Best take it to a lab and find what metal is in it.
Hardness isn't everything. I buy pre-hardened steel sheets.
It is a water based normally. Often chrome-molly-etc alloy.

But without the process, who knows what the normal alloy is.

Martin

On 8/22/2012 12:03 PM, wrote:
On Aug 22, 11:21 am, "Pete S" wrote:
You may be correct in thinking that the parts (the metric dies) aren't HSS,
but you could be wrong, too.
They COULD be HSS if:
-there was a problem in heat treatment
-The mfr wanted them less brittle for some specific reason

W1 can be hardened to a lot higher Rc than 55, so I wouldn't draw the
conclusion you did based simply on Rc hardness.

Pete Stanaitis
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I've bought 2 metric dies recently on eBay, that the add stated as HSS,
and testing with my rockwell hardness tester indicates Rc=55 and less.

ignator- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

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