I really don’t know how much stuff I’ll ever make for sale. But entertaining the idea makes it seem like some kind of hardness tester is in order. I’d like to test everything for a while before grinding until or unless I find there’s no reason to.
Why? I can test (in use) every chisel or iron and call it good, but I think that ultimately makes the goods used and it does take a lot of extra time.
Finding a job shop with a hardness tester isn’t feasible – not for cost reasons, but nuisance/time reasons.
I’ve looked off and on at hardness testers listed on craigslist – the bench or table top type, but they never show up without something broken. I think I’ve figured out why. For a lab or shop to use a hardness tester, I guess periodic calibration is customary. I’m not that worried about getting a reading down to 0.3 points, but rather not missing something underhardened or measurably harder than expected, which would be associated with grain growth.
Domestic hardness testers are expensive, and the more capable, the more expensive ($10k isn’t unusual). I haven’t yet seen a working domestic hardness tester of any type that’s under $1000 and they’re usually offered by flippers or as “shop liquidation”.
And here’s where the rub is – if you buy one used, and find that the diamond needs replacing, the diamond cone that indents steel (the machine measures how deep the indent under standard loads) is a minimum of $600 or so, some more.
I don’t get it.
There are three other alternatives: portable american types that are slightly less accurate, but acceptable, like Ames ($3500 new (!) or about $500-$1000 used depending on condition), portable chinese ($650) or bench top chinese ($1500 with shipping in the US or a little under $1000 if ordered directly from china).
The diamond cone indenters sold in china are about $20. the Ames domestic portable versions, a replacement diamond cone if a diamond cracks or the cone gets damaged, $600-$800 (!!!).
A bench top chinese type from china seems suddenly reasonable, but they’re about 200 pounds and I don’t know that I believe freight shipping options will get the machine here without breaking something. And what do you do with a broken hardness tester? it looks like people try to sell them on ebay, but I doubt they have much luck.
Amazon and Grisly sell the same machines – the chinese price is $530 for the machine and about $375 for shipping. Grisly’s cost with shipping and tax is approaching 1600-1700, which again leads you to think “Ok, same tester with a big logo on it, and plenty of accounts of customer service that’s not that great when something is damaged”.
And I ended up at the item that I thought for sure I wouldn’t buy. A new Chinese portable hardness tester, which I still don’t see why is as expensive as it is, but it’s coming from amazon.
Sometimes things turn out to be a not very great feeling purchase, but as a matter of need, I also don’t want to buy something that makes no sense (an Ames tester and then have to turn around and either try to sell it broken or missing parts or get stuck buying a $700 indenter that’s about the size of a pinkie tip).
There are parts of moving on to making more metal tools that I’ve really liked, but navigating around various belt grinding machines (went cheap, glad I did) that are really sold for industry, and dealing with stuff like the hardness tester. I guess it’s just a symptom of slipping off into a hobby where there isn’t a bunch of harvey industries hand tool stuff made on the cheap.
There just aren’t that many places to shop, and industrial supply is out of the question. The chinese hardness tester that I’m waiting on to arrive is private labeled and market at $2800 by grainger (!!). And even at that, with the promise that you could get it in two months because it drop ships from a supplier. Awesome. $2000 mark up to drop ship something that weighs about 5 pounds.
Ultimately, a necessary thing to get but not very pleasant. I’ll know in a couple of days if the cheap one works. There are other things I’d like to know, and this will help (how hard are my stainless knives, how hard is a chisel in the first half inch vs. three inches from the bevel and at the shoulder).
It’s never great to shop for things that aren’t used by hobbyists and have a small market.
Of Making by Hand with Wood and Steel 