Thread: apparently i'm a visual person

i recently purchased a small microscope type thing for looking at the bevel while honing and has it ever made a difference for me. being able to see exactly what is happening to the bevel after each set of laps was a big thing for me. i didn't realize how much of a difference it would make but am glad i made the purchase. i'm sure i will use it less the more experience i get but for now it is a necessity.

BTW its kinda funny how i found the thing. it was suggested that i go to Radio Shack but i have none left in my town or any close towns, they were bought out by The Source a while back. i thought i would check anyways to see what they had and one of the stores had old stock that was on clearance so instead of $19.95 i paid $5.60 total. but when i got the thing home i realized it had been a display model and was missing the battery cover and light bulb cover which is what held it into the base. so having had a hard time finding one in the first place i glued it into the base and made a make shift battery cover that works fine. i was a little disappointed at first but it works good. i wondered why the sales guy didn't take it out of the pack when he checked to see if it needed batteries. ha!

A microscope is an amazing tool for getting feedback on exactly what is happening on your hone. Welcome to the club of the enlightened and magnified!

Microscopes ARE really cool, and are very useful.

You know what the next step is doncha?

When you are comfortable enough with your hones to just FEEL when the thing is sharp. Shazzam!

Originally Posted by joke1176

When you are comfortable enough with your hones to just FEEL when the thing is sharp. Shazzam!

thats the best part. i look at the blade, see which part needs a bit more attention and then pay attention to what i feel when honing the whole thing so i know what it feels like when i hit a part of the blade like that in the future. i guess different people need different tools right, i have always been someone who can and has to visualize something to understand it. i know that so why didn't i try this earlier. ha!

All kidding aside, a microscope can be a very useful tool, and it can save you a lot of time and frustration.

Plus, there's something very satisfying about seeing a perfectly even, uniform bevel on a restored junker.

I still want one of those USB microscopes... Then I could see the bevel on a 37" HDTV

I was just honing a razor tonight, and I can vouch first-hand that microscopes are VERY helpful. So I finished honing, and shaved with it, and it wasn't an amazing shave. It was alright, but I know I can get it smoother. So I went back to the coticule for a few more laps. I then looked at it with a 30x microscope again, and was surprised at how many little scratches disappeared from when I looked at it before I shaved. So I gave it a few passes with chromium oxide on a paddle and checked out the bevel, even better. I then stropped it a good 50 times on leather and had me another look, the bevel was SSOO smooth now!! It's also passing the HHT with much finer hairs then before I shaved. So I now I know what a "decent-shave" bevel looks like, and how much smoother it should be before I take it to my face.

A microscope is definitely a must for me too, it makes it a lot easier for me to understand what's going on in bevel land.

Dave

i am still having a bit of trouble with my SS Puma. i honed some Carbon blades and looked at the bevels and they look very similar to the SS but the SS won't pass the HHT at all. now obviously i am going to spend a lot more time with it to get it perfect but the bevel looks really nice under magnification but just won't pass HHT. i know it isn't perfect yet but i am tempted to try shaving with it just for comparison sakes since i have looked at the bevel a lot.