Loupe: Asking for advice / recommendations please

[Wartstein]

I have a inexpensive loop with LED,,,, 15x,, the light is too bright in most cases,, not very useful when illumination bounces back and blinds your detailed view.

Prefer to use a desk lamp to brighten the view,,, easier to turn the knife for best illumination for the apex and to examine for residual small burr.

The 10x Belomo is excellent quality with wide field of view.

Regards,
FK

Thanks a lot for your recommendation! Another one for the Belomo, must be a good one in it´s price range I figure...?

[Zatx]

I'd go with something 20x or greater with an LED light. It's better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it (the light).

[Wartstein]

I'd go with something 20x or greater with an LED light. It's better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it (the light).

Thanks a lot for your input! Most people seem to suggest a magnification of 10 to 12 for just simply checking the edge, do you think 20x (or more) will have a benefit here? I noticed that you even have a microscop now (looked at the fascinating pics), so maybe your needs are more sophisticated than mine?

[Bloke]

Hi Gernot, I use a Belomo 10x Triplet Loupe Magnifier. 21mm. I think they’re as good as you’ll likely buy for the price and well worth considering. :)

Thanks to you and all the others for your help. The Belomo loop is even recommended in the article cycleguy suggested to read. Guess I´ll go for that one!
Though... maybe I better do NOT want to see what my edges really look like... :D :D

We Australian’s are great improvisers. Ah, hahaha! :rolleyes:

I use a little Photon mini light with my loupe which works exceptionally well and they also come in different colour lights. Mine is a white light model. :)



No polished bevels here. Clean apex and 40deg micro bevel off medium SharpMaker stones.

[cycleguy]

[/quote]
We Australian’s are great improvisers. Ah, hahaha! :rolleyes:

I use a little Photon mini light with my loupe which works exceptionally well and they also come in different colour lights. Mine is a white light model. :)
[/quote]


YAY!!! Another pic ... exactly what I was hoping for ... great job Bloke - I heard you Aussies were great for something ... but recall it was telling stories and putting down suds ... but my recall isn't so great anymore!!!

CG

[Woodpuppy]

I’m a geologist and use the 10x and 7x B&L Hastings triplets. Im not fond of the 10x, it’s tiny; I’m going to order one of the Belomo 10x, thanks for posting about it! A key importance with the triplet lens arrangement is that of accurate color, an important thing when a lithologic description include color. If you’re not so concerned with accurate color, a single lens loupe would be less expensive and perfectly adequate.

[Zatx]

I'd go with something 20x or greater with an LED light. It's better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it (the light).

Thanks a lot for your input! Most people seem to suggest a magnification of 10 to 12 for just simply checking the edge, do you think 20x (or more) will have a benefit here? I noticed that you even have a microscop now (looked at the fascinating pics), so maybe your needs are more sophisticated than mine?

I guess it depends on the age of your eyes!

Here are the loupes/microscopes I own:

https://tinyurl.com/ybpgvrwj

https://tinyurl.com/y78qnwkd

https://tinyurl.com/yb34m2e9

https://tinyurl.com/yderc64l

But, to make it easy on you (and to save you some money) I'll throw https://tinyurl.com/ybpgvrwj in with the PM2 I'm sending to you (hopefully tomorrow)!

[gdwtvb]

Another recommendation for the Belomo triplet 21 MM 10X. I researched and bought that model 5-10 years ago and have never needed anything else. Great for when first sharpening a new knife to make sure you've sharpened all the way to the apex, after that I have so many knives in rotation, just touch ups are necessary and I rarely pull it out.

Grizz

[Wartstein]

I'd go with something 20x or greater with an LED light. It's better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it (the light).

Thanks a lot for your input! Most people seem to suggest a magnification of 10 to 12 for just simply checking the edge, do you think 20x (or more) will have a benefit here? I noticed that you even have a microscop now (looked at the fascinating pics), so maybe your needs are more sophisticated than mine?

I guess it depends on the age of your eyes!

Here are the loupes/microscopes I own:

https://tinyurl.com/ybpgvrwj

https://tinyurl.com/y78qnwkd

https://tinyurl.com/yb34m2e9

https://tinyurl.com/yderc64l

But, to make it easy on you (and to save you some money) I'll throw https://tinyurl.com/ybpgvrwj in with the PM2 I'm sending to you (hopefully tomorrow)!

Almost don't know what to say (will pm you later)... just: Thank you. Don't know how I deserve this. You're a great guy and an unbelievably generous man.

Folks: The story of Zatx giving a brand new PM2 to me is really one for the "kindness of your hearts"- thread. Look out for it, I'll post it quite soon.

[cycleguy]

Wartstein,

Went back and forth between the B&L and the Belomo. I'll give a thumbs up for the BelOMO 10x Triplet 21mm. Now have one. The last link I posted is a good/informative read.

I can see my knife edges well enough to know what is going on. This is probably all I'm going to need. (Was particularly interesting to look at a delica I sharpened at 15 dps and then later sharpened at 18.5 dps and then has had two hones since).

CG

P.S. the lens may be 21mm overall but the viewing area is listed as 17mm (you'll find this in the small print on Amazon and in the technical data sheet that comes with the unit) so some softening and distortion at the edges which coincides with comment in the last article in comparing the B&L to the BelOMO).

[Wartstein]

Let me revive this thread I started more than a year ago...

Since then I got a rather cheap plastic lupe, but now I feel it does not do it for me (very blurry at the edges and so on)

Before I get a better one, may I ask once more:

- a magnification level of 10x is enough for most of you guys?
- the Belomo 10x Triplet Loupe Magnifier. 21mm seems to be a lupe that does a decent job for all of you that have one, correct?

Thanks for further input, I´d appreciate it! :)

[Wartstein]

Added to my post above:
I really solely need the lupe for being able to see how much I torture my edges and to inspect the huge burrs I can´t remove... :D - no insects, juwelery, whatever!

[Bloke]

Hey Gernot, you probably couldn’t have too much magnification but I reckon a 10x loupe is a happy compromise between magnification and field of view. :)

[Woodpuppy]

I’ve got a couple Bausch & Lomb Hastings Triplets, one in 7x and one in 10x. The 10x has a small field of view, the 7x is my preference. Others seem to prefer the higher mag. YMMV.

[Evil D]

I think 10x is sufficient. With higher magnification your field of view gets really small. I have a 60x mini microscope that's kinda neat but it really doesn't tell me much more than the 10x does.

[Sumdumguy]

I've found that Lupe isn't much help with sharpening knives. She can cook a mean taco, though!

[standy99]

Misses is a entomologist so have plenty lying around the house.

Look at a Entomology supply website for the best range you will ever see.

[GarageBoy]

The "SE" 10x triplet with LEDs is the way to go, the light helps a lot
The belomo maybe a bit nicer optically, but no lighting

One could go nuts and get a stereo microscope

[JMM]

I got this one off Amazon, it's both 30x and 60x and has an LED light, it's amazing for the price, and I actually like the 60x if you want to REALLY want to zoom in... $8.99, can't imagine finding better for the price...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078N ... UTF8&psc=1

[razorburn]

I prefer a basic 10x loupe,no led and a basic student desk lamp. The loupes that I have were purchased years ago from Harbour Freight and i'm still using them.A 5 piece set is just a few buck.Nothing fancy,although plastic.