I don't use a brass rod test for hardness testing. It is a way to get the edge to flex past its normal line, to deform it as it were. It isn't ment to replace a Rockwell tester, or any other meathod of determining hardness, just another thing a maker can use to see what the edge will do. Your right you can beat the test, sure, To call it a test might me the wrong term, but it will allow you to flex an edge past normal, and if there is chipping, it (the test) has helped you out, wouldn't you say? At63, with that much flex, wouldn't you be fairly confident in saying the edge will be fairly chip resistant. Whether you use a rod, pair of plyers, a vice or whatever, makers sill test edge flex, to check for chipping., or deformation. Then determine if an end user would go that extreme and decide if an adjustment to the HT is warented. Otherwise why bother to flex a given edge 90* if not to "test" it? Have I used a brass rod test sure, do I still no, not much, but I will if I am trying a new steel, or adjust a HT, I'll also bend it till it breaks or chips out, tested to distruction as it were.