I find a strong loupe very useful during the bevel setting stage, particularly combined with the Sharpie test.
Cutting hair isnt that difficult to do. This type of analysis is excessive. You don't need an 800 x scope to check to see if you can shave your face. Lol
I don’t personally scope things but I think this is exactly the type of excess that drives forums forward and produces unexpected but very useful data.
It’s very hard to look at an edge from a single angle and say “that’ll be good”. Easy to look at an edge and say “that’ll be bad.”
I can give an example or two of what I like to see at particular stages, but there are always optical illusions to make a bad edge look great from just the right angle.
Firstly, thank you for these.
I don't find the photos very clear at the absolute edge, for me.
The second photo shows more irregularity in the edge. IMO there is no such thing as a perfect edge.
There will always be a point on the edge that is not as good as the rest of it but still within the acceptable limits.
I enjoy these magnification discussions and want to thank you for adding to the conversation and to my knowledge and understanding.
Speaking of both I don't have much but the little I've learned and experienced has helped me improve my skills and outcomes.
With my modified Plugable set up I've found chips I'd missed. I've come to appreciate how difficult looking at the edge and learning anything helpful by looking actually is (particularly in a sense of saying finally and conclusively, "This is what I want the edge to look like and be!")
Agreed.
I have however shaved with edges I thought would be bad and found myself surprised. What that means is beyond me. Generally though I agree. It takes some experience of course.
I also use and mostly turn to 10X loupes, one cheap and LED lighted, the other expensive and without its own light source. Both are useful at times but sometimes useless. I'm sure it's a user error issue as well as a light source issue.
That or optical illusions to make a good edge look bad from just the wrong angle.
View attachment 1027767
Second Photo^.
I see the second edge the same way, but I trust the only test which really matters. The shave test makes the final determination.
I know moving the light a tiny amount could totally change the picture. We all know that. That doesn't make magnification useless of course.
Thanks and happy shaves,
Jim
For the fellow microscope nerds, just acquired this bad boy. Should be up and running shortly.
View attachment 1254569
For the fellow microscope nerds, just acquired this bad boy. Should be up and running shortly.