Heat Treat testing question for the MS crowd

[skillet]

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

[Lin Rhea]

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

[skillet]

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.