Actually, I did think of an interesting hook test. I don't think I've ever seen it reported. Tie a hook to a half ounce weight and drop it so that the point hooks into ballistics gellatin. Tape everything with high speed cameras. Then you cold see the dynamics of a hookset and quantify the forces.

I personally think the material properties and physical characteristics are very boring. The dynamics at hookset are where the intersting things happen.