My father in law just gave me one of his old microscopes from when he used to work in a lab. I think it is a stereo microscope, but am not sure what its proper name is. It has two eye pieces and has a lamp which illuminates the sample from the underside.

Anyone know how these things work? The eye pieces say 10x, and the lenses rotate from 1.25x through to 5x. Do the magnifications multiply? So that, for example, using a 5x lens gives 50x magnification? I've already figured out that I need a light source coming from above to see anything (because, you know, I am quite intelligent... )

I am finding it very interesting to look at both my edges and my hones through it. The little red dots on my asagi look very cool, and comparing scratches of the different hone grits on the edge is interesting too.

James.