Logbook For Custom Keycaps Vintage

Why You Should Keep Track Of Your Custom Keycap Collection

I started logging my custom keycaps three years ago after losing track of what I actually owned. I had about forty sets spread across multiple boxes, several of which I'd forgotten the model names for. The reset was annoying. It took me two weekends to rebuild my memory just by opening every box and reading the legends. After that I made a simple spreadsheet and never looked back. A logbook isn't fancy. It's a document where you record the keycap sets you own, where you got them, what material they are, what profile, and a few other details that only become useful once you've already bought too much stuff. People usually treat it like a collection tracker, but the real value is in avoiding duplicate purchases and remembering which set goes with which board when you're trying to build something quickly.

Logbook For Custom Keycaps Vintage

The vintage side of this is where it gets a bit messy. Vintage keycaps refer to older sets from brands like SA, eXtremeRate, GMK early runs, DSA from the Czech days, and various OEM runs from the nineties and early two thousands. They come in different materials too. PBT is the common one. ABS was used heavily in the older days and it shines differently than modern PBT. Then there's Nylon and PEI which show up occasionally in limited runs. What most beginners miss is that age changes the plastic. ABS yellows. PBT can discolor at the legends over time if the set was cheap to begin with. A logbook entry should note the condition, not just the model name. I write things like "slight shine on WASD from use" or "legend wear on spacebar, batch 2018." That detail matters when you're reselling or trading later. Here's the structure I use. It takes me about five minutes per set to update.

• Set name and manufacturer – full name, not a shorthand you'll forget in six months.
• Profile – SA, DSA, OEM, XDA, MT3,whatever.
• Material – PBT, ABS, Nylon, PEI, or hybrid.
• Batch or production year – this is important for vintage sets because the same name can refer to different molds over the years.
• Purchase source and date – store or group buy, price paid.
• Key count – full set, tenkeyless, macro pad only.
• Condition notes – shine, wear, discoloration, legend quality.
• Compatible switches – usually irrelevant for most kits since they work with any stem, but some vintage sets have tighter tolerances on the mounting posts and I've seen a few that bind on Cherry MX clones.
• Storage location – which box or shelf, so you aren't digging around when someone asks to see it.

I keep this in a Google Sheet that I duplicate whenever I buy a new set. The columns are wide enough that I can add notes without shrinking the text. I also take a photo of each set and link it in a separate column. The photo matters more than you'd think because lighting changes how vintage plastic looks over time and you want a baseline. The tricky part is batch variation. I learned this the hard way with a set of SA caps I picked up from a marketplace listing. The photos looked clean. The description said "mint condition." When they arrived, the PBT had a slightly different texture than the other SA sets I owned. The legends were sharper too. I checked the underside and found a different mold mark. The seller had mixed batches and didn't mention it. If I hadn't been logging my existing sets, I would have just assumed it was normal. Now I photograph the underside of any vintage set before I accept it, and I log the mold marks alongside everything else. It takes thirty seconds more per transaction and it has saved me from two outright returns and one significant disagreement with a buyer over the years.

Another issue is tracking group buys that never ship. I'm not joking. The mechanical keyboard community has plenty of them. I put a column in my log for "Group buy status." I mark it as confirmed, pending, or cancelled with the date. This sounds silly until you need to explain to someone why you still haven't received something you paid for eighteen months ago. Having the exact date and the thread link makes that conversation five minutes instead of an hour.

What Your Logbook Should Not Include

Don't log every keyboard you own unless you're building a full inventory of gear. The logbook is for keycaps only. Mixing in switches, boards, cables, and desk mats just bloats the document and makes it harder to find what you need. I've seen people keep giant spreadsheets with hundreds of rows across twelve categories. They spend more time maintaining the spreadsheet than using it. Don't log price trends unless you're actively trading. A simple purchase price is enough. If you start tracking resale value you'll end up building a financial model instead of a collector's log. That's a different project.

Tools I Actually Use

Google Sheets. It syncs across devices and I can share a read-only link with friends who ask about specific sets. Notion is an alternative if you want rich media embedding, but it's slower to load and I don't see the benefit for this use case. Excel works fine too. Pick whichever you open most often without complaining. For photos I use my phone and a small lightbox. The lightbox costs about twenty dollars and eliminates glare on shiny ABS caps. Without it, the reflections make it hard to tell if a keycap is actually damaged or if it's just catching the room lights wrong. This detail matters when you're grading vintage sets for resale.

When A Logbook Won't Help You

If you own fewer than ten sets, you probably don't need one. You'll remember them. The system only becomes useful once you hit roughly fifteen sets and start running into overlap problems. I hit that wall at set number twelve and I wish I'd started sooner, but I also don't think it would have been worth the effort before that point. A logbook also won't protect you from fake keycaps. I've seen aftermarket GMK-style legends printed on cheap ABS that look close enough in photos to fool a casual buyer. The log helps only if you document the original authenticity markers when you first get the set. Mold numbers, font characteristics, and the feel of the profile all count. Write them down while the set is fresh in your hands. Six months later you won't remember whether that particular DSA set had the rounded edge or the squared one.

A Quick Template You Can Copy

Column one: Set name. Column two: Manufacturer. Column three: Profile. Column four: Material. Column five: Batch year. Column six: Purchase source. Column seven: Date purchased. Column eight: Price. Column nine: Key count. Column ten: Condition. Column eleven: Mold marks or authenticity notes. Column twelve: Photo link. Column thirteen: Storage location. Column fourteen: Group buy status if applicable. Column fifteen: Notes. That's fifteen columns. Maybe twenty if you want a column for trade history. I don't use trade history because I rarely trade and keeping it would just create empty rows that clutter the sheet. The whole setup takes about an hour the first time. After that each new entry takes five minutes. I add maybe three to five new sets a year. The time investment is not significant compared to what you avoid by not forgetting where everything is or buying duplicates of the same vintage run.