Thread: Microscope or Loop

Im new to Honeing and straight razor shaving. Just got a set of norton stones that I want use. I read that some people use a microscope to see if the bevel is set. What kind of microscope or jewlers loop should I get or should I not bother with it at all?

I guess you will get answers of both kinds on this.
Some use microscopes, other use a Jewelers loupe.
I really love my Jewelers loupe.
At first I bought a $5 dollar thing off of Amazon, but that wasn't all that great.
Then I found a proper one with good optics, and that is a very good little tool.
You really don't need all that much magnification. Mine is 15X and that is plenty. For me!

You don't need any magnification to set a bevel. It's one of those things that's in the realm of nice to have and I usually use it to check for small nicks and imperfections in the edge.

I have both a microscope and a loupe and the scope is total overkill. I already had it so it wasn't a "razor purchase". A quality 10x loupe will show you everything you need to see. As you go up in mag usually the increased mag is to make up for poor resolution. It's all a matter of what you need to see for razor work and what you might like to see. It reminds me of years ago they sold what they called stylus microscopes which were for checking needles in record players. They were like 50x and you couldn't see any detail with them but you could see if the stylus edge was worn or not and that is all you needed. Same with a razor. You don't need to see bacteria on the razor edge just imperfections-gross stuff.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

<snip> You don't need to see bacteria on the razor edge just imperfections-gross stuff.

I have got to stop reading this at the office. I was laughing so hard that a secretary knocked on my door to see if I was ok.