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.
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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

It's good to see what is being talked about. Thanks Oz

Thank you OZ for this vivid visual account of the honing process. My USB scope stopped working years ago and I miss the up close views. We all appreciate your effort.

Originally Posted by mrsell63

Thank you OZ for this vivid visual account of the honing process. My USB scope stopped working years ago and I miss the up close views. We all appreciate your effort.

Thanx Jerry. It has its place but 99% of the time I just use a low powered loupe at the bench. Would be a challenge to photograph but the greater variety of angles that can be viewed provide plenty of info with no real compromise. A USB scope is not a necessity.