Thread: Free razor/shaving software for Windows/MySQL

I have written a Windows/MySQL application called RazorBase for straight razor users, which I'm offering free to everyone here. It allows you to record and view info on your razors, shaves and honings, and allows this data to be sorted and presented much more easily than if it was in a word processor document. (I was keeping notes this way but it wasn't very easy to find collections of related info.)

It is probably more useful to beginners at shaving or honing who are more likely to keep notes of this kind of thing, which is why it's in this part of the forum.

The latest version is on a page of my blog, here:
RazorBase download page

The complete install package (application, manual, setup instructions, example database) and the manual alone are available as separate downloads.

If you have an earlier version, this will need to be uninstalled first (using the control panel > add/remove programs). Any data already in your database is unaffected by uninstalling/re-installing.



This is free software, not a time-limited trial or a cut-down version of a commercial app. I wrote it for my own use, but would like to think other people benefit from it too.

If you have problems setting it up, questions not covered in the documentation, or wish to tell me that I'm a geek, either comment on this thread or PM me. I'd very much appreciate details of any bugs in the program.



Here is a more detailed overview:

RazorBase is a system to record details of razors, shaving and honing, in a way that allows the user to quickly find useful information such as: When was a razor last honed? What was the next shave with it like? Collections of related data such as all shaves with a certain razor, its honing history, and all shaves with a particular soap or brush can be extracted and presented easily.

The data is organised as records of razors, shaves, honings, and miscellaneous notes, and relationships between notes are maintained in the database without user involvement. Common ways of using the data are available at a single click, and there is also a search system, which allows the user to find related notes - all honing notes containing 'pyramid' or 'coticule', or all shaving notes containing 'scything' or 'chin' for example. A section for miscellaneous notes, tagged by user-defined category, allows recording of data that doesn't fit in elsewhere, such as dates of acquiring shaving equipment, or 'to do' notes for maintenance, and can be searched in the same way as the other record types.

Although RazorBase allows each shave and razor to be described with a considerable amount of data, it does not require it. A razor can be saved in the database with just blade width and name, and a shave can be saved as just a razor and a date. Other fields can be filled in or left blank at the user's choice.

RazorBase is a front-end application that uses the MySQL database for storage and retrieval of data. I have tried to keep the installation process as simple as possible, but it is necessary to install and set up a MySQL server, and to run a script (provided in the installation package) using the MySQL command line, Navicat, MySQL Workbench, Query Browser or similar front-end application. Details of how to do this are in the 'readme.txt' file which is in the RazorBase directory.

RazorBase only runs on Windows systems. It has been tested on Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7. It requires the .NET 3.5 framework, and is written in C#.

And here I was using a spreadsheet in google docs like a neanderthal. I'm going to have to download it and check it out when I get home! Thanks a ton!

You're welcome!

Almost as soon as I'd uploaded it, I found a couple of bugs. One occasionally added an unwanted razor to a shave, and the other prevented the backup file from being written if the user didn't have admin rights. Both have been fixed, and the links in the first post updated to the new versions.

Sorry for any inconvenience to anyone who has already installed it.

Down loading this now to check out thanks for sharing.

Thanks very much for this! I have been thinking of setting up a database for keeping more accurate track of razors, honing results, and shaves, so this will be great.

Thanks for sharing

There is a new version available, which fixes two bugs:
- overwriting first record of a day's honing whichever one was edited.
- incorrectly applying razor filter to honings

and adds a few features:
- more options for filtering razor list
- search terms are remembered from one session to another.
- improved blade width handling - now copes with sizes denominated in 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 and 1/32 inch.

The latest version is on a page of my blog, here:
RazorBase download page

The complete install package (application, manual, setup instructions, example database) and the manual alone are available as separate downloads.

If you have an earlier version, this will need to be uninstalled first (using the control panel > add/remove programs). Any data already in your database is unaffected by uninstalling/re-installing (but go ahead, make a backup anyway )

I will download this and check it out when I get home to my desktop. I have something similar for my guns I think.

Looks COOL... THANKS!

Would love to see a android port of this. Good work, keep it up

How about a IOS version?