Thread: At what grit can you no longer see scratches with the naked eye

If the residual scratches start to bother me, I quit looking.

I can't see scratches from a 1k without some kind of magnification. I had a Hobby Lobby loupe (16x, i think) and it's worthless. I bought the same microscope that Shooter74743 has, and it helps a lot. At max magnification, you can really see what's going on. I use it to check that the bevel looks the same across the blade. Once it does, I do a few finishing strokes on that particular stone and then move up.

So i honed up a razor today, I went Norton 1k->BBW->Coticule->Lynn Melynlynn->.5CrOx and I checked the scratch pattern between stones. The most obvious change was from the 1k to the BBW, going from very pronounced scratches to much finer scratches. From the BBW to the Coticule there was a noticeable difference but not nearly as significant as from 1k to BBW. I could still see scratches without the loupe after the Coticule tho they were very very hard to see, and I couldn't see anything coming off the LM, and just a shinnyhaze after the pasted strop. I guess this is very subjective since I my eyes are particularly good with fine detail.

Interesting thread, with interesting answers.
Of course it is impossible to answer the question correctly, since different stones with same grit ratings will produce different results in regard to the polish.
I think the degree of polish (i.e peak to valley height, or roughness of surface) is a function of the steel used, type of abrasive, binder of abrasive and other things.

This being said, there are a couple of stones that I can say produce a mirror without scratches visible to the naked eye.
These are Naniwa SS8 and 10k, Shapton 16k and 30k, Lapping Film 1µm and sometimes even 3µm. Anything else I tried so far produces scratches that I can make out with the naked eye and a decent light source.
I tilt the blade and when I get the angle right I can see the scratches. The 16k and 30k do produce scratches, but these are in fact too faint to make out with the naked eye

This thread is interesting to me, since I am a foreigner to the "american way" of honing. There are a lot of stones out there that are said to produce a super high mirror polish.
I tried some of them, like Akatsuki 8k, Chosera 5k and 10k etc. and was stunned by the scratch pattern they produced. It seems to me in Germany we put a lot more emphasis on the polish of a bevel.
Although this of course will not guarantee a good shave at all!

Originally Posted by Lesslemming

This thread is interesting to me, since I am a foreigner to the "american way" of honing. There are a lot of stones out there that are said to produce a super high mirror polish.
I tried some of them, like Akatsuki 8k, Chosera 5k and 10k etc. and was stunned by the scratch pattern they produced. It seems to me in Germany we put a lot more emphasis on the polish of a bevel.
Although this of course will not guarantee a good shave at all!

What do you consider the american way of honing? whats different about the german way?

A LOT of the forum members are from outside of the US, it seems more like SRP way of honing would be what you mean.

Ah, that came out wrong, I guess. I don't think there are actually two ways of honing, but of course hundreds.
And there is no such thing as one american, and one german way, or even one SRP way.

But I think that people I met on german forums are much more concearned with things like HHT and the polish (ie. appeal) of the bevel than people over at SRP and B&B. That's what I wanted to say

At 52, I can hardly see the edge of the blade!

Actually, I am nearsighted so without my glasses I can still see up close pretty well.

1k and even 4k is satin rather than a mirror to my naked eyes

8k is scratch free mirror but visible at 10x or more

12k is scratch free even on my 20x loupe

Of course we know that there are scratches being made at any grit, you just need a really big SEM microscope to see them.

I am just going to say this bluntly, so don't take it wrong, I just don't feel like trying to be PC about it on my first cup of coffee

If you begin honing to polish the the bevel to a "Mirror Finish" and not to achieve comfort on your face, you are going to be sorely disappointed in straight razor shaving

Many natural stones cannot ever attain a mirror finish, and when you start pushing edges too far with the high end synthetics to mirror the bevel you stand a very good chance of making the edge fragile and harsh...


Performance first, Looks second, just a thought


Plus as soon as you strop, that pretty bevel is scratched up anyway ..

I wear glasses but I'm near sided as it is. I can see a scratch pattern with the naked eye up to about 12k in good lighting, anything after that I can see with a loupe.

Really some of you can't see scratch patterns off a 1k? To me that's when you need glasses lol.

This is why we use magnification to aid in seeing a bevel set & follow thru with the pre-polishers & polishers. If a proper light touch is used towards the end of honing on a particular stone, you would be surprised at how polished a blade will become at the lower grits. Maybe you just have better eyes than those who have been at this a while.