Serious question, did anyone else learn the Mohs scale wrong?

I was trying to identify a piece of quartzite from a hike near Sedona and my scratch test was way off. Turns out I'd been using a steel nail thinking it was a 5.5, but my old field nail is actually closer to a 4. I've been mislabeling specimens for years. How do you guys keep your hardness picks accurate?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomas8328d ago

My old hiking boots had the wrong trail mileage logged for a decade. Seems like a lot of basic tools drift over time.

the_uma28d ago

Maybe try marking your picks with actual reference numbers.

lily891d ago

Nah, marking everything with reference numbers sounds like a huge hassle for no real gain. If your gear works, it works. Thomas83's boots still got him down the trail even with wrong mileage. Overcomplicating simple tools just creates more stuff to track and worry about.