My Favourite Pens and Paper (2024)

For those curious, here are my favourite pens and paper and why I chose each one.

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#PenAndPaper #Notebooks #MontBlanc

[BillyBologna]

YouTube is glorious. The fact that this gentleman creates his valuable videos for anyone at all to view. What a wonderful thing to have discovered a little corner of the interwebs where such oddball souls as us. God bless and keep you all

[gp]

I'm also a fountain pen user, and my pen of choice is the Japanese Pilot Namiki Vanishing Point. What sets this pen apart is that it functions like a ballpoint pen with a click mechanism, eliminating the need for a cap. I find caps to be an annoyance because they are an extra piece to manage, and they can easily roll off your writing surface or get lost. Since it's a Japanese pen, the quality is excellent.

Like Carl, I use paper before transferring my notes to digital formats. My go-to is the Rhodia Web Planner, where the left page is dedicated to each day of the week, and the right page features a grid for general notes. I just ordered the Maruman Mnemosyne Notebook for planning purposes.

[fossilimprint]

Thank you. Many good points and tips.

[mrk]

Funny, I use pretty much the same paper products for the same purposes. For pens I don't like the Lamy 2000 or the Montblancs very much, give Graf von Faber-Castell a try, they are the OG fountain pens - like Breguet is for watches. Or If you do not want to spend a fortune: TWSBI, simply the best steel nib pens. For pocket notebook I'm settled with the Smython The Panama - it even outperforms all Japanese offerings. One tip: I use one notebook as my daily log (right now my pocket notebook), all other books have a number and page numbers, so I can cross reference between books ("> 15.75" = "s. book 15, page 75").

[dwinti]

Hello Carl,

Thank you for this very interesting video.
Years ago, a board member filled his fountain pen with an inkwell during a meeting. I was very impressed by that. After the meeting, he explained to me that he chooses a different colour of ink for each year so that he can quickly see which year his notes are from and whether his signature is the right colour and therefore genuine.
I have only been writing with a fountain pen for 5 years now. I can fully understand your enthusiasm.

[michaeltihon]

Carl, you are absolutely right about slowing down. Writing is key in my life and part of my daily "therapeutic" routine since what you can call an awakening.
This organic experience not only forces us to think deeper and slower but is also a fantastic tool to connect us to the present moment. I cannot spend one more day without writing.

According to the kind of pens you love and the nib widths you use on Rhodia paper, I can only highly recommend you to try a Pilot 823 in M and a Pelikan M805 in F (or even EF, they write broad).
Those will make you look at your Montblanc differently, trust me on that ;)

[mylifepart]

correct some paper will allow the ink to bleed...not a great experience...true point....i m glad you made it...

[thomasmorrison]

Great video, I use a fountain almost exclusively now but still need to find a good notebook. At the office I just use a spiral notebook because the notes don't get lost and when it is full I can recycle the paper.

[Qibbles]

calling out moleskin for poor quality paper feels personal but so true - such an overhyped brand. Tomoe River is my fav

[chriscarson]

I am so glad you said something about whether your hand writing is good or bad, because I have developed a benign tremor in my hands and my writing went to crap. I still think better on paper.

[bcd]

Some of my favourite fountain pen friendly paper has been in children's notebooks bought from Lidl. Not a very professional look, but beautiful paper at a bargain price.

Muji notebooks also have lovely paper, and a minimalist look.

[meganotofthisworld]

The more I know you, the more I like you. 😊
Keep up the good work!

[HADESPAYLOAD]

Wow your right were I ended up when I was doing some paper+Fountain pen discovery. MD notebooks are amazing and very lay flat. The only thing that is a neg is the cream which I like with dark inks but your other colors really change. That A4 Dot is actually an A4+ which caught me off guard as it is A4 tear out which seems great if your going to move to another notebook. Mnemosyne has so many sizes its better variety than Rhodia plus they have lots of top ring and really small options. The other option I use is the campus smart ring paper options. The A4 is great for planning and I can more them around much easier in these systems. That Rhodia A4+ dot I can use my smart ring puncher and put that paper into my smart ring systems. Kokuyo and Maruman make great hard and soft smart ring options. MD and Mnemosyne fit in Galen leather slim covers. Goulet pens had a paper testing pack that allows you to try out some passport and smaller sizes. Stalogy I have a love hate with, great but thin.

[tridibbiswas]

Thank you for this video. I was always curious about your fountain pens. Fully agree with you on the Lamy 2000, I simply love them for their design and function and recently I acquired my grail pen Pelikan M1000 fine nib and loving it too, though the Pelikan fine is lot more thicker than the Japanese pens like Pilot or Sailor. And nothing beats like writing on paper with a fountain pen. I simply love the smell of a freshly opened notebook or even novels

[Itsmikevardy]

We need to geek out about this stuff, Carl. I’m a BIG fountain pen user myself!

[ericmanten]

I love your YouTube (actually I caught myself thinking "ooooh, Carl has a new one!" 🙂 I also love fountain pens, have multiple, and my favorites are my TWISBY demonstrator and the Pelikan M1000. Paper-wise I love Tomoe River paper. Some favorite notebooks are the Nanami Seven Seas and the Hobonichi's. have you ever considered any E-Ink tablets for note-taking. I recently started using the Supernote Nomad (writing area similar to B6 paper size) and I have to say that I actually like it very much so far. While the writing feel obviously is not comparable to writing with a fountain pen, it is quite smooth and the tablet offers the additional ease of note storage, organization, and retrieval. I am interested in your thoughts regarding E-Ink tablets. Cheers!

[malcolmgay]

Great clip.
May I suggest you put a MB 147 traveller FP with a fine nib (with its traveller case ) on your wish list.
The 147 is actually the 146 with a cartridge ink system.
Imagine that would be great do for your travelling life.
That would free your 149 up for a medium, broad etc nib swap.
Bought my 147 with travel case, NOS, at a considerable discount to the new price.
Took a while to find, but worth the wait.

[JohnCorrUK]

Aha, brilliant - just the topic I wanted to research and your video top suggestion Carl by YT algorithm

[jules]

Journalling - ive watched multiple Carl youtubes that recommends keeping a journal, but HOW and WHAT? Is there a 'course' oŕ detailed explanation of how to journal and what to think/write about?

[timhewage]

Great vid, regarding great writing paper can you recommend a smaller pocket notebook please?