Duh moment chisel sharpening

[toolmiser]

I've been making handles for a bunch of garage sale chisels that I've acquired.  Today I was working on sharpening them with my Tormek grinder.  Some seemed to take real long, while others were much faster.  After about 10 or so, it occurred to me that some of the chisels were probably better quality steel than others.  Wish I would have marked them.

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

I agree with you--harder steel is usually better. Here is how I test hardness without expensive equipment.

I get my carbide scribe and my favorite Japanese chisel along with the newcomer. Then I use the scribe to make a scratch somewhere on the bevel of the Japanese chisel. I try to replicate the stroke and pressure on the unknown chisel. When using light pressure I can barely make a mark on the hard Japanese steel. The depth of the mark on the unknown chisel helps me to understand how hard it is relative to my best chisel. In this way, I can easily rank chisels by relative hardness.