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So I just received a pocket microscop and could inspect the bevel much closer.
There is one area in the edge that is not smooth and straight.
The picture below is with x40 magnification.
Attachment 290729
Does it need to be corrected and what would be the right approach? Go back a step, pasted strop or keep going on my finisher until it's straight?
Wrong forum, can someone please move it to honing?
IMO, shave with it. If you notice/feel the spot than its back to a 3k on less to correct it. Then back up the stones. Sometimes a spot like this is not noticed in the shave. But if your going for perfection, drop back and reset the bevel.
Others with more experiance might say you can correct it with a lessor stone but when i want to f8x something on my edge, i dont screw around. Bread knife it and start over. Than you know it will be right!
Just shaved and can't say i felt anything.
You can see that something is wrong att 20x magnification but it's not visible att 10x magnification so I don't think I will bother with it.
Really small chips are often resolved by stropping.
An old thread suggests lightly dragging the head of a Q-Tip along the edge. If the cotton catches, you should deal with the chips.
THere are folks on this site who won’t use a loupe or scope with more than 10x because they believe it can reveal a problem that might not actually be a problem unless you are a perfectionist. The ultimate test is the shave test after all.
I use a loupe for bevel set and maybe one more step in the hones, but after that i quit looking. I have a USB microscope i used for a while with my computer, but W10 updates killed that. It no longer works on my computer so i quit looking so closely. If it shaves well and the entire edge feels like it should, and i cant see a flat spot or shine from light on the edge with my old eyes, i leave it be. Ive never found stroppi g to help a ding or micro chip. But thats just my experiance. YMMV.
I’m with you on the USB scope. By the time I get it set up to show what I want to see and mess around with the lighting and the focus, I’m usually so fed up that I don’t bother.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gasman
If it shaves well, I’m happy. If it does not shave well, back to the hones or the CrOx.
can't remember for sure which one of the three said it
Bill S, Bill W, or Jimmy
"When I got a lower power loupe my honing got way better"
The can be taken a few ways :p
Beyond 10x with an achromatic triplet, I don't really need to know.
Not seeking physical perfection in an edge, just one that shaves well, I use a loupe not a microscope to check the edge with. So far so good with that routine.
Bob
The only reason I got a pocket microscope was to be able to compare the scratches from my newly acquired Charnley to my PHIG.
Normally I don't use any magnification at all.
Moved to Honing forum.
Check that damaged area for rust. The tiny chip looks like what happens when a rust pit pops out. If that was the case I'd go thru a full progression starting at 1k. It would take no time to clean up.
I would think ATG those chips would give you weepers.
I have had nightmares with microchips under a scope.
If it's not visible through a loupe the it should be ok.
Maybe try joining the edge on a 3 or 5k then bring it back up. Not as extreme as breadknifing and might be enough to straighten the edge out. Just be careful of pressure when joining so you don’t have too much work to do bringing the apex back.
Attachment 291857
I posted this in Hone of the Day recently.
It was popping arm hairs like only my best honed razors. However, I took one more look at it through my loupe, and I saw almost exactly the same uneven chips in the bevel at the heel.
These were not the kind that caught light like other chips I've dealt with previously.
A quick retape job and some passes on the 1k has resolved them, and I now have a nice straight bevel. Back to the progression from here.
The chips I've had in other razors previously that could catch light reflections took considerably more work to resolve.
I'm newbie to honing, so I don't know if resolving this uneven bevel was completely necessary. However, knowing myself I'd probably want it as close to perfect as my 30x loupe will reveal. ;)
I have a couple of blades that have a tendency to microchip. When honing those blades, one thing I have tried is using a felt block to test the edge. Although some of the shaving vendors sell felt blocks for this purpose, I just purchased the felt pads you use under lamps, chair legs, etc. If you try to pull the blade across the edge of the felt, the blade will snag if there are any chips large enough to cause a problem shaving. If the chips are minor, a few pulls though the felt might improve the edge enough to make it acceptable. More significant chips, however, will take some judicious work on the stones.
Looks more like a foil edge than a chip, perhaps why you are not feeling it.
Enlarging the photo, shows deep stria at the site, that was not removed in the progression, indicating part of the bevel is not making full contact and/or not enough laps to remove all the 1k stria.
A good practice is to ink the bevels when you first set the bevel. The first stroke will tell you where the issues are. Lightly running a sharpie along the edge tells you where chips are and will ink both side of the edge.
The benefit of using tools like magnification and ink, identify problem areas, so you can adjust your technique to hone to the edge.
