It's always a pleasant surprise to see the depth of knowledge on this site. That said, to determine the temperature of heated parts a melt stick like
this works. Or a digital laser infrared thermometer
here is another option. One plus for the IR thermometer is it's a lot more fun and useful around the shop. Works for finding cylinders not firing, cold/hot spots involving the cooling system and of course answering the frequent question "just how hot or cold is it in this dadgum shop".
For our purposes I would not worry about getting a NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) certified device.
RonR
