A hardenability test in which a standard test piece, 25mm diameter x 100mm long, is heated to a predetermined temperature, rapidly transferred to a jig fixture and quenched, under standard conditions, by a jet of water impinging on one end. When the specimen is cold, hardness determinations are made at intervals from the quenched end; the diagram relating hardness to distance from the quenched end of the specimen is known as a hardenability curve.