Thread: A new adventure. . . . Honing

A flattening stone? Naniwa does mame them but it would be much better if you got a diamond plate of so.e kind enstead. A diamond plate will always be flat. Works well for raising slurry and flattening your stones. Along with correcting things on your razor. A flattening stone can not do but one thing and im not sure how flat it will be to start with. BTW, Ive never used a flattening stone. So take this with a grain of salt. But Im sure many here will agree with me.

What Jerry said is also my thoughts. At chef knives to go you can get a double sided diamond plate for not much. They are super useful, and not just for flattening. The loupe a would go with less. I’m very happy with my 30x and I have heard it said many times it’s more about the quality of the optic than the power. I don’t have a good loupe so I’ll let someone else explain the what and where to you.

All great advice so far. One other option for a loupe that a lot of guys like is the Belomo 10x that you can get on Amazon for about 30 bucks. As Shaun said, it's more about the quality of the optic, and this one is pretty nice. I like to take an edge I'm honing out on to my sunny deck for a look under the loupe. With that large, crisp and clear field of view, I see all I need to at that power.

Show us your toys once you get 'em!

Ideally you are looking for a loupe with a coated triplet lens and a flat field of view. No need to spend a fortune to get one either as the Belomo demonstrates. Another lens that will work is one from a photographic enlarger and the newer ones are well coated and have a very flat field of view necessary for print making. You should be able to find one cheaply enough with enlarger attached as there is virtually no market for photographic enlargers these days.

Bob

Yup, on the Diamond plate. The flattening stones are very messy, not as efficient as a diamond plate, and cost about the same as the CNTG 400-1000 plate, which as said, you will find many uses for, if nothing else to lap stones and sharpen your kitchen knives.

You want 100% pure Chrome Oxide, many razor vendors sell it, usually a repackaged version of Kremer Pigmen’s, Chrome Oxide powder. It is not expensive. Do be careful, knife “Chrome Oxide” and sticks sold for polishing has Aluminum Oxide added and not good for razors, too aggressive.

When starting out, you want as much magnification as possible to learn/see what is going on at the bevel. And you will want to compare your edges to micrographs of other folk’s edges. If the micrographs were taken at 100 and 400 X, what you see at 10X will look nothing like the micrographs.

As you gain more experience you will find you need high magnification less and less. Magnification is cheap and very illuminative.

Here is another post of a new honer learning to hone, posting clear micrographs, and getting step by step advice, from bevel set to finish.

Second try at Honing

You don't want that magnifier... it looks like it wants to be flat on the surface to magnify which will inevitably bump your edge. You want a jeweler's loupe, 40X or so, with an LED light. Should run you about $15 for a pair. Also, throw some vinyl electrical tape in the cart while you're there... you'll want it alongside your stones and handy to grab.

Flattening plate like an Atoma 1200 or the Chef Knives to Go diamond plate is better than the typical flattening stones, although those will work too.

Belomo is very good. The flat field of view helps a lot when just starting out, and the price is not much of an obstacle. Me, I mostly use a large magnifying glass. I have a couple of loupes, one nice and one cheapy cheapy. Also a few assorted USB microscopes and a clamp-on for my phone cam. Out in the shop I have a normal stand-up microscope with USB eyepiece. I have taken a few pics successfully as high as 2000X though it is very difficult. At 800x I get some very nice pics. The various USB imaging solutions are not really practical for a quick look while honing, though, and so for that I mostly fall back on the magnifying glass. That, and a bright light, work pretty good for me. Not so much for studying fine scratch patterns no, but for looking at the reflections and verifying the bevel and contact areas, it is quick and convenient.

I might point out here that a very bright light is more important than the magnification factor, and in fact lower magnification, 4x to 10x or so, can be more useful while honing, especially while setting the bevel. General background light is not as revealing as a single very bright point of light. When you roll the razor in such a light, it is easy to see that a bevel is flat and true, or not. Inconsistencies are very obvious. You can see when there is a burr, or a broken or incomplete apex, or an area not getting contact. Even with the naked eye, the bright light and it's reflection from the edge can tell you a lot.

Originally Posted by HungeJ0e

You don't want that magnifier... it looks like it wants to be flat on the surface to magnify which will inevitably bump your edge.

Sorry, which magnifier are you referring to just to be clear?

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

Sorry, which magnifier are you referring to just to be clear?

Bob

The carson pocket microscope (60-120x)... you want a loupe... as a further aside my optics professor would roll over in his grave over their lens marketing...

Originally Posted by HungeJ0e

The carson pocket microscope (60-120x)... you want a loupe... as a further aside my optics professor would roll over in his grave over their lens marketing...

Thanks for the reply. I thought you were talking about a loupe but wasn't sure. Yes, I have come to the conclusion that all you need is a "good" loupe and some decent light.

Bob