Barber Hones Under A Microscope
You really got to give Tim Zowada credit for putting up those microscope images up [hones, edges, bevels]. It got me thinking about barber hones, and how they get a less than favorable rap around here from time to time. I don't have a setup like Tim but I do have a 60x - 100x Radio Shack jobber and it hit me to take a look at my hones under the scope. I don't know how looks of smoothness equates to grit size but I used my Norton 4/8k as a reference.
I checked out a couple dual layer ebay specials and found that even the fine sides of the hones looked to be much courser than the Norton 4k. One of them claimed its fine side to be a Swaty knockoff. At 60x and 100x under the microscope I got an idea of the differences. I'm sure a more powerful scope would do better, but I got a round about idea of grit size. If a visual is worth anything, the ebay special's fine (Swaty like) sides looked to be under 4k, maybe 2 or 3k by comparison. Does this sound about right?