Thread: 8k edge

You will need at least 100X to distinguish stria. 1 & 4-5X stria should easily be distinguishable from 8K stria.
I use a Carson 60-100 Micromax 200, lighted hand held, the new version of the old Radio Shack 60-100 scope. You can buy them for 10-15 bucks.

Really the stria you want to remove is the deep 1k stria, and that should be done with the 4 or 5K.

Rest the back of the scope on the spine and the bevel and focus the scope on the blade, slide the scope over the bevel and lift the scope so the flat part of the scope is flat on the bevel and then re-focus the scope.

Once focused, it need not be refocused, the 60x is great for looking at the edge for chips, 100x shows too small an area.

So it is not necessary to remove every bit of the previous stria, many a fine natural edge has some random stria and shave perfectly fine. But when you are learning, it is a good practice, to learn to maximize the performance of each stone. It is a simple way to judge when to move to the next higher stone provided you are honing all the way to the edge. Eventually you will not need to stare at your bevels through magnification, as much, but until then it is a fool proof method of learning your stones.

Here is the Carson MicroMax 200, .

Originally Posted by Euclid440

You will need at least 100X to distinguish stria. 1 & 4-5X stria should easily be distinguishable from 8K stria.
I use a Carson 60-100 Micromax 200, lighted hand held, the new version of the old Radio Shack 60-100 scope. You can buy them for 10-15 bucks.

Really the stria you want to remove is the deep 1k stria, and that should be done with the 4 or 5K.

Rest the back of the scope on the spine and the bevel and focus the scope on the blade, slide the scope over the bevel and lift the scope so the flat part of the scope is flat on the bevel and then re-focus the scope.

Once focused, it need not be refocused, the 60x is great for looking at the edge for chips, 100x shows too small an area.

So it is not necessary to remove every bit of the previous stria, many a fine natural edge has some random stria and shave perfectly fine. But when you are learning, it is a good practice, to learn to maximize the performance of each stone. It is a simple way to judge when to move to the next higher stone provided you are honing all the way to the edge. Eventually you will not need to stare at your bevels through magnification, as much, but until then it is a fool proof method of learning your stones.

Here is the Carson MicroMax 200, .

Yeah, something like that.....exactly. But I found the 200x to be a lot better.

My experience through a 25x loupe is that, on a high level...
4k after circles looks like a heavily fogged mirror.
8k after circles looks like a lightly fogged mirror
12k looks like barely scratched chrome (think like very very lightly weathered chrome strips on a car). To the naked eye 12k looks like a mirror finish.

Good optics are expensive. However it's an investment like a good hone or a good strop or even a good razor. Once you buy it, it will last longer than you. A quality 30x magnifier is all you need.