Record Keeping

[rbettis]

Over the years I've accumulated a considerable number of older classic slip joints. As I get them I enjoy researching the makers but keeping those notes in an organized fashion has evaded me (most exist in my failing memory ). It is particularly difficult with the older European (English and German) makers and many of the extinct US cutlers. Is there software, forms, record books, spread sheets, etc. that any of you use that simplify and organize that task?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Angry Waiter]

Hi Bob,

I think you could probably set up an excel spreadsheet for your inventory relatively easily. I’ve thought about doing that before but I really don’t have a ton of knives so it hasn’t happened.

Pete

 

[rbettis]

Thanks, Pete. I'll probably do that once that I decide just what fields I want to record. In past years of antique arms collecting I had several proprietary software apps with the ability to store photos, etc. and I was just looking for an easy way out. (There is always a box of 5"x7" cards)

Bob

 

[Angry Waiter]

Here is another thread that may interest you.

Knife Collection spreadsheet

I am doing a knife collection spreadsheet and was wondering what you wonderful people out there do to keep track of your collection? Just want to see what others are doing/ have done. I have kept track of what knives I own but want more info than just a name. I am putting things like Mfr...

www.bladeforums.com

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I haven't done it with knives yet, and I don't know if I'll ever get around to that. But I've used Excel for keeping track of many other things. And for photos, Excel also facilitates adding a link within a cell in your spreadsheet, linking directly to another folder/directory/file of your choosing. So, for example, you could link to one of your photo folders and/or individual photo files (.jpg, etc.) directly pertinent to the items you're listing in your catalog. I use that functionality to track things like grocery & fuel expenses, with direct links to photos of receipts, for example.

I've had a longtime interest in maintaining a photo history/record of snakes found on or near our property, keeping details like date, time, size, species & other circumstantial info, with links to individual folders of photos I've taken of them, each time I've found them. May sound a little odd to many, but they've been a longtime fascination of mine and I've been able to track the health & growth of several of them individually, as I've found them repeatedly over a span of weeks, months or even years. It's a record that's turned out to be a lot more useful to me than I anticipated when I first started to track them. Having relied upon Excel for that purpose, I've found it to be very useful in many other ways as well.

 

[Jack Black]

I've thought about doing something similar many times, prompted by Peregrin 's efforts some years ago. I really have a lot of knives though, and the effort would be huge. Currently, when I pick up something interesting, I find out everything I can about it, maybe post about it, then promptly forget most of my research

 

[Peregrin]

I've thought about doing something similar many times, prompted by Peregrin 's efforts some years ago. I really have a lot of knives though, and the effort would be huge. Currently, when I pick up something interesting, I find out everything I can about it, maybe post about it, then promptly forget most of my research

I found an app, MyCollections, that was fairly easily adaptable to what I wanted for my knife collection. It's available for android, ios and windows. You can use standalone or on multiple devices with cloud sync. You can export, without images, in xml or csv. I was all gung ho, but my progress is hit or miss right now. I've got a couple hundred knives. So I have a long way to go.... I'm pretty sure it was free too.
Here's a screen shot of what it looks like on my Samsung android tablet. I was able to create each field and it's placement etc.

Here's an image of the input fields, ready for a new entry. Overall a nice database program.
Note: Knives aren't for sale. I don't intend to use the app for that purpose.

 

[Jack Black]

I found an app, MyCollections, that was fairly easily adaptable to what I wanted for my knife collection. It's available for android, ios and windows. You can use standalone or on multiple devices with cloud sync. You can export, without images, in xml or csv. I was all gung ho, but my progress is hit or miss right now. I've got a couple hundred knives. So I have a long way to go.... I'm pretty sure it was free too.
Here's a screen shot of what it looks like on my Samsung android tablet. I was able to create each field and it's placement etc.

Here's an image of the input fields, ready for a new entry. Overall a nice database program.
Note: Knives aren't for sale. I don't intend to use the app for that purpose.

Thanks a lot for the tip Gary, that looks pretty good I used to build Excel databases regularly, but that was 25 years ago! I'm not sure how many knives I have, but I stopped counting 5-10 years ago, when the number exceeded a thousand I know you take the 'quality' approach, rather than the 'quantity' one!

 

[Peregrin]

Thanks a lot for the tip Gary, that looks pretty good I used to build Excel databases regularly, but that was 25 years ago! I'm not sure how many knives I have, but I stopped counting 5-10 years ago, when the number exceeded a thousand I know you take the 'quality' approach, rather than the 'quantity' one!

I used to build database programs and spreadsheets when I was working. I spent a little time working on something I could use, before I found this app. It ended up being more work then I wanted to do. It was pretty easy to pull this together, and can be easily edited to add additional fields etc.

If I had a thousand plus knives.......

 

[Jack Black]

I used to build database programs and spreadsheets when I was working. I spent a little time working on something I could use, before I found this app. It ended up being more work then I wanted to do. It was pretty easy to pull this together, and can be easily edited to add additional fields etc.

If I had a thousand plus knives.......

I remember you starting the project Gary I think I would have to re-learn, I can barely remember it! Like a lot of things!

LOL!