Thread: New toy! USB microscope

Originally Posted by HNSB

As I'm sure you've noticed by now, the light can really play tricks when you use a microscope. Part of learning to use it is learning what's real and what's lighting artifact.

From the pictures, it looks like your honed razors all have a microbevel. That's to be expected if you're using tape.
If you're flat honing, watch your strokes. If you're finishing with a pasted strop, you might be using it too aggressively.
Or it all could be lighting artifact...

Was the Boker wet when you took the pictures? That looks like water residue on the blade.

Hi HNSB,

The Boker has oil residue on it.

Thank you for the input. I was sorta hoping someone would critique the edges.

It could be a light artifact, but you may be correct and it's a micro-bevel. I don't tape or paste, so I'd better re-evaluate my strokes! Getting older sucks. Stronger glasses, weaker hands....

Steve

Originally Posted by mikeadams

Hi HNSB,

The Boker has oil residue on it.

Thank you for the input. I was sorta hoping someone would critique the edges.

It could be a light artifact, but you may be correct and it's a micro-bevel. I don't tape or paste, so I'd better re-evaluate my strokes! Getting older sucks. Stronger glasses, weaker hands....

Steve

Half the fun is trying different things and observing what happens. The next time you set a bevel, watch for that thin shiny area at the edge. Rotate the blade different directions to see how the light moves across it. Then you can try different things on the hones to see what makes a difference. If you start with a flat bevel, watch for that micro to appear as you go up on grit or strop. If it's there from the beginning you may not have a complete bevel set.

If you wipe the oil off that Boker it probably won't make you say "yuck" any more.

Congrats. The scope seems to focus quite well. I've gone thru 3 of these things & I found the generic Chinese one I bought on eBay wouldn't focus properly. My 2 Vehos focus well but the software is crucial too. I use a Mac & the best software I found was one called WebCam Monitor. Don't even know where I got that one but for razors it's even better than the OSX supplied Photo Booth. Also 200 x max is all you need . 400x is really hard to work with.
The shiny strip as on the right of 3rd pic can also be an incomplete bevel. At the lower grits you should see next to no shine at all apart from any burrs you might drag up. After finishing & stropping you will see the slightest hairline glint & even that should be hard to see.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

snip..
I use a Mac & the best software I found was one called WebCam Monitor. Don't even know where I got that one but for razors it's even better than the OSX supplied Photo Booth.

.....

I don't know if you have tried others, but I use a software called MicroCapture.
Not the finest piece of coding I have seen, but it will take pictures from the Velo cams decent enough

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Congrats. The scope seems to focus quite well. I've gone thru 3 of these things & I found the generic Chinese one I bought on eBay wouldn't focus properly. My 2 Vehos focus well but the software is crucial too. I use a Mac & the best software I found was one called WebCam Monitor. Don't even know where I got that one but for razors it's even better than the OSX supplied Photo Booth. Also 200 x max is all you need . 400x is really hard to work with.
The shiny strip as on the right of 3rd pic can also be an incomplete bevel. At the lower grits you should see next to no shine at all apart from any burrs you might drag up. After finishing & stropping you will see the slightest hairline glint & even that should be hard to see.

Thank you for the input! Hopefuly this will help me get better at honing.

The software it comes with is for windows/mac and is pretty simple, but will take snapshots and video and that's all I would need it to do. 90% of the time I use ubuntu and used guvcview to connect to it, which is what I used on the Boker photo.

Steve

Originally Posted by mikeadams

Thank you for the input! Hopefuly this will help me get better at honing.

The software it comes with is for windows/mac and is pretty simple, but will take snapshots and video and that's all I would need it to do. 90% of the time I use ubuntu and used guvcview to connect to it, which is what I used on the Boker photo.

Steve

Thanks for the ubuntu software tip. I assume mine will come with PC/Mac software and so was wondering what the heck I would use if I wanted to use it with Ubuntu.

Originally Posted by HNSB

Half the fun is trying different things and observing what happens. The next time you set a bevel, watch for that thin shiny area at the edge. Rotate the blade different directions to see how the light moves across it. Then you can try different things on the hones to see what makes a difference. If you start with a flat bevel, watch for that micro to appear as you go up on grit or strop. If it's there from the beginning you may not have a complete bevel set.

If you wipe the oil off that Boker it probably won't make you say "yuck" any more.

Cool. Thanks for the tips! Lord knows I'm not a honemeister.

A friend gave me a balsa strop and I'm thinking about putting CrOx on it. Another new thing to try.

Steve

me too

I have a similar thread going on over in the honing subforum:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...icroscope.html