cameras, scopes

[jimmie]

I saw a video where the person had something plugged into their computer that really amplified The view and it could be brought up on the computer screen and take pictures with it. I don't know what it was called and I don't remember the video I saw it in. anyone have any ideas?

 

[MilkCrate]

Are you talking about a USB microscope?

 

[Luecke3262]

Yep, sounds like USB microscopes. I've seen a bunch of people use them. I don't personally have one, though I've thought about it a lot.

 

[jimmie]

from what I was seeing him use it on it looked pretty useful. of course at the time I didn't really, and I still don't really understand the scratches and the process and the difficulties in removing them. and he had some really close up pictures that I really saw no use in until I got to that stage. USB microscope. maybe some people will chime in that's used them. like I need something else to do LOL. of course I was googling loops and magnifiers I just wasn't finding any good searches

 

[MilkCrate]

A 10x loupe will also serve you well.

The scratches are made, on your edge, by rubbing your steel on a stone. As you move through your stone progression, the scratches become smaller/thinner. You can finish your edge with oxides or diamond pastes, on a strop, for a mirror finish.

One of the honing threads and maybe my journal, have my honing notes if you are interested.

 

[jimmie]

A 10x loupe will also serve you well.

The scratches are made, on your edge, by rubbing your steel on a stone. As you move through your stone progression, the scratches become smaller/thinner. You can finish your edge with oxides or diamond pastes, on a strop, for a mirror finish.

One of the honing threads and maybe my journal, have my honing notes if you are interested.

of course LOL I'm interested in anything. I just now started getting the hang of going through the progressions on the blades and seeing how they slowly go away, very slowly sometimes. and now you have to do the same thing to the edge only with stones instead of sandpaper. but I think the circle is complete I don't know what else is left that doesn't make sense? the geometry I don't know but it makes sense to me that they have it

I have some pretty lame notes that I take what sandpaper I use and for how long I used it and what type of steel was it carbon or stainless stuff like that but it's on my phone and sometimes stuff gets deleted when it starts getting full LOL

 

[jimmie]

I do have a loop. thank you. I was kind of thinking about this microscope thing so that I could work and see better? I have a hard time seeing after my cataract surgery I went from nearsighted to farsighted. I was nearsighted for over 50 years so it was quite a change. so my big problem has been being able to see what I'm actually doing when I'm doing it I have a big magnifying glass but I have to lean over so far to use it it makes it difficult. then I remembered that guy that was using something that would have made it easier

I actually kind of visualize being able to peen while actually working this may not work at all. but after milkcrate & Matt told me what it was there like 20 bucks or less for I don't know what kind of quality but 1600 magnification or something like that

 

[CBLindsay]

I have a couple cheaper USB microscopes I bought to use when honing, they are not as easy to use or as nice as what you have seen on youtube. I have an old laboratory microscope (from my days as a lab tech), it produces a much better image but its not able to be broadcast to a screen. I have found that a 10x jewelers loop of maybe something in the 20x range is enough to do the job and FAR better for the job. The key for me is that the loop have alight source so I can rotate/rock the blade a bit and the light illuminates the important parts. What you are looking for when you inspect the edge between stones is that 1) the bigger scratches from the prior stone are all polished away and replaced by the smaller scratches of the new stone and, 2) that the direction of the scratches are getting lighter with no chips on the edge. As you progress through the different stones you eventually get to a point where there is more of a "haze" than clear and obvious scratches. Stropping or using very fine paste will further refine that haze to a polish that is visible with the naked eye.

The best teacher is experience. Take a razor and rub it on a stone a bunch of time, stop to observe the scratch pattern every so often to see how it changes the more you rub it against the stone. Move to a finer stone and rub some more, stop to observe and keep going. Don't worry so much about the outcome, just observe the changes in scratch pattern as you progress through the stones (only move to the next stone after you see a VERY uniform pattern or haze from the current stone). Do the same with the strop, strop a bunch and observe the edge with the loop to see how it has changed. Then look at it with the naked eye (make sure there is a source of light that can reflect of the edge). This will teach your eyes what each stone looks like and even your hands what each stone feels like when the scratches are very uniform.

 

[MilkCrate]

I actually kind of visualize being able to peen while actually working this may not work at all. but after milkcrate & Matt told me what it was there like 20 bucks or less for I don't know what kind of quality but 1600 magnification or something like that

Just for clarity, I have not recommended a $20 USB microscope. And the magnification that you mention (1600) will not be found for $20.

The USB microscope is used to check your edge. If you want to peen with magnification, you might look into a magnifying lamp.

 

[jimmie]

I have a magnifying lamp but like I mentioned it's difficult to use because of the position I have to get in so I was hoping this might work people being for that purpose?

Just for clarity, I have not recommended a $20 USB microscope. And the magnification that you mention (1600) will not be found for $20.

The USB microscope is used to check your edge. If you want to peen with magnification, you might look into a magnifying lamp.

what I was meaning was, you mentioned that it was the USB microscope. that was the answer I was looking for. I just didn't know what to look for to even start reading on it. but I've been looking at them and the ones that I saw on eBay were roughly under 20 bucks and I thought it had 1600 on the advertisement. I'm usually wrong LOL so it doesn't surprise me that I am again LOL

 

[MilkCrate]

I have a magnifying lamp but like I mentioned it's difficult to use because of the position I have to get in so I was hoping this might work people being for that purpose?

what I was meaning was, you mentioned that it was the USB microscope. that was the answer I was looking for. I just didn't know what to look for to even start reading on it. but I've been looking at them and the ones that I saw on eBay were roughly under 20 bucks and I thought it had 1600 on the advertisement. I'm usually wrong LOL so it doesn't surprise me that I am again LOL

Gotcha. Be careful with magnification promised by Chinese makers.

 

[Bill M]

I got a cheap USB scope once. It has plastic optics that supposedly goes to 1000x. It had software that allowed me to control it with a smartphone. It did not seem to yield results that others were getting. In practice I found it less useful than a 10x lupe with glass optics.

After buying this binocular stereo wide field piece at 20x and 40x…


… I decided it was a fun and really nice toy, but…
…can somebody explain why I have more than 2 razors anyhow?

It does help me see and understand the hollow bevels I am targeting, but I can’t document that my shaves are better by owning it.

 

[MilkCrate]

I got a cheap USB scope once. It has plastic optics that supposedly goes to 1000x. It had software that allowed me to control it with a smartphone. It did not seem to yield results that others were getting. In practice I found it less useful than a 10x lupe with glass optics.

After buying this binocular stereo wide field piece at 20x and 40x…
View attachment 100422
View attachment 100423
… I decided it was a fun and really nice toy, but…
…can somebody explain why I have more than 2 razors anyhow?

It does help me see and understand the hollow bevels I am targeting, but I can’t document that my shaves are better by owning it.

Nice! I’ve also heard of people buying old microscopes that were used in schools.

 

[Bill M]

I looked for a used scope but couldn’t find one at this cost. This unit was around $250.

One can spend much more. I’m glad I did not.

 

[Gasman]

I have a low-cost USB Microscope. I do use it but mainly to be sure I have taken care of any dings before going beyond the bevel set. I also use a loupe when I need one. In the beginning, I used the scope much more watching the Stria/Scratch patterns. looking at the ink on the bevel to be sure I was getting a full bevel set. Etc, Etc...

Mine said it was rated up to 450X. After I have done a lot of comparing to real scopes I find it really is about 100x at best. The full view of a picture taken by this scope is about 2.5mm wide so you have to move that blade a lot to check out the full bevel. The bad thing about them is when your new you see things in a bevel or edge that you can not feel. It will show you too much. You have to learn what really matters.

I used to restore a lot of Flebay razors and this helped me a lot. But now I don't use it much. Practice and years of honing have taught me that I only really need it to be sure my edge is right before finishing a bevel set.

In the second picture, you are seeing an mm ruler. This shows how much you really can see at one time. The first picture is a Jnat edge that was finished on clean water with 6 to 8 stokes. See how the bevel at the edge doesn't have as much fuzzy finish as you get from a Jnat. This is the Clear Water finish. Little things like this are nice to see and compare. But, the bevel is not what cut whiskers. The edge is. DUH. In this first pic you can see the edge is a straight line. No dings and the scratches on the bevel go all the way to the edge. Until stropping. After stropping, you will see a black line just below the edge. That is where the strop has taken the stria and smoothed it out at the edge.

 

[EmberM]

I would not know what to look for so dont find it useful. I’ve used a jewellers loupe of 10x before, its what most people recommend. Ive stopped looking at edges or doing HTT, they can very misleading. maybe someday someone will help me. For me it shaves well or not.

 

[jimmie]

makes sense to me. I don't really know what I'm looking for that I could justify needing one. it would be more of a, thing to have. I would use it for a lot of other things