Will be ordering a set of these, Metal Shop @dallasmagna may want to order a set for their saw and shear. Basically, the set of files progressively narrow down the hardness range. If a piece of metal is very hard, say tool steel or hard nickel based alloy, trying to cut them on a tooth bladed saw will damage the saw.
Hardness testing files
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If you hit red, it’s time to use the plasma cutter! 
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This is a good idea, but knowing the material hardness is only the first part of the solution. It would suggest that we should subsequently label equipment with the maximum hardness that should be cut/machined/worked.
That was the next thing. It would be part of the Saw Training. It would be kept at the saw.
Spoke with Chuck Graf, Chair, Metal Shop, we’re going to teach how to repair band saw blades. The Vertical Band Saw in Machine Shop has a blade welder. We can buy blade material in long rolls, cut to length for either the Vertical or Horizontal saw in Metal/Machine Shop. If a blade gets a kink or chips out some teeth, cut out defect and weld in a short piece saving tossing an otherwise salvageable/usable blades. Both basically use the same blade material, we’ll save some dollars by making our own blades for each machine.
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This x 1000!
I learned to do this as part of a 101 class at Uni ( about 500 years ago) and have been wondering why no one round here seems interested (I chalk it up to fear, liability concerns, and ignorance I am not equipped to stamp out).
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