Recommend Magnification Tool

Fellas,

I've decided to put HAD on hold for a while consider purchasing some good magnification. I'd like to see how my coticule edges are actually coming along vs how I think they are, if that CNAT i got really is a dud, and of course, I wanna see how that bevel looks under good magnification.

I have a cheap loupe, it's okay. I can't see as close as the pictures I see on some threads, and I generally have to hold it in a slightly annoying way to see.

Can you recommend better magnification? I'm willing to go up to about 50.

For honing, and a quick look, you really do not need to spend much.

A 60X lighted loupe can be found on line for as low as $2. Buy a couple at least, the batteries cost more than a replacement loupe.

Or The 60/100X, Carson Mico Max 200 at about $10-15. Both have been used extensively and successfully for years. They are both quick and effective. You can spend more, but really don’t need to.

When you are new, the more you can see of what is happening on the bevel and the edge, will help you understand the honing process.


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I've got a standard jewelers loop and the silver one in the above picture they work fine for me. Much more magnification might drive you crazy as you will see all sorts of stuff you might not want to see lol!

I use a belomo 10x Loupe and love it. It's pretty pricey (around 40 dollars) but works well for me. Don't get the 20x belomo...the field of view and eye relief are so small it's difficult to use.

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Originally Posted by Dcaddo1

I use a belomo 10x Loupe and love it. It's pretty pricey (around 40 dollars) but works well for me. Don't get the 20x belomo...the field of view and eye relief are so small it's difficult to use.

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I was just looking at this. By the way, I finally did figure out that coti :)

I second a Belomo loupe, 10x or 12x.

Light is as important as magnification and resolution. I use a lamp when I check edges. When I was a pro tattooer, back when a tattooer had to solder tattooing needles in groups, and put them on bars, an eye loupe was a necessity for checking the points. So I have a bevy of them. 7x, 14k, 20x B&L, but for razors I bought a 30x. Place called Widget Suppy (jeweler's) sold it for $30.00 IIRC. They had cheaper ones but I figured the more expensive might be better quality. It is good enough for my needs.

I also have a B&L stereoscopic microscope that I used to use all the time. It is only 40x but I found that the less magnification the better my honing looks. :p I didn't care for that Carson lit up thing. Paid $20.00 for one IIRC and gave it away. It zooms to 100x or something like that, but it inverts the image which annoyed me, plus I had a hard time finding the edge with it. Anyway ....... different strokes for different folks. :)

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Originally Posted by Euclid440

For honing, and a quick look, you really do not need to spend much.

A 60X lighted loupe can be found on line for as low as $2. Buy a couple at least, the batteries cost more than a replacement loupe.

Or The 60/100X, Carson Mico Max 200 at about $10-15. Both have been used extensively and successfully for years. They are both quick and effective. You can spend more, but really don’t need to.

When you are new, the more you can see of what is happening on the bevel and the edge, will help you understand the honing process.


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This right here. I think anything further than 60-100 is probably more than necessary. 30 wasn't quite enough for my taste.

If you buy a good optics you will have it the rest of your life no matter your age. It's all about resolution and light gathering power. Check out Deutsche optic for some quality pieces.

Cheap optics are junk-my opinion of course.

I like the $3 from Amazon. I have a wonderful microscope that was about $300 but the cheap magnifier works great for edges.

I use a fairly cheap 30x jewelers loup, picked it up on ebay.

Achromatic triplet, in the 8x to 14x range.

I got a cheap jewellers loup, 40x magnification. The problem is that I don't know what to look in an edge, or what a wrong bevel looks like.

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Here is a good thread with great micrographs of a bevel and edge, from start to finish. Where a new honer honed a problem razor and photographed the whole process.

It is a bit long, (the whole post took 25 days from start to finish), but chocked full of great, “what to look for” photos.

Probably the most important photos are of an almost fully set bevel and a fully set bevel, beginning at post 42, of the edge.

Second Try at Honing.