Hi all,
Anyone use a headlamp for checking their edge, or do you have built in LEDs on a loupe? I'm wondering if the headlamp light will be blinding and not soft enough...
Regards, James
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Hi all,
Anyone use a headlamp for checking their edge, or do you have built in LEDs on a loupe? I'm wondering if the headlamp light will be blinding and not soft enough...
Regards, James
I have LED lights on my loupes.
A headlamp might be too bright.....
Always give it a try.
Good old sun light is about it here
I have a headlamp that has a dimmer - it's continuously adjustable from barely visible to blinding. I think the brand is Coast.
A little magnification and any light is all you need.
I use a 60 watt light bulb you have to learn to know what you are looking for, I learned mostly from sharping drill bits and form tools for dies.
Yes, although I have that headlamp for working on other things I don't use it for razors. I prefer a light source that is in front of me and above so the light reflects back to my eyes. A good location if you're having trouble seeing the apex is to stand directly under a bright ceiling light, then back up a foot or two. Hold the razor in front of you and look at the apex with a loupe (I use a 10x when setting bevel) and move things around a little bit until you find the angle where the light comes down from the fixture, bounces off the apex and enters the loupe. This will make any flat spot at the apex look bright and shiny.
Like Eric, I prefer to stand under a bare bulb in my kitchen or tilt a table lamp shade to get direct light from the bulb.
Cheers, Steve
I have an old style Bausch & Lomb Microscope I got a great deal on. It has no light source but has a mirror underneath the table. I see can hardly see the edges "or at all". I wonder if I need a light above the table & how do I go about it? Any help out there?
Dave "Slawman" Huffman
So get one of those magnifier headlamps. Its a headlamp, open the lid and look down thru the magnifying glass for more shiny and gross viewing. mini loupe is mid range, USB microscope takes you to well micro. Sams Club or a Walmart should have the headlamp for under $50 , mini loupe Ebay $12. USB microscope Ebay $20. Laptop needed for USB. The library and terms used in this post will bring up how members built there rigs. Depends on what you want to see, and do you know what your looking for??
Slawman a Overhead lamp or magnatised led flashlight will give you your needed light. I did B&L microscope and mirror. No go without light source from ABOVE. The problem with flashlight is no dimming unless you increase source to light distance.
See Wirm post on USB microscopes. I stole and used his idea an set up
Dave, definitely need light. It doesn't need to be from directly above though. I personally prefer lighting from nearly perpendicular to the edge to get the best view of what is actually happening at the edge. For the bevel you want to be just a bit higher.
Here are a couple images taken with my scope. The first image is a setup of an edge I was doing some testing with. Two different stones tested side by side, honed with no tape first, then a layer of tape to get side by side scratch patterns. These images are both edges honed on coticule. The 2nd one is a HSS test edge with a slurry dilution. You can see the coticule wasn't able to get back to the edge after slurry honing.
Attachment 229964
Attachment 229963
Here is how I prefer to view the edge/apex:
Attachment 229966
How do you get the apex shot??
Vertical and turn down light source?
Is the edge supposed to look... sorry .... ragged or toothy?? No disrespect I haven't been able to get that view myself.
There are a couple reasons the edge in that shot looks a little ragged. One is because it is a little ragged, lol. It's an edge that has been shaved with and also it's at about 250x (calibrated with an item of known size). If you don't have that level of magnification things always look pretty straight after a decent finisher. On top of that, it's a high speed steel razor - which doesn't cut cleanly with natural stones - diamond or CBN are needed to get a very clean edge. Here is a shot of the exact same razor finished on diamond:
Attachment 229997
I don't judge too much by edge appearance really, just checking that the apex is keen. That band of light in the apex shots is only a few microns wide. I can't tell you how many times I thought an edge looked awful at this magnification but shaved very well. A scope is a tool, not an arbiter of edge quality.
For lighting the apex I use a focused beam LED that basically collimates the light so it's all traveling the same direction in a straight line. I light up the edge from perpendicular to the apex with the light shining directly at the apex. The razor is positioned so that the bevel is parallel to the scope lens.
You have just made my day. I now aspire to get images of apex like yours thanks for the tips. Beautiful apex picture in this post Sir.Quote:
Originally Posted by eKretz
First look at the edge straight down on the edge, if you see reflections, then look at it from the side with magnification.
For straight down view, low magnification 10-60x works best, same for USB scopes, but with good light you can see it with the naked eye.
Then higher magnification if you have it, for side view to determine the cause.
Here is a good video of how to view edge down by toxikwaste, Straight Razor Sharp Test.
