Thread: experiments

I have tried and posted scratch pattern comparisons in the past but usually some body pipes up that the light is not consistent and it is a fair thing to say. You can bias photography to make the edge look rough or smooth but I don't think this is the case here. I don't really see why anyone would want to publish biased photography on forums. Members tend to know which hone is best and they don't need photography or peer pressure to know which one gives the smoothest sharpest edge. Your face tells you.

When I do it, I try and display in my photography the best image I can get. But light will reflect differently off different surfaces even with constant lighting and it makes it easy to criticise the photography. I can criticise my own very easily.

But using a 200x magnification my observations of what I see with my eyes are:

My Escher ( blue/green) and a natural Suita Japanese hones are both above the 10,000 grit level and they remove grit patterns and leave a matt finish to the bevel rather than a mirror finish that I get with a coticule or chromium oxide. The suita in particular leaves a matt finish. The coticule leaves a clear scratch pattern and shiny mirror finish and the chromium removes the scratch pattern and leaves a shiny mirror surface. Stropping on leather tends to put a mirror finish.

So different naturals leave different finishes.

What I actually look at now days is the edge not the scratch pattern or shiny or matt finish. The crisper/more linear the edge, the sharper the razor.

Once you get above 10,000 grit, I doubt that your face can feel any difference in smoothness.

The edges on the photo's shown above are just fantastic. Tells me the hones are really good. You can not fudge the quality of those edges with lighting.