Thread: How much magnification looking at edge?

I also use a 30x-60x hand held loupe.
I prefer the 60x myself, I can hold it far enough from the blade and not have to have my eye right at the loupe.

Different strokes for different folks

I used to use a 10X jewellers loupe.
Still do every so often.
The last few years I’ve used it if for some reason the resulting edge wasn’t up to snuff.
Most of the time though, I simply hone and test-shave nowadays.

I also bought some USB thingy with hundreds of magnifying power.
Useless shit, that has been tossed out years ago

I use a USB digital microscope because it's easier for me to see the image on a lap top screen. It's capable of about 500x magnification but I normally use it at around 100 to 150. Anything more than that I don't find useful. I prefer to see an image showing a longer portion of the bevel and edge.

Originally Posted by Jamesalot23

Hello, how much magnifications do you guys use and recommend? ive tried reading up on it but found conflicting advice. How much magnification would be too much?

Depends on what you are looking for and how good your eyes are.

I use a 10x or 14x hastings triplet (geologist hand lens).
For me the important detail I like to look for is the small pattern of ink
when I use the marker test. If a single stroke on the hone cleans the ink
to the edge of the razor toe to heel the bevel is set, my hone stroke is fine
and the edge will be fine with modern fast cutting hones.

As for magnification you can look at the grit size of your hone kit and
then do the math so you see the scratches of your rocks on steel.
I use the Shapton Glass advertisements to look up grit...
30,000 is 0.49micron ( 0.49µ).. and 1K is 14.7µ.

This sets the scratch distribution and the bounds of what you might want to look at.

Inexpensive USB microscopes will let you see more than most of us need to see.

To confound the issue read about the pyramid method some here use that mixes
grits in a systematic way. The shave is much better than the scratches from the
4k left by the last light laps on the 8k would imply.
Pyramid honing guide - Shave Library

Originally Posted by bluesman7

I find X100 to be my go to magnification. It's about as much as you can use and still inspect the whole edge in a reasonably short period of time. X10-30 is very useful, but if X100 is available I would always go to it.

Victor: is your 100X a hand held device and is so would you mind telling were to buy one. I have a 60X that serves me well but I would like to
try a 100X. Thank you, Tom Du Jardin