Calling all Travelers Notebook users

[Particular_Song3539]

As per @Misfit requested, let me tell a little about how I "rotate" my TN members. (not exactly turn them around I mean "rotate" their shift )
I like my leather cover to get scratches and blemishes, so that they could age fast. In order to get that, you have to use them , take them out , put them into bags, get in touch with other stationery etc.

Narita SE is the one that get scratches the fastest. Basically it looks perfect right now so it stays home, mostly storing my work notes and templates.
Kyoto SE hardly ages, so it also doesnt get much used because it wouldn't make much difference.

My most used is a Camel (which is the first serious TN I bought ) with my name engraved on it by Traveler's company, and a laser engraved by a friend (my own watermark)
I also have a washed Olive cover which I love the lighter tone, it looks almost like a well worn boot. 
My diary TN is a Galen Leather TN with the new color Ocean blue, super gorgeous, now trying to get it more used and age faster !
Also have a washed Starbucks camel passport size as wallet. 

[Anne-Sophie]

On 11/15/2023 at 1:32 AM, txomsy said:

Water is a very small, polar, reactive molecule. I fear that if one stretches the term, very little things are actually waterproof (over the aeons).

 

However, if one uses waterproof ink, I have found that -with a bit of patience- many things can survive a water test.

 

I have already mentioned several times my absent mindedness, that I like to carry A6 or A7 notebooks in a pocket, and that I once forgot one in the laundry. If I remember well, it was a plastic bound, A7, Miquelrius, Liderpapel or something like that, cheap one. Afterwards, I left it dry open  in the air (took a week or so), and while all non-waterproof ink had washed away, and the paper surface was rougher, all waterproof ink remained and it was still usable (although I had to store it under weight until it recovered its shape), and could continue using it (yeah, I'm a cheapie too).

 

Lately I use thinner A6, kraft paper bound, notebooks within a leather sleeve (usually carried too in a jeans' back pocket, one for writing -coated Rhodia-like paper- and one for sketching -cheap uncoated Moleskine). A couple of weeks ago I went for a "short" 13 Km stroll in the woods under light rain. After 3 hours my coat (and me too) was soaked wet. The leather covers were also wet (not that much), but they went through it without any problem (they're still within my jean's back pocket) and the notebooks were totally OK.

 

So, while just anecdotal, I think that -if one is willing to allow for the patience needed to wait for the notebook/sleeve to dry naturally, and to use waterproof ink- any decent-quality notebook and a leather cover may just be enough.

 

If you want vegan, cork is also a great -if not better- alternative to leather, it is vegan, and if good quality, can be as resistant (to water, cold, heat -even fire) or more as leather, nice looking and very soft-touch. The only problem with good cork is that it is typically produced in a relatively small fraction of the World (typically the Western Mediterranean area, Spain, Portugal and Northwest Africa). If one lives relatively near (e.g. EU), getting excellent, top quality goods in cork can be very cheap, but farther away it may become very expensive.

 

If that is not an option (you do not want to use waterproof ink or do not want to wait for them slowly drying before continuing using them), either a second notebook for use while they dry, or a self-sealing plastic bag without holes, like many of those 1 L self-sealing bags you are required (and sometimes get for free) at airport clearance to carry liquids, may be the best option.

 

Second best, plastic film, or a plastic sheet you may wrap around your notebook (here, a like for Origami may help finding the most protective wrapping).

 

The main inconvenient with plastic, for me, is it is non-transpiring and tends to become uncomfortable when carried in a pocket.

 

Or do away with protection, and get a backpack or a purse that is waterproof (there are some that have a plastic inner covering and a transpiring exterior, but in my experience they are not so easy to come by). Or wear them in a pocket in a coat/jacket/whatever that is waterproof. But that is not eco-friendly.

 

 

Unfortunately my main inks are erasable blue as they were the ones used st school, in Europe.

Crossing items was considered extreme bad form hence erasable blue ink and ink eradicators.

 

Pelikan makes them but they are hard to come by in the U.S. 

[Misfit]

Thank you @Particular_Song3539 for explaining your rotation of TNs. It helps to know why. And it makes sense. I haven’t figured out how to use two regular sizes, so this helps. 
 

A pen club member went to Japan on vacation.  He asked if anyone wanted anything. I meant to email him, but didn’t. I’d have asked him to pick up either the Kyoto or Narita TN. 

[Lithium466]

6 hours ago, Anne-Sophie said:

 

Unfortunately my main inks are erasable blue as they were the ones used st school, in Europe.

Crossing items was considered extreme bad form hence erasable blue ink and ink eradicators.

 

Pelikan makes them but they are hard to come by in the U.S. 

Lamy makes some ink eradicators that might be easier to get for you. If not, PaperMate is still making some that look like the old Reynolds from the good old days
As far as the Pelikan ones, they are probably the most well-known, but I never liked them, especially the blue part. I never got over the disparition of Reynolds, for me the blue and red striped ones with chisel point were the best. They even made some with liquid "ink" at some point.

[Anne-Sophie]

7 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

Lamy makes some ink eradicators that might be easier to get for you. If not, PaperMate is still making some that look like the old Reynolds from the good old days
As far as the Pelikan ones, they are probably the most well-known, but I never liked them, especially the blue part. I never got over the disparition of Reynolds, for me the blue and red striped ones with chisel point were the best. They even made some with liquid "ink" at some point.

 

I used all of those and stocked up when I went to France, some are still working, much to my surprise. They are the ones which are stored ink erasors side up.

 

The blue part was only used in emergency, such as exams or essays when one of the last words in the last phrase, usually a common name ended up being mis-spelled. 

 

For better match to the numerous erasable blue inks, I use, now, a fine liner or medium nib marker would be better. But I no longer have to write essays by hand, thankfully.

 

I always thought that the erasing liquid was alcohol but, a couple of months or a year ago a FPN member described the liquid used, I think it is common in Science labs.

I forgot the name of it.

[Lithium466]

I always thought it was sodium sulfite...but I could be very wrong! Or part of it could be lost in translation.

[txomsy]

If you refer to Tipp-Ex, it is a complex mixture of alkanes and petroleum derivatives. If it is something like FriXion, I think it is hard rubber (the eraser), it works by simple friction, the friction generates heat and that warms the thermo ink that makes the gel ink disappear.

[Lithium466]

No, I meant the ink eradicator "pens" that can "erase" methyl blue based inks (many Royal blues).

[Anne-Sophie]

 

This is the post I was talking about https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/371581-making-tintenkiller-ink-eradicator-for-a-school-project/#comment-4613397

 

 

It says the main component of a Tintenkiller is sodium sulfite (Na2SO3)

[txomsy]

Ah, OK. Sorry for the confusion.

[Misfit]

Well impulsivity got the best of me, and I ordered the Kyoto version of the TN on eBay.  I shouldn’t shop before bedtime. 

[Particular_Song3539]

@Misfit my "old lady brain" is extremely active whenever I am laying on the bed, trying to sleep.
That is the time when I would remember 284different random items I need to grab in my next grocery shopping trip and self-proclaimed genius ideas that I should test out first thing the next morning. 
Usually after the excitement of last min internet shopping and then turned off my phone haha

[Anne-Sophie]

5 hours ago, Particular_Song3539 said:

@Misfit my "old lady brain" is extremely active whenever I am laying on the bed, trying to sleep.
That is the time when I would remember 284different random items I need to grab in my next grocery shopping trip and self-proclaimed genius ideas that I should test out first thing the next morning. 
Usually after the excitement of last min internet shopping and then turned off my phone haha

 

That is always the way the best ideas come. A tiny notebook and a pencil within reach, is the solution to write down all those ideas, they can be re-transcribed in one's journal, in fountain pen , later on.

[Particular_Song3539]

@Anne-Sophie I actually did try to put a tiny notebook and pen alongside my pillow. But me having extremely bad eyesight, plus in the semi-dark environment,  imagine what kind of doodles I would have to try and decode the next morning haha.

[Misfit]

I relate to the bad eyesight. My eyeglasses do not have the right prescription. So if I want to see something close, I lift them up or remove them. 
 

I tried having a bedside notebook, but it didn’t work for me either.  

[Misfit]

With the Kyoto TN ordered, I think I’ll take a look at the pencil boards and clear folders I have.  The colors seem like they would divide up nicely among the brown, olive and blue TNs. From memory there is a blue clear folder and I think a green one. I ordered a Moterm blue canvas pocket that I thought would go in the brown TN, but could go in the  blue Kyoto TN instead.  Looks like a fun project is ahead!

 

There is also a Pan Am grid paper insert I got before owning a regular size TN. It could go in the blue Kyoto TN. I’ve emailed Levenger asking them to bring back their Kyoto True Writer fountain pen. 

[Misfit]

Hurray, my Kyoto TN has shipped! I look forward to seeing it. 

[Anne-Sophie]

21 hours ago, Misfit said:

Hurray, my Kyoto TN has shipped! I look forward to seeing it. 

 

Please share pictures when you receive it!

[Misfit]

I will share pictures. 

[Misfit]

Drats, I missed the delivery of the TN Kyoto. There was a card in the mailbox that indicated it needs a signature. I will go to the Post Office tomorrow to get it.