Originally Posted by
Brontosaurus
I also use the thumbnail test for determining when the edge has arrived. From there, I use tactile feel on the stone and naked-eye observation augmented by an ~10x achromatic triplet loupe as to viewing chipping, scratch patterns, and relative polish. Sometimes, I also check to see if a few hairs are popping off the back of my hand towards the end of a honing progression, followed by the hanging-hair test after stropping. Otherwise, I've stopped checking via arm hair as I don't like walking around with patchy arms, particularly in summertime.