Paper Notebook Recommendations?

There’s a nice new overview of possibilities for *every day carry * on JetPens’ website.

https://www.jetpens.com/blog/the-best-everyday-carry-stationery-items/pt/46

Interesting take on the issue.

I have one set of stuff as part of my EDC. That set consists of a lot of stuff not just pen and paper. As mentioned before my EDC paper are cheap top spiral bound notebooks. My EDC pen is a space pen backpackers version. Other things are more farming oriented, I never go anywhere (except on a plane) without my trusty leatherman on my hip. I usually carry other tools as well.

My moleskin notebooks (soon to be the Leuchtturm) are for a different purpose entirely. They are for specific topics and live on my desk in an inbox that is used to hold my iPad, drawing pencils and these specific notebooks. One is my journal. That one I do occasionally carry in my purse but rarely in my EDC set of stuff. One is a logbook documenting some training stuff I am doing. One is my books read logbook. the final one is a small art book, hard bound that I am doing drawing practice in. It also occasionally goes with my but not as EDC.

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I have a small pocket notebook (usually Rhodia) in a leather wallet with a fountain pen for quick notes and dumping ideas that I carry everywhere. It is basically a paper version of an outlining app. Subsequently, I use a pen with different ink to go through those notes and input results or next steps into the suitable app.

Research and meeting notes are done on my iPad. When I need full focus with no distractions (usually on weekends), I use a big notebook (usually Midori) and some pens with different inks for fun. These two are in my bag.

Hi. I saw this thread and it is fantastic. Thanks for the EDC recommendations. I have been using a Life Margin Journal (A5 square) for the past year and it is amazing! (I am now looking for a replacement as they seem to have replaced the line.) As for pens, I have been happy with the new Sharpie S-Gel for your standard off the shelf consumer pen as it has no bleed and drys quickly.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Don’t forget Black’n’Red - fantastic white paper, fountain pen friendly.

Also Field Notes for pocket notebooks.

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I only write with a fountain-pen. :slight_smile: Stayed with them since school, never went the ballpoint route.

Moleskine: I don’t get the fuss. A lot of marketing for an unsatisfying product (if you care about writing, ink, …)
Field Notes: as Moleskine, not worth the money.
Leuchtturm: way better. Excellent paper, great notebooks. Hard or soft cover, many sizes. I have a big one (A4) with hard cover in the office for meeting notes.
Rhodia: great paper. Didn’t like the formats.
Apica: Better paper than Rhodia. I have several (cooking/recipes,…).

But the one I settled (for journal, A5 for meetings/on the go,…): http://www.nanamipaper.com/categories/seven-seas-tomoe-river-paper.html Glorious paper. After writing on a Nanami, writing on anything else feels like chalking on the pavement.

And don’t get me started on inks… :smiley:

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Did you start with a Lamy Safari?

Froma a FP point of view I agree. If you write with a BP or a pencil Moleskine and FN are ok. Tomoe River paper is more difficult with pencils.

Pelikan “Pelikano”. We all had them (some had “Geha”). The Safari didn’t exist when I was in 1st grade, so we didn’t see them in school until later…

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I loved this pen!

Even if is (was, this model is discontinued if I’m not mistaken) marketed as a beginner / child FP it’s a surprisingly good writer.

I must search mine :thinking:

Evolution:

I had the one from 1979, it’s the “Model P450”. And whoever designed the last two ones deserves to get slapped.

I don’t recall which one was my next one (middle-school)…

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But this was about notebooks…

Mine…

Inside a “Nanami Seven Seas”…

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Mine was the 1984 model :smiley:

@Lars and @memex I would agree on the Moleskin assessment. I have used a few now as a EDC notebook and a journal. I found the bindings to split and the paper is not great (even for a non-fountain pen user).

@Diane Thank you for the recommendation for the Black n Red. I will need to search that out.

@Lars the Nanami journal looks amazing (I love the folio); I will have to check out that model.

Thanks everyone for the great information.

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I can also vouch for the Nanami A5 and the smaller slim B6 as well. Tomoe River is magical.

Pebble do fantastic notebooks using 52gsm Tomoe River Paper. They have pocket and A5 size notebooks. Great with Blackwings or fountain pens. I highly recommend them!

Mmmmmm… Nanami Seven Seas. Lovely notebook. I don’t dare fill mine up because they’re not shipping internationally right now, so I don’t know when I’ll get a replacement

And now for something completely different…

Although I too love great writing paper and notebooks (and have the shelves of them to prove it!), what I have been using for the past few months are the old-fashioned “composition notebooks” that we used to use in elementary school. I buy them with the hardcover (so I can fold it back and it provides a firm writing surface when I am sitting in a chair vs at a desk), in packs of 3 at Costco.

Yep, they are cheap, which is the point. I generally have one in my EDC backpack. I use it for taking notes in meetings, for scribblings when I am thinking about a programming task, for taking quick notes during a phone call, for notes while working on just about anything, for making a todo list…

The reason I go this way is that I go through a lot of notes, scribblings, and paper on a regular basis, but most of that is throwaway stuff. Anything I need gets added to the proper place in software: Notes.app, an email, notes written up (usually a text file in BBEdit), added to Contacts, or OmniFocus, etc. Therefore, when the notebook is full, I go through it, tear out any pages with information that I need to keep but have not yet saved anywhere, and shred the rest. The torn out sheets can be used for data entry, or just scanned if that saves the data best.

They pages are usually lightly waxed and so some fountain pens will work well with them, usually those with a finer point and harder nib (stainless steel much better than gold or rhodium), but YMMV and you may not find them acceptable with your choice of FP or ink.

My “high end” FPs, like the MontBlanc Traveller, are not ideal with this kind of paper, but my inexpensive but still enjoyable Lamy steel tip works fine. Usually, I wind up with a hybrid ink pen or ballpoint due to exigencies, however.

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I saw Apica notebooks were mentioned above for the good quality of their paper. I have tried all kinds of notebooks, but I’ve never found a better value (price & quality) than the small Apica notebooks for my pocket EDC.

The binding is simple but strong and allows for the notebook to be folded in any way needed, including laying flat. They have good quality paper and are much tougher than they may look. Perhaps most importantly their insanely cheap price ($1.20/nb) can’t be beat.

I buy mine online at my beloved Jet Pens.

Agreed. Clairefontaine has incredible paper in most of their notebooks.

I have found Apica notebooks to have good paper as well. They make my go-to pocket notebook.