Trad Gang has a nice group of ABS Journeyman and Master bladesmiths. So here's a question concerning the testinig of the blade after the quench hardening:
The process generally says "test with a new file for hardness. A new file should skate off the steel without grabbing and cutting."
What kind of file (mill, bastard, second cut...) do you fellows use for your hardness test?
rick
Mill or bastard, but any file made to cut other metals should tell. The hardened carbon steel of the blade should be hard enough that the file will have a difficult time cutting into it, in most cases will not cut it. It creates a recognizable sound as it skates accross. Good question. Lin
Thanks Lin. I'd like to mark one of my files as "The Tester" in order to keep some control over the after quench test.