Hardness is an important and quantifiable physical characteristic of a mineral and in your effort to identify an unknown mineral, the hardness, if known, combined with other properties, can narrow your search to just a handful of possibilities.

The Deluxe Hardness Pick Set from Mineralab is unique in that, unlike other mineral hardness test tool that use minerals or crystal points, Mineralab picks are made of metals and alloys of hardness values equal to 2 through 9 on Mohs hardness scale. Because the picks are made of metal, they are easily ground to sharp points which will not break off and which can be easily sharpened.

This premium quality hardness pick set would make a great gift to the budding rockhound who wouldn't usually treat themselves to such a high end bit of kit.