I've been searching for the most reliable approach to putting back that extra edge on a razor that is just beginning to lose it. I've used, over this past year, diamond 0.5 micron CrOx on felt, 0.5 micron CrOx paste on leather, .25 diamond spray, 0.1 boron nitride on felt, my 16K Shapton ceramic and maybe something else I can't recall at the moment. I always seem to get to where I want, more or less in a variable time. If a shave doesn't feel quite right I do one or the other and see what's happened at the next morning's shave. If it's not quite there, I try something else. I don't more on to another razor till I get what I'm looking for.

I've decided to become more methodical by keeping a journal of what I tried and what the results were. I started a journal last week, listing, of course, the razor I'm using and how I thought the shave was. I'm denoting the latter with a scale of 2 for superior, 1 for average/Ok and 0 for "draggy." Then I describe what medium I tried (for those razors that rated a "0"} and how many strokes plus what the shave was like the next AM, using the same scale.

Have any of you tried anything like this? If so, suggestions for improvements. Or, are you thinking "I've never heard an idea quite that dumb!" Interested in your input.