SmoothBore said:

Just "for what it's worth", ... it seems to me, that $30 would buy you "several" :rolleyes:struck tools, of any sort you prefer.

Sure, I "get" that you want to make it yourself, ... but why make it out of "pricey" mystery steel ?

And how did the seller justify the price, without knowing what he was selling ?

:unsure:

Excellent points. 

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Okay you found holes in my story, they sold it as S7, it's most likely not 17-4ph, if it is W1 you can't easily get 1" rounds. That would mean it's worth it. 

S7 find anyone selling one for anything, 30 Canadian paso not t bad

Let us assume it is s7 I HAVE A FLY PRESS i need to have a 1" round section perfect to go up in the ram, would a press driven drift or something be a good use of the steel? I guess I could cut lengths and make s7machinist hammers

 

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I didn't say specifically fly press either. I was hoping for feedback on the use of 1" round S7 and W1.

hand chisels yeah, handled struck tools much better. I figured out on my own what to do already for gosh sakes why can't I get a suggestion for the steels proper use. 

I have plenty of 1/2" W1 and down to 3/16ths, good for engraving chisels, good for cold work and others, you can forge W1.

S7 do you take it and grind the tool face onto one side since it's so hard is there a tool that comes readily into form out of S7 taking into consideration how rigid it is. I figured a press drift since it could be loosely set in the ram driven down and would be easily taken from the press to anvil possibly? Is this a thing worth trying? 

Now please point out the fact it's S7 

Could S7 be used for Dies? What with latest article by Mr Latane in the hammers blow. 

 I had hoped the mystery would yield a different response, rife with information and ideas. Thanks anyway enjoyed reading what you've added.

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Ooooh  S7 would make lovely punching and drifting and slitting tooling for a fly press.  I've used some S1 ex-pharmaceutical  punches to make tooling for my largish screwpress and it has worked very nicely indeed!  I really like slitting a piece of 1" tool steel in one heat and drifting it in 1 more, (have to change the tooling...)

It would be a bit of a waste for tooling that does not require high heat hardness; but would certainly work.    I would like to make a slitter/drifter to do it all in one heat.

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I clicked onto a GS tongs video where he's showing drifts of air hardening steel he took round and ground it, machined it too. 

I've got a pile of 4140 stock that I intend to become top tools a drift could work.

1215 isn't any use in our forging tools right? I have that stuff in 1.25" round

So I see there are also two very sizeable pieces of mystery steel in my shop that I know is alloy or tool steel, so the trick will be to cut it hardness test these, and all that, their written markings would need an experienced metal worker to identify. Have a look at the writing the green one by the colours could be 316, or 303,

gold could be A2, gold white is H13.

what do you make of the alien language wrote on them?

IMG_1370.JPG

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is 1 5/8 the diameter?   Cr usually indicates chrome.  Note that pretty much every company has their own colour code including the places that stock and sell steel retail and wholesale so depending on that can be a pretty slim reed indeed.  If you can tie a colour to an alloy it's a good idea to stamp the alloy on the end---and always cut stock off from the other end!

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