Best Fountain Pen Notebook?

I take a look at the Takasago Fountain Pen notebook from Dominant Industry and see how it compares to the gold standard Tomoe River paper (original).

[@travgusmc]

Great vid, i have several pearl dominant inks but need to get that dom blue for sure!

[@inkcrediblefountainpens]

Thank you! I've got their new ones on order... Waiting for delivery 😁

[@MarshaLove0723]

I have one of the grid versions. I love it so far.

[@inkcrediblefountainpens]

It's a good notebook, I just found the colors more vibrant on the TR paper.

[@jamesaritchie1]

I'm a lot more concerned with ghosting and bleeding and how ink looks when you write with it that about how a big swatch on ink looks. I am never, ever going to dump that much ink on paper, so what's the point of even showing it? I hate everything about Tomoe River paper. It's a horrible choice for writing you want to last for many years, and too expensive for writing I will just throw away soon after writing it. It ghosts terribly, it pills, it does not accept bulletproof or waterproof ink at all well, and it creases easily. Because so much ink dries on the surface, the dye left behind can turn back into ink somewhere down the road if exposed to moisture. Some inks can still smudge days after being put on Tomoe River paper, and a few will smudge after a month. Dry times are very, very slow for any ink when compared to other papers, and I don't like ink properties enough to waste money for a paper that has all these disadvantages. Yes, Tomoe River paper displays ink properties wonderfully, but so does a sheet of glass, which is not too far off from Tomoe River itself. In other words, pretty much ANY other fountain pen paper, including Walmart Exceed brand, and even much of the Walmart Pem and Gear brand, beats out Tomoe River, never mind all the true fountain pen friendly papers out there.

[@inkcrediblefountainpens]

Totally agree and I probably should have done more of a how does it stand up to ink vs writing. Thanks for the feedback.

[@iamjurell]

For several years I have written on numerous tomoe river notebooks and notepads, old and 'new,' with various fountain pens all the way up to double broad, using all sorts of inks. All my Noodlers inks do fine (including x-feather, which is not noticeably slower to dry on any of my tomoe river notebooks) as do my other inks. I also use japanese fine nibs and very soft flex pens. I have barely noticed any of the problems you mention being problems excepting the price. Ghosting, sure - especially for 68gsm, what would anyone expect to happen? - but I've not yet had a single incidence of bleeding.

[@websmink]

I agree for the most part and it really shows how it is so easy for people to have a cult like attitude simply because someone told them TR paper is the cool choice. For similar prices I get great papers, like Gmund, that I can actually use for years. I also like Life, Yamamoto, Kokuyo, and Midori notebooks and they are worth the cost. My notebooks serve as reference sources and need to be accessed for decades. I do have to say that I will continue to purchase TR because I like hobonichi and enjoy the crinkly texture of the TR pages. There is something about that texture and the thin nature of the pages that is very appealing. I just have to make sure I use thicker paper for my research university notebooks that my students and colleagues borrow. Using only fountain pens for someone like me who writes on average 15-20 A5 to A4 pages per day isn’t practical, especially that the ink I use needs to be waterproof, which limits my choices of ink choices. For long writing sessions, I love Caran D’Ache Goliath ballpoint ink pens and refills.

[@knutvonheim3838]

@@websmink I recently discovered Passepied paper. I have only found it in A5 notebooks from Paper Mind, but it is uncoated and excellent for writing. Check it out. I am not affiliated with anything commercial though - just so that is said :)