Thread: Microchips

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.



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.

Originally Posted by Gasman

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.

If it shaves well, I’m happy. If it does not shave well, back to the hones or the CrOx.