Hardness Testers?

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grizzled gizzard

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Aug 31, 2010
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This must have been discussed, but I couldn't find it. Sorry.

I need a very good hardness tester for blades. I don't have anything else I need to test, so it would be great if there is a tester that works best for knife blades. Price is less of an issue.

I went to the bay and found way too many. I hardly know which direction to look, now.

The PHR-2 Small Portable Rockwell Hardness Tester Sclerometer is one that I've seen used by a well known, and very picky maker. I was very surprised that the accuracy is listed as only within 1.5 points, RHC.

There are several different Leeb testers, but I wouldn't have any idea which would be best for blades.

Thank you for your help.
 
The classic Wilson style tester is reliable and accurate. It is probably the industry standard. There are many similar units made today. I think most all work fine for knives. I am not a fan of the portable hand-held units.
 
+1 on what Stacy said. The Wilson/Rockwell benchtop types use weights on a fulcrum to apply a consistent force to the penetrator. I have used ones that are very accurate.
 
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

I do appreciate it.

What do you mean by "very accurate"?

I've been seeing specs of .5% for benchtop models, which seems like a lot. Wouldn't that be about 3 points at HRC 60?

I've seen ones that can be handheld that claim accuracy of 1.5 points HRC.

Its at least a 3 or 4x price difference too.

I wish I could find back posts like this, but my search brought up 300 posts. I read a bunch that didn't have much to do with this.
 
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grizzled gizzard said:
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

I do appreciate it.

What do you mean by "very accurate"?

I've been seeing specs of .5% for benchtop models, which seems like a lot. Wouldn't that be about 3 points at HRC 60?

I've seen ones that can be handheld that claim accuracy of 1.5 points HRC.

Its at least a 3 or 4x price difference too.

I wish I could find back posts like this, but my search brought up 300 posts. I read a bunch that didn't have much to do with this.
Click to expand...

I could be wrong but I think that means .5% variance from test to test on the same test block. Which in contrast is more than accurate enough for knifemaking.
 
yes to what Darrin said on accuracy.

Wilson Rockwell bench top is what you want, not a hand held thing.

Make sure you get one that reads in C scale. I recently bought one that reads in N scale, not knowing any better. It's called a 'Superficial Hardness Tester'.
 
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I bought an Ames hand held on ebay about 2 years ago. HAs been trouble free and consistently reads within a point of the test block. the readings also seems to correlate with edge holding performance. I use mine on nearly every blade as part of my testing. It has also been useful in explaining to people who bring me knives to sharpen that the reason their knife won't hold an edge is the low hardness. Make sure that whatever tester you buy has the diamond penetrator as these can be very expensive.
In regards to the 0.5% error, that is one half of one percent, or one half point in one hundred. I doubt you can even measure that closely without some super lab type tester. For knife work, hardness is usually reported in a range, like 58-60 Rhc.
Chip Kunkle
 
Thanks a bunch for the extra information guys. It won't go to waste.

I can see now that this isn't going to be a quicky.

There are really a lot of different Wilson machines. I'll have to study up on which models lend themselves best to knifemaking.

I see where I was wrong about the .5% accuracy. That really is very accurate.

Thanks again guys, I really appreciate it.
 
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