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When I give the above testing advice I try to remember to say that you should always perform those tests with the best commercial knife you have before testing your blade. That gives you something to compare to as our blades should easily out perform most commercial blades.
To try to say you should get 100 cuts in cardboard, for instance, can't work because the cardboard you have might not be the same weight I used or your steel might not be the same as mine. So, you have to set your own goals against the best knife you own. Once you exceed the limits of that commercial knife then the knife you made now becomes the basis for testing the next knife and so on, better and better each time.
If the brass rod leaves the tip bent that could be OK if the blade can otherwise pass your other tests. Or, it could mean that your temper was too high. Depends on whether or not you feel that blade should hold an edge for as long as possible - in which case the tip probably should have chipped instead of bent - or if you think that blade should be as tough as possible in which case bending a little might be better than chipping. There are no absolutes, the 'best' parameters are the ones that match the purpose for which you made the knife....
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