Keeping a shaving journal

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.

Good idea. It sounds like it will help you keep track of what steels respond better to certain mediums. I should do that.

This topic has come up before (honing/shaving journals), and if it helps then more power to you. IMO this is probably something better suited for those with dozens, if not hundreds, of razors. If you have a smaller, more "intimate" collection like I do (under 20) I find it is easy enough to track the razors I own without the need for documentation.

Being one of those, like Ryan said, with a lot of razors I wish I had stuck to keeping an account of what I honed with which hone, strokes, results etcetera. I did do it for awhile back in '08 but I got tired of it and gave it up.

Now I'll come to a razor I haven't messed with in a long time and for better or worse I have no idea what I honed it with. At the time I was doing the journal I also had a lot more hones than I do now. Still, I have been meaning to begin keeping an account.

I use a 'composition book' like you buy in school supply depts with ruled paper and just write an account of the razor, hones and the progression. I go by the shave and keep at it until I am "there." Sometimes it is easy, other times it is not, but I work at it until it is right.

Am down to maybe 20 in rotatation,I will never buy another razor as I have the best of the best.
I have had them all pro honed over the past two yrs and can keep them going for the rest of my life on two finishers,shapton 12K pro and my zulu.
All I need to know is how they were pro honed,tape or no tape.
The taped razors live in one roll,the nons live in another,simple for me.

I keep a journal on my computer in the program Evernote. Each razor gets a note and the title includes number of layers of tape and what stone it was last finished on in parentheses for ease of reference. Every time a hone a razor I start a new paragraph, put a date, and detail the honing procedure. If I just refinish it, I start a subparagraph. After each paragraph or subparagraph, I put the results of the shave test. When something works really well, I redo it and if it works equally as well, I highlight it in bold. I also keep a note in Evernote for lessons learned.

I only have 3 razors (6/8 Ralf Aust, 5/8 Boker King Cutter, 6/8 Hart Steel) that I shave with regularly, 1 (Dovo Gentleman) that came with a twisted blade and will not take an edge from me at all and a couple restorations from Craig's List. All in all, I hone 2 of 3 of those razors every day less the 1 Ralf Aust honed by Lynn that I leave alone to clean up the shave if need be and for reference. I do a three pass shave every day because work demands the well shaved look for 12+ hours. I keep the journal because I am trying to improve my ability to hone and finish razors using Nortons, Naniwas, Shaptons, a Zulu, C12k and a Gokumyo 20k, .5 diamond, .25 diamond, CrO3 and several different cloth/webbing and leather stop material combos. It gets confusing for me to remember the 1 thing I changed on a particular razor from yesterday (because I only change 1 thing). I am also able to look back and see what has or hasn't worked for a particular razor and see trends for things that have worked and haven't over all the razors I've honed. I have a plan for each razor that usually lasts a week. So, I'll reset a bevel and hone using a series of stones then throughout the week I will try different finishers or finishing strokes/techniques or different strops or I may just finish it and see what happens to that blade throughout the week's worth of shaves and stroppings. Hope this helps.

I use Evernote as well.

I logged my DE's for years and actually logged each shave. It was that data that helped me figure out which DE blade I like most.

I log my brushes and straights now. I keep track of where I purchased, from whom and what ever history I can collect. The cost, the razor specs and if I end up turning it over, where it goes and to whom.

I don't hone yet, but I will add that info.

I enter two way.. either from a saved template or using KustomNote, which is a slightly different termplate app.

I gave up logging each shave, but still do my own Shave of the Day photos..

I have started to track my honing. I have 25 razors and already don't remember if I used tape or not. I have also added a new stone that I know some of the razors haven't seen. I'm also going to add a zulu grey very soon. I am only tracking tape/no tape and date of honing at the moment. I will be selling down to between 5-10 razors soon and will probably add more info to my log then (such as shave results!) I am still fairly new to the game but I'm glad to see I'm not alone in my 'logging' :)

Chris

I agree, Chris. Glad to know I'm not alone in this logging. I plan to continue it, at least for the foreseeable future. Thanks, everyone, for your input and ideas.