Silvine Originals Memo Book Notebook Review | The Best Field Notes Alternative For Fountain Pens

[@martynsnan]

I remember using Silvine notebooks as a child. Now, many decades later, I am still buying them. As you showed in your test page, they continue to be fountain pen friendly and inexpensive. It was a nostalgic pleasure watching your review. Thanks again Blake.

[@BlakesBroadcast]

They are great notebooks. Silvine is not that well known in the States but they are still common in stationery stores in the UK.

[@martynsnan]

@@BlakesBroadcast That's where I am.

[@MonkeyFarmFrankenstein]

Thanks so much for this review. I adore this memo book. The size accommodates more content, the paper is amazing for fountain pens, and the perforated pages are a huge bonus. Anybody who's interested in looking beyond Moleskine/Leuchtturm/Field Notes should check these out. I also highly recommend the Black and Red flex cover pocket notebook and the Life Stationery Klesha notebooks. Also, if you do love that FN style, check out Log and Jotter, which does a monthly subscription but with much better, fp-friendly paper and the option to choose ruling, graph, dots, or blank pages.

[@BlakesBroadcast]

Hi Carl, thanks for the comment! I like Red and Black notebooks but have not tried their flex cover one yet. Log and Jotter seems like a pretty cool subscription. I will give it a try. I like that it is only one notebook a month. I did the Field Notes one years ago and ended up with more than I needed.

[@davidanderson3425]

Hi Blake. I am from the UK and can remember seeing Silvine notebooks when I was very young. It's true they have been going a long time but I've never tried them. Based on your review I think I'll buy one and test it with my fountain pens.

[@BlakesBroadcast]

Hi David, thank you for the comment. They are great notebooks. If you buy one in a local stationery shop make sure you get the Silvine Originals version with the matte ribbed cover. The cheaper version with the shiny red cover is not fountain pen friendly.

[@maurolimaok]

Thanks for the video!

[@BlakesBroadcast]

You are welcome!

[@nicksg3002]

Hi, thank you for this review. I'm not fan of Field Notes nor Clairefontaine so this Silvine is a good option. I've used Clairefontaine though, only the 11 x 17 cm, 192pages/96 sheets ruled, 90g. I hope you were interested in reviewing it one day or even better, make your The Paper Mind notebooks in more sizes. Please be safe❣️

[@BlakesBroadcast]

You are welcome! I definitely want to make more sizes and do more sheet styles but there is a serious paper shortage right now. Many of the papers I want to use are completely sold out and I am waiting on the mills to produce more.

[@DrDavidMLevy]

How interesting! Thanks for making it easy to try!

[@BlakesBroadcast]

My pleasure 😊

[@ginopagnani7286]

Thanks Blake. Does Silvine make a version sized like a Field Note? I have a few leather covers that I use with Field Notes.

[@BlakesBroadcast]

Hi Gino, thanks for the comment. The closest to a Field Notes size is the Memo Book. They make a Pocket version which is much smaller and the Bullet and Exercise Books are larger than the Memo. One drawback to the Silvine Originals line that I should have mentioned is that all of their books are non-standard sizes, so if you own field notes covers they wont fit...that said I've recently been using my Memo Book with a Travelers Notebook cover, it is a bit short but it works just fine.

[@shawnhampton8503]

Hi Blake - did you ever get the Kokuyo ledger book? Curious to know what you think.

[@BlakesBroadcast]

Hi Shawn, yes I did! Thank you so much for the recommendation. I liked them enough that I have decided to carry a few models at thepapermind.com. I had to special order them directly from Kokuyo so they are a couple months out due to ocean freight. I will do a video review in the future. Overall though, the books are really nice. The paper is pretty fountain pen friendly. Really wide and wet nibs do have some bleeding but the overall design and construction of the notebooks is excellent.

[@dashsunil]

The ruled lines are intrusive for me. BTW, I really enjoyed the hand stitching demo. 😅

[@BlakesBroadcast]

Haha! They are tradition feint style lines. I think it suits the personality of the notebook but not the most subtle.

[@p1ranesi]

You're wrong about the cheaper version of this notebook. They're extremely fountain-pen-friendly, and I don't understand why you say otherwise. And I tune my FPs to be very wet.

[@BlakesBroadcast]

Hi Martin, I will have to try one again. The ones I had previously were note fountain pen friendly but that may have changed.

[@p1ranesi]

@@BlakesBroadcast Hiya Blake: I prefer the ordinary Silvines even to Rhodia Bloc and CF. While these things are very much a matter of taste, individual nibs, flow, and inks matter a lot, as you know. I shouldn't have said you were wrong, rather that those cheaper Silvines are capable of being very good. All the best.

[@dividir88]

I was coming to say this, I wish I could find a nice cover for them to make it more attractive to EDC, I guess I'll have to try to DIY because the cheaper memo book (60p/72c) is a staple (no pun intended)

[@p1ranesi]

@@dividir88 Or, you know, you could embrace the rustic simplicity of a simple notebook. I'm mad on fountain pens, but my favoured writing instrument is a woodcase pencil! (Though I do posh-up a bit by using Mitsubishi 9800s in 2B.)

[@dividir88]

@Martin Williams this is true. But some times it clashes with my outfits. I like things that go with my personality and pulling something a little bit different out of my handbag.

[@markcaldwell2831]

What you meant to say is that the Brits make better notebooks than the US.... obviously.

[@BlakesBroadcast]

That's a bit too simple for me. I would say that I like Silvine Originals better than Field Notes.

[@Marc-so2cd]

You'll be surprised that Britain does a lot of things better than the US.

[@BlakesBroadcast]

I did a review of one a while ago. They definitely have nice paper.

[@Marc-so2cd]

@@BlakesBroadcast I've used them for a long time. I always trust a UK brand.