Fountain Pens

I've gotten good mileage out of Rhodia and Claire Fontaine, and my sibling swears by Tomoe River. Do not try Moleskine, I have gotten more feathering on those notebooks than on any paper I have ever used. I think they're designed for pencils, or something.

Fair disclosure, though, I usually just use cheap composition books, and find a pen/ink combo that looks good on whatever I happen to be using. I only use nice paper if I particularly need it for a given pen or ink, or if I am going to show someone else what I've written.

Midori MD pads with one of their covers work well and aren't too expensive. Available in A5 and A6 if I recall. Otherwise as already mentioned I like the 90gsm Rhodia or Clairefontaine notebooks. The 80gsm Rhodia paper (found in a lot of their pads) always feels like the backside of the paper has less coating on it and not as enjoyable.

I've really enjoyed my TūL notebooks. They don't seem very common in the FP forums, but they're easy to get a hold of in stores (in the US), come in many sizes, are expandable, and the paper quality works very well with all of my inks this far (it is not particularly quick to dry, but also not likely to feather).

Hobonichi Techo is always good, but more oriented towards keeping a diary and a little expensive (though you get what you pay for).

I use a Hobonichi techo planner and grid notebooks. I also use Midori grid notebooks. No feathering on both, not too glossy so my nib doesn't "skate" on top. I like Rhodia pads (some of the notebooks feather). Clairfontaine is lovely smooth paper but my pens usually "skate" on it and I can't control my handwriting on it, but YMMV.

My favorite notebook is the JetPens Kanso Noto. They have 160 sheets (320 pages) of Tomoe River paper with a 5mm dot grid. Tomoe River paper is a premium fountain pen friendly paper that should solve your feathering problems.

https://www.jetpens.com/JetPens-Tomoe-River-52-gsm-Kanso-Noto-Notebook-A5-Dot-Grid-Black/pd/29704

JetPens offers free shipping in the US for order of $35 or more. I don't know what options are available outside of the US.

The notebook is currently out of stock. I expect more to be back soon. Tomoe River paper was sold from one paper company to another. I think JetPens just cleared out their stock with paper from the original company and I anticipate they'll bring the notebook back soon with paper from the new company (Sanzen). In the past, the notebooks sold for $19.50, which is a great price for a premium paper notebook (seriously, I think only the Nanami Seven Seas notebooks have a better price per page for premium paper) . However, to keep the price low, the notebook doesn't have bells and whistles like an elastic closure or page marker ribbons.

I tend to use Leuchtturm1917 notebooks - they are very similar to Moleskine in form factor if you're used to those, but come in a wide variety of sizes and dot grid / plain / ruled / etc. types. The paper is very fountain pen friendly - won't show off sheen etc. as much as Tomoe River or something like that, but still great. Edit: sorry for the dupes! Liftoff had a moment of madness.

Midori is lovely, especially for fancy inks - shimmer and sheen are more visible in my MD notebook than on Rhodia and Lechtturm papers that I’ve also tried. My favourite MD notebook is A5 grid additionally divided into 4 squares, works great for journalling and for the Goldlist method. No idea how this particular MD notebook is called, I buy it from Stilo e Stile.

@kalanggam As others have said, the Hobonichi's are great with fountain pens, or if it's more of a pure journal you're after the Luechtturm1917 Bullet Journal performs excellently.

I highly recommend the Nanami Seven Seas. Tomoe River paper allows these notebooks to have a ton of pages without being thick. They are thread bound so the spine is durable and it can lay flat/bend back on itself. You can get them in 7mm lines, 5mm grid, or 5mm dot grid.

I highly recommend the Nanami Seven Seas. Tomoe River paper allows these notebooks to have a ton of pages without being thick. They are thread bound so the spine is durable and it can lay flat/bend back on itself. You can get them in 7mm lines, 5mm grid, or 5mm dot grid.

While these are a touch harder to buy long term since both are discontinued, Tomoe River 62gsm and Cosmo Air Light are my two favourites. If you are in a place where your tax-free limit isn't painfully low so the DHL customs clearance fee doesn't slap you across the face, Danika some number in Etsy should still have stock on some huge sized (like 300 and 500+ options) notebooks. Taroko shop still has some Tomoe River 68gsm and CAL on Etsy. I have personally bought from them about 5 years ago. It was a great experience and product. Odyssey Notebook should still have some stock left too. Jet Pens has some blank CAL notebooks left from Yamamoto. They come with lined and grid guide sheets to put underneath if that's your jam.

In terms of stuff still available, I will echo the recommendation for Tomoe River 52gsm (Jet Pens Kanso among many others), Clairefontaine, and Midori MD are all excellent picks. If you're looking comparatively cheap at the cost of performance, I find Kokuyo Campus hits the spot for me.

I have been playing around with Perpernap notebooks from I think Kokuyo? They come in three different textures depends how much friction you like. I have been pleased with the two smoother ones, but I can see the one with the most friction having some fans, especially people who also like to use pencil.

I highly recommend the Nanami Seven Seas. Tomoe River paper allows these notebooks to have a ton of pages without being thick. They are thread bound so the spine is durable and it can lay flat/bend back on itself. You can get them in 7mm lines, 5mm grid, or 5mm dot grid.

I originally bought into the hype for Moleskine, but their paper seemed very low quality when I tried writing on it in person at the Moleskine shop in NYC.

Muji notebooks came very highly recommended for their price to performance ratio, and they're the real deal. I much prefer spiral bound notebooks that lay flat like this one, but they also offer a different kind of paper I haven't tried yet.