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Brad, not trying to derail Mr Garrett's thread here....and at the risk of sounding like I am critiquing you (I wish we were face to face...I'm really a nice guy!!!!!). Testing the RC value post quench pre temper is the only way that i know of to get a good idea if you are reaching max RC out of the quench. A file test isn't going to tell you jack. It will tell you if it is harder than the file or not...that is about it. The post quench RC value is very important. It should be as high as you can get it. Testing the RC values after tempering is great to know if you are hitting what you are aiming for in reducing the overall hardness....but if you aren't reaching max RC out of the quench....you aren't realizing the steel's full potential. Leaving meat on the plate....so to speak. And I think the VERY experienced (not me) will say that the tests individually (RC, file skate, brass rod flex, temper colors, etc etc etc) do very little in giving you the overall picture of what has happened with the structure. Put them all together and you get a much better picture. Just my 2 pesos.
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