In 1812 the Mohs scale of mineral hardness was devised by the German mineralogist Frederich Mohs (1773-1839). You use the Mohs scale by testing your unknown mineral against standard minerals. Whichever one scratches the other is harder, and if both scratch each other they are both the same hardness. Knowing the hardness of minerals is very handy when selecting material to put in a tumbler.

The Scale below is a slightly altered version of the Mohs Scale That I made specifically for rock hounds.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 28th, 2007 at 3:52 pm and is filed under Miscellaneous Lapidary, Tips and Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.