On Aug 22, 1:03*pm, wrote:

Short of doing a destructive test, like heat them to red hot, let them
air cool and test to see if they are airhardening tool steel, as I
believe HSS is M2 or in that family of tool steel. *I know I can pay
for quality, but I don't want to tie up $500 on a set. *As is I have
all the taps back when they were easy to get of ebay, and cheap to
ship. *I really expect that HSS is a badge of honor that any tool
maker would mark on their product, and not just have the miniouns of
ebay seller claiming to be so.
What I was looking for was ammunician that requires this to be marked
on the tooling if sold with that claim.
ignator

My local scrap yard has a xrf.

http://www.niton.com/en/metal-and-al...lysis/products

Dan