I use a disc binder like this to keep together all my recipes downloaded from the web or cut out of magazines/newspapers. The covers are made from Amazon packaging; their A4 sized “envelopes” are a perfect size and rigidity.
As others have noted the quality of the paper is important. Needs to be heavy weight stock. Photocopier/printer paper can be used but turning the pages and removing/reinserting then has to be with great care.
You don’t want to see my handwriting. It looks like a very bad Jackson Pollock painting. If I were a doctor then I would the UK’s Chief Medical Officer my handwriting is that bad. I choose to type not write.
I listened to an episode of The Pen Addict. I enjoyed the podcast, but this is not the show for me. Toward the end, they discussed the number of notebooks and fountain pens they use and their favorites. They use A LOT of notebooks And, their favorite fountain pens run from ~$450 to ~$900+.
While I’ll experiment with the notebook I’ve ordered and use my inexpensive fountain pen to take a few notes, I suspect I’ll use the pen mostly for signing contracts and the like. I’ll not be buying $450+ pens, which doesn’t even include the ink and paper. I think I’ll stick with my iPad and Apple Pencil. I’m pretty sure this is a necessary decision if I expect to reach 50 years of wonderful married life. I may not be the brightest bulb in the bunch, but I’m not crazy, either!
All of the above is shared with a sense of humor and genuine appreciation for the recommendations.
Well, that’s my day sorted! Thank you. Got the week off due to a nasty spider bite (they think) so recovering from plastic surgery (not a radio-active spider, so no super powers … yet! ) Need something more high brow than YouTube…
Just a question - are you willing to budge on the form factor itself?
I.e. would a top-bound note PAD work instead of a note BOOK? You could get a nice leather pad holder, and just put in a new pad when you used up the old pad. In that case Levenger has Freeleaf pads, Rhodia has nice pads, etc.
It would. I may have been under the false assumption that a “legal pad” is not good paper with a fountain pen. If I’m wrong about that, I’m open to any specific recommendation you have.
I also try to steer clear from podcasts (and YouTube channels) such as these. You learn stuff, but they are basically infomercials. If you listen to them long enough, paying 300$, 500$ or 900$ for a pen won’t seem too extravagant. I know, I’ve been there.
Thanks, that is helpful. I have been paperless for so long that I’ve lost all track of paper and pens. In fact, nearly the only time I ever use a pen is to sign things, and that’s only when I’m not able to convert paper to a PDF and sign with the Apple Pencil. I’m not entirely sure that is a good thing but once I went paperless, I dove from the high diving board into the deepest end of the pool.
This is what @MacSparky used to use (and may be since he’s doing some analog again. @mikeschmitz used the ugmonk that @binarymule mentioned. I’ve used the levenger and my wife still has some ARC things, I found the ARC punch is/was cheaper and worked just as well, but the quality of the levenger covers was nicer. I’ve gone to a Kindle Scribe instead, but occasionally look back at the ARC or the travelers notebooks people keep mentioning…
In the spirit of full disclosure, I don’t use a fountain pen. But I do appreciate very nice paper, and in my notebook selection process a couple years ago I kept bumping into discussion about how fountain pen ink worked on various pads.
One of my absolute favorite types of paper - Rhodia - comes well-reviewed for fountain pens (https://fountainpenlove.com/reviews/rhodia-dot-pad-review/). The pads are available in a variety of sizes and shapes, lined, unlined, dot grid, graph, etc., but my favorite is the DotPad:
Levenger’s Freeleaf also bills itself as fountain pen friendly:
Both are “legal pad” style, with nice perforated sheets. If you went the Levenger route, they also make nice leather folios to hold the pads:
Incidentally, if fountain pens don’t really wind up doing it for you, there are some very nice pens that write very well and are much more pleasant to write with than the super-cheap ballpoints.
I got into “nice (non-fountain) pens” when i started carrying around a Field Notes style notebook, and I bought a pack of pens from JetPens (JetPens Blue Black Gel Pen Sampler) to test out different tip sizes and styles. Then I got the color pack of that pen (Zebra Sarasa 0.5mm - Zebra Sarasa Clip Gel Pen - 0.5 mm - 28 Color Bundle | JetPens) to pick out the color that I liked best.
When I saw this thread title I clicked on it so fast I love how so many stationery people have answered. I used to run a stationery blog years ago that primarily focused on fountain pens and paper, I love to talk about this stuff!
I know you’ve listed quite a few criteria (and perforated paper is problematic - not many manufacturers do that), but your first criteria is ALWAYS paper quality if you’re using a fountain pen. Crap paper will ruin your experience. Once you are a fountain pen user you have to become a paper snob, that’s the rules
To that end, if you can find a notebook that uses Clairefontaine (French) or Tomoe River (Japanese) paper you will have a long and happy fountain pen life. Rhodia, mentioned already in this thread, use Clairefontaine. They are completely different styles of paper (Clairefontaine is thick and smooth, Tomoe River is thin and crisp), but both handle fountain pens like a dream.
It’s not what you asked for, but I love Rhodia classic notepads. They come in a range of sizes and are so practical for having on your desk ready for a quick scribble during a call (also perforated!).
Leuchtturm1917 paper handles fountain pens well too. I don’t recommend Moleskine myself, their paper quality has declined over the last couple decades and honestly for the same price you can get better elsewhere (in fact Leuchtturm1917 is basically Moleskine but better).
Anyway you live in the U.S. so you have the privilege of being able to buy what I consider the best notebook ever made (for me): Seven Seas Tomoe River notebooks. If you’re ever in the market for stitchbound A5 notebooks, I recommend them.
Yes, and it’s not as good as the old paper I did a side-by-side comparison of the old paper and the new one at the time and you can feel the difference in smoothness on the nib. It’s particularly noticeable on extra fine nibs, less so for bold nibs. Ink also feathers slightly more. Now, we’re talking microscopic feathers because it’s still Tomoe River paper, but for fountain pen nerds it is noticeable and a shame. Feathering is worse for wet nibs / wet inks, as you’d expect. It means the quality of the writing experience can now vary depending on your nib and ink, which wasn’t an issue before (previously you got a perfect experience regardless of nib or ink). For example, if you use an extra fine Japanese nib with wet ink you can enjoy the scratching and the feathering at the same time (Again, we’re talking microscopic differences that only nerds would notice!)
Does any of this matter? Well it matters because the tiny group of people who care are probably very sad about this, but I’d argue that even in its lesser state, it’s still better than other papers on the market currently. But, its glory days are over and it seems like they won’t come again. Even now like a year or so later I will write on the newer paper and have a moment of sadness about it, because if you know you know. I have a few notebooks with the old paper left, but I am saving them (I don’t know what for!).
And really, it shows the fragility of some of the artisan products we enjoy (I’m sure there’s a zen lesson here somewhere). The problem with Tomoe River manufacturing actually started a couple of years earlier (before Sanzen took over manufacturing) with a fault in a piece of mill equipment that had been running for decades and was in the truest sense of the word irreplaceable. Tomoegawa (the original manufacturer) switched machine, but a minute difference in the paper was already noticeable.
Maybe Sanzen will keep trying to refine their process and will eventually bring us back to paper nirvana. Who knows!
) Need something more high brow than YouTube…
I love how so many stationery people have answered. I used to run a stationery blog years ago that primarily focused on fountain pens and paper, I love to talk about this stuff!
I did a side-by-side comparison of the old paper and the new one at the time and you can feel the difference in smoothness on the nib. It’s particularly noticeable on extra fine nibs, less so for bold nibs. Ink also feathers slightly more. Now, we’re talking microscopic feathers because it’s still Tomoe River paper, but for fountain pen nerds it is noticeable and a shame. Feathering is worse for wet nibs / wet inks, as you’d expect. It means the quality of the writing experience can now vary depending on your nib and ink, which wasn’t an issue before (previously you got a perfect experience regardless of nib or ink). For example, if you use an extra fine Japanese nib with wet ink you can enjoy the scratching and the feathering at the same time