I use use a piece of sheet magnet to hold my razors when viewing, you can get a piece for the back of a refrigerator magnet.
Alx
Viewing the edge of a straight
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I use use a piece of sheet magnet to hold my razors when viewing, you can get a piece for the back of a refrigerator magnet.
Alx
The edge needs to be around 100nm (0.1 micron) in width to shave. This cannot be resolved optically.
It is possible to use other visual clues to determine the state of the edge, such as viewing reflected light or applying marker to the edge and seeing what remains after a few strokes of honing. I use a 5x Bausch and Lomb watchmakers loupe for this. Contrast and clarity are more useful than magnification and resolution. I would always choose quality optics over magnification.
More magnification and resolution will allow you to see scratches on the bevel, but not the edge. I have seen and use many good edges with scratched bevels and I have used poor edges with shiny bevels. What I have not observed is a correlation between scratches and edge width.
Perhaps I don't know how to use a loupe correctly, but it seems that I have to put the thing right up to my eye & the razor fairly close to the loupe. Makes me paranoid i'll slice part of my nose off!
I'm with you on that. My choices are a flip down visor and stereo microscope (aka stereo inspection, or dissecting). OTOH, I don't do much honing.
I sometimes use this trick and you do not need magnification. You take the blade and have a good light source then rotate side to side and front to back while looking at the blade. You will see a light reflected from the bevel and then rotate the blade so you see the reflection of the other bevel. When you are in between the two bevels then that is your cutting edge. If you get any third flash between the two bevel reflections then you need to go back to the hones some more.
You can use sunlight to do this too. Have the sun kind of behind your head and hold the razor so the bevel reflects the sun back at your eyes then do the rotation thing. This is kind of hard to explain but hopefully you get my meaning. It does work at least for me especially if I am honing out a small ding or chip on the edge.
Perhaps I don't know how to use a loupe correctly, but it seems that I have to put the thing right up to my eye & the razor fairly close to the loupe. Makes me paranoid i'll slice part of my nose off!
I put the loupe on the inside of my finger, spine on the outside of my finger, then pivot the edge in or out to focus it. From there, slide my finger down the spine from heel to toe as I look at it. That's at x60. Works for me.
I use the loupe and the scope hand-held, with the scope I usually prop the blade on an angle with whatever's handy and view.
With the loupe, I put a finger on the blade's toe or spine so I have a working space 'feeler'.
I usually use 4x magnification so the working distance is pretty good. the 10x is about 1", the 15x about half that.
Seems to work fine and without issue or danger.
With the loupe, I put a finger on the blade's toe or spine so I have a working space 'feeler'.
I usually use 4x magnification so the working distance is pretty good. the 10x is about 1", the 15x about half that.
Seems to work fine and without issue or danger.
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