Thread: The bevel under magnification (pictorial)

Noticed a few ?'s as to what bevels & edges should look like under a loupe / m'scope.
Used a Veho 20-200x m'sope for pics. Can't explain the blue tinge in some pics but might be that some were taken at night.

Well first up, a pretty bevel is not so critical but the edge is I sometimes aim for a cosmetically polished bevel but not always. It seems to be beneficial on stainless razors... Sometimes, but again, not always.

Below is a Dovo stainless that finally shaved well without a Nihonto grade polish tho I did use Jnats to finish.

Main damage at toe is a big chip but also notice the shiny areas. This may well be from heavy stropping but regardless it shows the edge does not reflect light evenly. This is the visual cue that things are not right & is the guide for all stages in the progression. Physical cutting tests of hair or whatever will support what you see but any test can be misleading if done in isolation. I suggest a multi test approach. A glinty edge can still cut hair due to it's raggedness like a serrated knife. Ideally the finished edge must cut with minimal resistance.

First pic is the damage as discussed above & at 20x mag

A fair bite into the bevel from "rinsing the blade" .
Porcelain & steel are a razors enemy where paper &/or towels are 'friendlies'.
Notice the shiny bits on the edge as previously mentioned.

Honing was started on a Shapton Pro 320 with only one layer of tape using a diamond plate slurry. This resulted in some scratchy overruns but they do look worse @ 200x.
3 layers of tape for chip removal is always a better approach but here we are warts n' all. This stage was very quick. 5 mins or less.
Next stone was 1k Shapton Pro, again very little time spent here. Just enough to gain some smoothness. I didn't record any of these stages but my aim was to focus on bevel set & finish not repair. Soooo many pics anyway.

Pics here are from Shapton 1500 grit @ 200x mag.
First pic is the toe & looking ok for 1500 grit & 2nd pic is just forward of heel. Notice in pic 2 the shaded ragged area.
This is remnant from 320grit /1k. Toe is not bad. Heel bevel is not complete tho starting to cut arm hair.
1.

2.



Pic 3 is also near the heel & shows more roughness.

3.

Pic 4 shows improvement from about 40 very light strokes just on water no slurry on 1500 grit. Moved on to 2k after this.

4.

Next 2 pics are @ 200x.
Shapton Pro 2k with slurry. Again toe & heel.

A few slight glints at the toe. Time to move on.
Heel area , slight improvement on toothiness.

200x pics.
Shapton Pro 2k with water only. Toe & heel.
There is a slight wire at the toe a little down from top of pic or I touched the m'scope with the edge.
Heel is shaping up ok.

Same 2k pics with slurry again but at 20x .









And 2k with water only at 20x.
Even at 20x heel is still showing some light reflecting of the very edge, lower left corner of pic. The cue I mentioned before that all is not perfect yet

Moving on to 5k Shapton Pro ,water only. @ 200x mag
Still some shiny bits on the edge.







Same view @20x

After 5k moved onto a Tsushima Jnat as an experiment as it's new & had an unknown place in progressions yet.
From the pics I would say it took me a ways back so maybe better suited after 1k or even as a 1k or maybe best left for knives but here are the 4 pics.
Mind you a ragged appearance in an edge does not always equate to a rough shave when it comes to naturals so I moved onto a finer stone.

First 2 @ 200x & then next 2 @ 20x







20x

Next stone is a Yaginoshima Asagi but I used it with the Tsushima Nagura.
This combination has worked for me in the past as a mid progression stone post 1k.

The raggedness has lessened at the heel especially & the toe shows a slight wire forming.
These are @ 200x






Now for those that want to have nice polished hazy bevels, below is what can happen if you don't stop when the edge tells you to .
The wire/burr has worsened at the expense of a polished bevel.



A way to reduce that burr is to continue to a finisher but here I did 10 strokes on 0.5 diamond spray on felt. I just want to confirm that this was done for the purpose of showing what a wire edge looks like. I do not seek to create them as a rule.

Finishing stone was a Shobu-Dani Asagi with a light self slurry.
Just toe pics here @ 200x
Edge is getting shiny again but not too drastic.



Tried a few circles. Slightly better.