Thread: I recently bought a 20x loop to look at the edge. Now what I'm I looking for?

I'm not sure exactly what a good edge looks like. It kinda looks all the same to me. Although I did take a brand new DE blade and examined the edge and it seems to be a bit "shinier" and not as scratchy looking as my SE, but not by much at all

Originally Posted by Toplin

I'm not sure exactly what a good edge looks like. It kinda looks all the same to me. Although I did take a brand new DE blade and examined the edge and it seems to be a bit "shinier" and not as scratchy looking as my SE, but not by much at all

First ting I look for is micro chips, micro cracks, or micro pitting (corrosion).
I look at the bevel at the 1k stage, more often, to make sure all problems are fixed, then go up the grits, and look once after each grit.

Additionally, you are looking for an optical illusion called "black ice" you'll realize it when you see it. Sounds like you need more polishing.

1. Look to see that the fresh hone marks extend to the edge for the entire length and on both sides. Sometimes you will find a spot that isn't getting honed due to a grind imperfection or errors in technique.

2. Look for chipping as already mentioned.

3. If the final, finished edge is poorly formed at the microscopic level (burred or rounded) you may see a white halo along the extreme edge with good lighting from a certain direction. (According to one theory anyway.)

Randydance told me,"The edge should be free of nicks and the bevel should go all the way to the edge. If you are using a hand held microscope then the bevel will appear as one color, if there are two bevels, old and new, then the light reflects off the bevel at different angles and appears as two colors. The scratch pattern should also be uniform for both the length and width of the bevel."