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The scarce resource is the money you need to buy the nice ones, not the notebooks themselves. I don't think people are afraid of wasting good paper, they're af

The scarce resource is the money you need to buy the nice ones, not the notebooks themselves. I don't think people are afraid of wasting good paper, they're afraid of wasting paper that they paid a lot for.

bayindirh 4y ago
This doesn't work like that in fountain pen users' universe. The good notebooks change the behavior of the pen and the ink a lot, and you want to write things you want to save on these notebooks. When written, and finished, a notebook written with your favorite inks and fountain pens become an art piece for yourself, and you want to write something you want to return to. If it was about money, I'd be using a nice rollerball with a nice refill and run of the mill or recycled paper. It's akin to liking vinyls, you want it for the experience, and spend time with it. I have the same experience with the author. I use my fancy notebooks for diaries and software projects (like lab notebooks). Daily notes go to cheap notebooks with decent papers, and written with the best behaving, easily replaceable inks with easily replaceable pens. When these notebooks end, they're scanned, converted to PDFs, and then shredded for recycling.
- egypturnash 4y ago
  Maybe in your universe, not in mine. I use nice notebooks and nice fountain pens for the most banal shit. I can afford to go through a few $30 journals per year even if they're filled up with nothing but my daily to-do lists. Whatever works though.
  - bayindirh 4y ago
    I don't know what $30 gets there, but I don't mind to use a Rhodia block or notebook for most banal things. Also, while they don't leave the desk much, most of my nicest fountain pens are also in rotation. However, my hand-bound leather notebooks are reserved for design and journal work only, and written with archival inks most of the time.
- iLoveOncall 4y ago
  My father actually collects fountain pen, he got published many times in fountain pen related magazines and he is no doubt in the top 100 collectors in the world, and top 1-5 for specific brands. He never has expressed anything about the quality of paper. Actually, he takes his notes on whatever is available, which often means the back of an envelope lying around and otherwise printer paper. I have never seen him use a notebook actually, let alone an expensive one.
  - dunefox 4y ago
    Note taking isn't writing.
  - bayindirh 4y ago
    You're very lucky. I wish I had a chance to chat with your father. I also collect fountain pens, but not with that laser focus. He probably has a favorite ink to use with his fountain pens, since inks change both a pen's behavior and their interaction changes from paper to paper. There's a list of popular, run of the mill inks which work very well with lower quality paper. I also use these inks with my daily driver pens and notebooks, since they're easy to maintain, looks nice, and works with almost any notebook out there. However I had some notebooks which were not writable unless you use a gel, ballpoint or some rollerballs. Fountain pen ink just stayed as little droplets and never dried on them.
fwlr 4y ago
Of course… but I consciously knew that fact - that nice notebooks are practically infinite and it’s just the money to obtain them that’s scarce - for many years while still having a hangup. Knowing that fact never helped me, it wasn’t until circumstances conspired to prove it to my subconscious for the specific case of nice notebooks that I actually began to act like I believed it. Up until that point, writing in nice notebooks always required a conscious effort to overcome the subconscious fear that nice notebooks themselves were scarce. I think our brains just aren’t very careful or rigorous about what they attach that “scarcity” label to, they will happily attach that label to the product itself instead of the money you paid for it. Consciously presenting our subconscious with disconfirming observations can be an effective tool to update our subconscious labeling.
qup 4y ago
I am one of the people who can't use nice notebooks (or nice lumber) and always saves the best for last. It has nothing to do with what I paid, everything to do with how I perceive the quality of the consumable material. I can, and do, use my best quality tools without any qualms. It's using up "precious" (quality) materials. (It's silly, does not serve me well, and I'm working on it)

bayindirh 4y ago

This doesn't work like that in fountain pen users' universe. The good notebooks change the behavior of the pen and the ink a lot, and you want to write things you want to save on these notebooks. When written, and finished, a notebook written with your favorite inks and fountain pens become an art piece for yourself, and you want to write something you want to return to. If it was about money, I'd be using a nice rollerball with a nice refill and run of the mill or recycled paper. It's akin to liking vinyls, you want it for the experience, and spend time with it. I have the same experience with the author. I use my fancy notebooks for diaries and software projects (like lab notebooks). Daily notes go to cheap notebooks with decent papers, and written with the best behaving, easily replaceable inks with easily replaceable pens. When these notebooks end, they're scanned, converted to PDFs, and then shredded for recycling.

egypturnash 4y ago
Maybe in your universe, not in mine. I use nice notebooks and nice fountain pens for the most banal shit. I can afford to go through a few $30 journals per year even if they're filled up with nothing but my daily to-do lists. Whatever works though.
- bayindirh 4y ago
  I don't know what $30 gets there, but I don't mind to use a Rhodia block or notebook for most banal things. Also, while they don't leave the desk much, most of my nicest fountain pens are also in rotation. However, my hand-bound leather notebooks are reserved for design and journal work only, and written with archival inks most of the time.
iLoveOncall 4y ago
My father actually collects fountain pen, he got published many times in fountain pen related magazines and he is no doubt in the top 100 collectors in the world, and top 1-5 for specific brands. He never has expressed anything about the quality of paper. Actually, he takes his notes on whatever is available, which often means the back of an envelope lying around and otherwise printer paper. I have never seen him use a notebook actually, let alone an expensive one.
- dunefox 4y ago
  Note taking isn't writing.
- bayindirh 4y ago
  You're very lucky. I wish I had a chance to chat with your father. I also collect fountain pens, but not with that laser focus. He probably has a favorite ink to use with his fountain pens, since inks change both a pen's behavior and their interaction changes from paper to paper. There's a list of popular, run of the mill inks which work very well with lower quality paper. I also use these inks with my daily driver pens and notebooks, since they're easy to maintain, looks nice, and works with almost any notebook out there. However I had some notebooks which were not writable unless you use a gel, ballpoint or some rollerballs. Fountain pen ink just stayed as little droplets and never dried on them.

fwlr 4y ago

Of course… but I consciously knew that fact - that nice notebooks are practically infinite and it’s just the money to obtain them that’s scarce - for many years while still having a hangup. Knowing that fact never helped me, it wasn’t until circumstances conspired to prove it to my subconscious for the specific case of nice notebooks that I actually began to act like I believed it. Up until that point, writing in nice notebooks always required a conscious effort to overcome the subconscious fear that nice notebooks themselves were scarce. I think our brains just aren’t very careful or rigorous about what they attach that “scarcity” label to, they will happily attach that label to the product itself instead of the money you paid for it. Consciously presenting our subconscious with disconfirming observations can be an effective tool to update our subconscious labeling.

qup 4y ago

I am one of the people who can't use nice notebooks (or nice lumber) and always saves the best for last. It has nothing to do with what I paid, everything to do with how I perceive the quality of the consumable material. I can, and do, use my best quality tools without any qualms. It's using up "precious" (quality) materials. (It's silly, does not serve me well, and I'm working on it)