I have a park chain checker CC-3.2 which has two sides to indicate when a chain reaches .5% and .75% wear.
However, since I often have some filthy chains due to off-road riding and daily commuting and multiple bikes, I lose track of which ones are worn a little and which ones are worn a lot, Especially after a winter of commuting in salty east coast slush, fine sandy spray from the rainy season, and dirt/sandy stuff flying off my tires from rail trails and singletrack. I've definitely had chains worn well over 1%.
So, Other than performance issues, when neither the .5% and .75% sides of the chain checker fit, how can I tell whether a chain is relatively new (and not well worn) or whether it's really worn (probably past 1%) just using my super basic chain checker?
Does it fit differently or is there anything specific to look for while it's sitting on the chain?
To rephrase: If I have two chains, one with say 0.25% wear and one with 1.25% wear and neither chain allows the indicators on the Park CC-3.2 tool to drop between links, how do I tell the difference? Can I do that by just looking at the park chain checker?