Journaling - What do you use?

[Toothpick]

I've decided I'd start journaling as a way to improve my handwriting and relax. So I visited the local bookstore and they had a lot of journals. I was like whoa! What do I pick!

I settled on the Gallery Leather Desk Journal

I picked this one for several reasons. The size was what I wanted. Roughly 5x8. I thought it would be the best size to hold while I journal. At 192 pages it's not to thick.
Also, although I've never heard of the company, they appear to be reputable and well established. So when I fill this journal up I'll be able to buy another one just like it.

I've written just a few lines in it so far and the paper is a sponge. I thought my pen had feed problems but NOPE, writes perfectly when applied to this paper. I notice some very very light feathering.

And also some light bleeding. But I don't think it will effect anything.

So does anyone else journal? If so what do you use and why do you do it?

 

[Slivovitz]

I've decided I'd start journaling as a way to improve my handwriting and relax. So I visited the local bookstore and they had a lot of journals. I was like whoa! What do I pick!...So does anyone else journal?

Quite a few people around here keep journals. I currently keep one for when I'm away from home, and another for when I'm not. Plus a separate journal for diet and exercise, a pocket notebook for quick notes, and a couple of other books for other writing. I keep a work journal for technical notes.

If so what do you use and why do you do it?

Just thinking about it, I can come up with a dozen brands that I've tried. Most have been at least adequate, but a couple have been on the low end of that. A couple were good, but expensive enough that I don't think they're worth getting again. I prefer unlined paper, and Life Noble notebooks are the ones I like best within my price range. But right now I'm finishing off an Apica notebook. Lined paper, but otherwise similar quality.

Why do I do it? Partly to write the sort of private musings which I don't care to share, but which seem easier think through when they're written down. Partly to record things that I've learned, or want to remember. Although I didn't always do this, I've taken to numbering all my journal pages, using one page at the beginning or end of each journal as an index page, and putting page references for any topic I might want to return to.

 

[davent]

I use a Lee Valley garden journal. Has a page per day and ten year divisions per day so not a lot of room per entry. I'm now working on my third of these. I'm a gardener weather junkie and have records going back even further on weather, so weather data gets recorded, gardening activity, meals, events and these days, blade/razor/brush/lather... anything else worth quickly noting.

I use a school spiral binder if i need to get wordy, draw.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?p=43043&cat=2,58054,46147,43043

dave

 

[Old beard]

I use Rhoda 1650196. It is a spiral note book. I journal events of the day. Maybe one day my grand kids might enjoy knowing what grandpa did an thought.

 

[kcore]

I use a Apica CD11 notebook to keep my work journal with what I accomplished and what I need to do and I also keep a personal journal that I write in to relax with for my personal journal I just use a mead composition notebook that is hardcover they handle fountain pens pretty well and since I shred my journals after they are full I don't feel to bad about the cost

 

[jmattmiller]

I use the seven seas writer for most of my important musings. I write a diary of sorts for the kids and wife. In the event of my death from some accident or other, I like the idea of my thoughts being preserved on fancy tomoe river paper for them to peruse at their leisure. The good thing about the written word is I come across as a much wiser better man. By the time they realize they were duped it'll be too late.

For every day stuff I use cheap composition notebooks from Norcom. Preferably manufactured in Brazil or Egypt. Less bleed through and feathering than the us versions.

I just bought some Baron Fig vanguards , but have yet to try them out much. In a pinch, I'll make pocket notebooks out of a piece of cardboard from a six pack, two staples, and a bit of basic copy paper. It bleeds and feathers, but I can write on one side and build several for next to nothing.

 

[Stevew443]

I keep a journal from time to time also as a means to keep my handwriting up to snuff and to just write down some things that happen during the day. My sweet wife found a beautiful leather journal with an eitz chaim (tree of life) embossed on the cover and I dearly love the journal (I also dearly love my sweet wife). It was an inexpensive journal but the paper is quite fountain pen friendly as long as I only write on one side of the page.

 

[Toothpick]

Very nice guys! This has given me so many new brands to check out.

That Gardener's Journal looks cool. I never knew such things were out there.

 

[Venator]

I have been journalling in patches for the last ten years. My last three notebooks have been house bound A5 Tomoe River paper from bookbinders. Before that I went through a bunch of A5 Clairefontaine essentials.

I liked Tomoe River paper when I was full nerding out on fountain pens as the paper is great for finding sheen and just performs really well in general. I like the A5 size because they fit easily in a bag and onto a quiet pub table. I also like journals with fewer pages as I have lost a couple over the years, so I would rather fill up 96 pages and move on.

I have a more utilitarian view on pens and ink now so my next journal will be something cheaper, though that could still be a Rhodia cahier.

 

[Raissermesser]

I use a 400 page journal with fake leather cover and acid free paper I found at Walmart. Unfortunately, the binding is already separating from the cover, and Noodler's Blue Ghost doesn't show up well on the paper (for leaving surprises). I have another, a Father's Day gift, waiting to be filled when I'm done with this one.

Don't overlook ink. I use Platinum Carbon Black since carbon based inks have excellent longevity and you can use this one (and Sailor's Nano, which I haven't tried) in a fountain pen. I'm torn between it and Noodler's Black and Uniball Signo. I'm going to have to take the time and do a UV test to satisfy my own worries. I've seen some ballpoint inks hold up well, and some that didn't, and unfortunately I don't know the brands for either one.

Then, after we take care to use acid free paper and permanent ink, our journals will likely be tossed the week after we die. So it goes.

 

[Toothpick]

Unless it states "acid free" on the packaging should I assume its got acid?

 

[Slivovitz]

Unless it states "acid free" on the packaging should I assume its got acid?

You can't assume that it isn't acidic. On the other hand, some frequently recommended notebooks around here, such as Rhodia Webnotebooks or Clairefontaine (both of which I like) do not say acid free on the covers or packaging. Some sellers may still claim that they use acid free paper. And just to confuse matters, Quo Vadis journals, which supposedly use Clairfontaine paper, do claim to be acid and chlorine free.

Since it will probably be a while before you use up that first journal, the best suggestion I can make for anything that looks tempting but has insufficient specs is to find the web site for the maker, and read through their information. If they don't say, then write to their customer support. I tend to assume that most reputable brands are fine for my purposes, but could be living in a fools paradise. I have old notebooks going back to the 1960s at least (not all are my own). Not going to do an inventory now, but some are yellowing and others are not.

If you become seriously interested in archival quality, say for journals and scrapbooks that you hope will last for decades, maybe outlasting you, it's worth doing further research on your own. Look for papers that are supposed to be archival quality, and then check with the maker on what that actually means for their products.

 

[Toothpick]

Thanks for the info!

 

[Claudel Xerxes]

I've used many notebooks throughout the years, but currently, my journal is an Apica CD15 notebook, or a Piccadilly (A5ish) hardcover notebook. The Piccadilly I had from before I started using fountain pens, so I'll use that every now and again depending on what I'm journaling for. The Apica CD15 I picked up just a few months ago, but I love the paper quality. It's smooth, but doesn't feel "slick." It doesn't bleed or feather with any ink that I've put on it so far. And, the price isn't bad, either.

 

[BubblesTGB]

I picked up one of the B&B journals when they were available. They came with the Franklin--Christoph Firma-Flex journal. I love them. I buy them 3 at a time when a certain website drops them for sale. Great paper, lies flat, takes any ink I've thrown at it.

 

[eezee]

I picked up one of the B&B journals when they were available. They came with the Franklin--Christoph Firma-Flex journal. I love them. I buy them 3 at a time when a certain website drops them for sale. Great paper, lies flat, takes any ink I've thrown at it.

This. The F-C journals are wonderful!

 

[Ad Astra]

Interesting. I'm keeping a handmade paper roll-up civil war journal, just to notate the changes of the year- when the hummingbirds come and go, first cold front, etc.

Similar to:



Using a different ink for each of the four seasons. Had to switch pens, as the nib of the Nemosine was too scratchy on the home-made paper- shows the challenges they had back then! Little bits of paper/fibers stuck.


AA

 

[Toothpick]

Interesting. I'm keeping a handmade paper roll-up civil war journal, just to notate the changes of the year- when the hummingbirds come and go, first cold front, etc.

Similar to:

View attachment 693913

Using a different ink for each of the four seasons. Had to switch pens, as the nib of the Nemosine was too scratchy on the home-made paper- shows the challenges they had back then! Little bits of paper/fibers stuck.


AA

That's really neat! I've never seen anything like that before.

 

[Ad Astra]

I got mine at the Confederate Museum in New Orleans, right across from the WWII Museum.

Actual leather cover, handmade paper, rolls up and ties with a thong. The way they journaled in 1860

So far, it is motivating me to take daily meteorological notes, or other natural history stuff. If I keep notes for one year, I'll know when the magnolia trees bloom, when the hummingbirds arrive, the fish head for deeper water- stuff like that.

AA

 

[Toothpick]

That is so neat. Your own personal farmers almanac so to speak.