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Disc[bound] Notebooks

24 min read 5097 words KemoNine

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Preface

I’ve known about the discbound (here forward, just ‘disc’) notebook system and its community for many years but never looked at it closely. Not because it didn’t seem compelling, more because I had leaned into Traveler’s Notebooks as my main notebooks on the go and they worked for me. I also leaned into Field Notes as my pocket notebook and clipboards with Tomoe River paper for use at my desk.

When my health fell apart completely I dropped writing completely but kept my A5 clipboard with Tomoe River paper and my Field Notes pocket setup in place as I was using them haphazardly despite the difficulty of writing due to my health issues. When I discovered how to turn my phone into a Palm Pilot PDA my Field Notes use stopped. When I stopped writing my blog drafts by hand my clipboard use effectively stopped.

Important

I stopped using paper.

Rediscovering Paper

I’ve been very lucky and fortunate over the last few years. I was welcomed into a small support group, found doctors who actually listened to me instead of gaslighting and have gained just enough stability day to day to reintroduce paper into my life. I still have very bad days that prevent the use of paper so I still live in the digital world of writing heavily but it’s no longer an exclusive use.

I’ve started taking notes during telehealth appointments on paper, started taking notes during meetings on paper and even started drafting blog posts on paper again (like this one). This is all fairly recent and it’s been amazingly helpful. I do far better with paper than digital on the whole (see the Writing tag on this blog for more detail) and I’m glad to have paper back as a general option.

I do have to be careful though: when I flare, paper isn’t an option. Thankfully my primary uses of paper ultimately get typed or converted to digital for archival and search reasons. I can bounce between the two pretty well without getting too frustrated. It’s unlikely I’ll go back to pure paper but I can at least lean into it heavily again.

Struggles

As I was rediscovering paper my partner started floundering. Badly. I could see the overwhelm behind their eyes growing. I also noticed an ever-growing stash of cheap notebooks. A desk calendar even made an appearance and my partner does not work from a desk day to day.

I was both confused and concerned. I knew my partner was a ‘paper person’ and they don’t succumb to overwhelm easily. Something was going on. So I asked and, after some discussion, was blown away.

My partner was struggling to ‘section’ their spiral notebooks because it’s impossible to predict how many pages might be needed and flipping between ‘chunks’ was ruining their ability to read and focus. Having multiple notebooks as a kind of hack to work around this left them either carrying many notebooks around or left with gaps due to leaving a notebook behind.

My partner was struggling to separate the wheat from the chaff. Spiral notebooks like they use are not refillable and, after a certain point, removing sheets will make it thin enough to be hard to use. Removing chaff made the notebooks less usable.

My partner was struggling to manage their calendar. They like a desk-sized monthly calendar for the grid but the total size is a huge problem. They wanted to try a 2-page weekly spread but none gave useful treatment to Saturday and Sunday which are as busy as, if not busier than, the rest of the week. Same for Friday.

My partner was struggling to maintain any form of archive because they never tore sheets out of their spiral notebooks so they had an even bigger wheat / chaff problem than they had with their main notebook.

My partner was struggling with their use of multiple notebooks because they didn’t (don’t) spend the day with all their notebooks ‘at hand’ and didn’t (don’t) have the energy or time (spoons / matches) to transcribe between the daily-carry and non-daily-carry notebooks to ensure information is in a ‘correct’ or ‘usable’ location.

Solved Problems

All of these are solved problems if you use a binder or multi-insert system with refills that have tear-out pages.

I’m well aware of this. Readers of my posts tagged writing know I can pontificate with the masters on this topic and pens and pencils and paper.

Another thing my partner brought up: their pen. It turns out they’ve been paying a local restaurant for the branded pens they buy as it’s their favorite pen. A disposable, plastic pen…

What’s telling is I suffered all of these problems myself and, in the case of sections, I never fully solved the problem. I punted and used multiple refills. I’m also at a point in my health journey where I’m trying to bring back paper into my life. I also want to help my partner when they are so overwhelmed they feel suffocated and strung out.

I can’t help run a cat rescue (my partner runs one) but I can help solve their paper notebook problem. I also get an excuse to use paper a bit to help the reintroduction process I’m working through.

As I said: these are solved problems. However, we (my partner and I) are ‘weird thinkers’ and really do need the ability to shuffle pages around and to be able to arbitrarily size and adjust sections. I solved this at uni: 3-ring binders. One I put info into and then later I teased out into other binders. I kept all info I needed in a 3/4-inch one with some blank paper and just moved things around freely as needed. The trouble is I’m not in environments where a 3-ring binder can be used. I need to be able to fold the notebook over so it takes up one sheet of paper’s worth of space or a clipboard’s space footprint. Clipboards can be skipped as they are not ‘bag-friendly’ and I’ve ruled out 3-ring binders based on requirements. I’m not aware of other options aside from disc notebooks that could meet our requirements.

Discs

With discs I solve these problems fully. I can order pages however I want, move them around, arbitrarily size sections, and fold the notebook over on itself. The only ‘problem’ is you need a slightly softer touch when paging through the notebook but I find this is a nothing burger after a short adjustment period that’s not painfully annoying.

Calendaring

From here I ran into the monthly and weekly spread for my partner. I don’t use such things and had to get info from friends and dig around online. Not my favorite task but I learned as I went. As I anticipated: folk have big moods and opinions about this topic. In reality you need to find a spread that meets your individual needs. I ended up discussing this at length with my partner and, in the end, created custom spreads using Typst. I have A5 printer paper on hand and a laser printer so this was an easy choice to make for me.

For the monthly spread, I created a basic, unlabeled, 2-page spread. It has boxes for the days that are about the same size as the ones in the desk calendar my partner showed me as an example. It should provide about the same room for use and it should work well for ‘at a glance’ and ‘high-level’ needs.

For the weekly I created a 2-page spread and greatly deviated from norms that I saw. The left page I divided into quarters with Monday through Thursday. On the right I divided the page into thirds with Friday through Sunday. My partner’s weekends tend to be busier than weekdays so this should have more utility than common options. It’s also unlabeled for dates. It should work well for ’the detail’ needs without bogging my partner down in mild or full annoyances.

I find myself thinking I actually like these two spreads. If I was a paper calendar person I’d start using these without hesitation. I’m even slightly tempted to give them a try. However, what I need in a calendar doesn’t work with paper: I need the ability to share an up-to-date calendar with others, reminders and the ability to see it as an agenda, monthly or weekly spread. Digital is my best option and has been for decades.

My partner, on the other hand, was both interested and leery of what I created. They were interested because I could show I pulled together their needs and tossed their annoyances that plague commercial offerings. They were leery because it looked like the amount of space was ’less’ and due to my use of a dot grid. I solved the ’less’ concern by showing things side by side with the desk calendar but they were hesitant still and I expect this will change with actual use. The dot grid though…

It turns out my partner had some real shit teachers and was taught that they must write ‘inside the lines’ without exception or fail. They also got the look in their eyes of someone who was seriously punished and in an intense manner when I pressed about why the dot grid made them visibly anxious. I said I could remove it and they offered to try to undo past damage wrought by shitty teachers. We shall see what option they choose long term. Thankfully it’s easy to remove the dot grid from these printables.

As I was showing my partner these two calendar spreads I noted they were waffling between which they’d prefer. As if they had to pick one, and only one, option (seriously: fuck their teachers and their rigid, fucked form of thinking). I politely pointed out both options are valid and have different pros / cons and could be used together to better fit needs: monthly for ‘at a glance, how busy am I?’ and weekly for ’the specifics’. My partner stopped cold to consider this and ceded my point. I let it go to allow them space to process and try my suggestion. I hope they adopt both for now as it will be a help and allow them to find what works best for their actual daily-use needs.

Writing Instrument

One major item that deserves a bit of focus is my partner’s writing instrument. As someone with a big mood for such things I’m not in the business of saying a writing instrument is anything less than an intensely personal choice and it’s not something to comment on. You do you so long as it’s not harming you. However… whenever I see ‘disposable plastic’ I get my grump on and there is no stopping me. I’ll go out of my way to find an alternative, any alternative, that reduces the plastic waste problem.

For my partner’s pen I was able to track down the exact promo pen the local restaurant has been buying to ensure my partner has a good, long-term fallback option. I pulled the specs of the pen and insert too. It’s a ‘medium’ ballpoint tip and the usual style ballpoint ink. The main difference is the body. It has an atypical grip (a bulge) section that my partner likes. I found this surprising at first, then I saw my partner’s grip. Their grip is a modified ‘fist style’ grip that encourages higher grip and writing pressures. I found this mildly surprising given how badly they were abused about ‘staying between the lines’.

My partner also uses multiple writing styles. This came as a surprise to me given how they grip their pen. They flip-flop between cursive and printing while also varying their speed. Not many flip-flop between printing and cursive or vary speed much. I do but it’s clear I’m a hardcore nerd when it comes to the world of writing. My partner is equally hardcore and didn’t know it. Their handwriting shifts with mood, environmental factors, and more. It’s like looking in a mirror of sorts.

They also care about feel. Greatly. They surprised themself and me on this count. I’m glad I had them try a few things before I looked into reducing the plastic waste problem wrought by the disposable pen they prefer. I had them try a few styles of pen I have here and at least one yielded a visual response of ‘absolutely not!!!’. Interestingly, it was the pen feel, not paper, that they clued in on. They like a generally smooth feel of the ink and ball, no matter the paper in use and they really only like ballpoint tips.

After an annoying amount of research I found that the Zebra F-301 and Pelikan 337 refills in medium (1.0mm) would likely work and I found pens that use each. My partner instantly noped out of the Pelikan and had no real complaints about the Zebra. They also seem to have put the Zebra into their regular rotation of pens and it’s not collecting dust in a corner.

Another aspect of the pen is the fact you can shove a pen into the spirals of a spiral-bound notebook. This is an incredibly important feature for folk who want an easy way to carry a writing instrument with their notebook. Notebook spirals are self-contained, not large and simple holders. Typical disc notebooks lack this feature and that’s A Problem for my partner. Thankfully you can buy 1-inch discs that have holes cut in the center for holding a pen. These work for a wide variety of pens, including the one my partner uses. The only problem here is you’re forced to use a 1-inch disc which many may not want. Luckily for me, my partner uses 1-inch spiral notebooks and I planned to use 1-inch discs for their notebook build. This won’t work for me but I’ve never kept a pen in a notebook or used spiral notebooks so I’m safe.

I’d also note that clip-on and stick-on pen loops were investigated but the overhang made bag storage problematic, the extra thickness made “fold over” problematic and they looked ‘off’ to my partner. They are perfectly reasonable choices, just not for my partner.

Dividers

Overhangs making bag storage problematic also complicated section divider selection. Few sell dividers that don’t overhang, and I had to get creative. I ended up using heavy card stock in the same paper size as the rest of the notebook for the dividers. They don’t overhang, and you end up landing on them (reliably) when thumbing or paging through the notebook. So long as they are heavier weight than the pages in the notebook. It’s also easy to move them around or replace them. This approach worked better than I could have imagined.

Paper

For paper I went with Sakae brand loose leaf that I punch myself. Sakae sells Tomoe River paper products (my favorite paper) and their Iroful line works well in disc notebooks. My only complaint is they only print one side of the page. My partner seems to agree and I’ll likely buy their blank paper and custom print to get around the ‘one side only’ problem when I need more.

Another thing I found out is my partner prefers a 7mm lined (ruled) paper. Ballpoint needs more than 5mm (my preference) and I tripped over this initially. It also adds to why my partner may want the dot grid removed from the calendar spreads I created. It’s not a problem, just a gotcha to mind when creating a notebook.

Covers

Covers ended up being more of a pain than I expected. The whole ‘fold over and write while standing’ requirement from my partner threw me off for a bit. The reason is you need a firm, non-flexible surface (like a clipboard) to write while standing. If you fill the discs with only paper you’ll end up with a floppy notebook and that’s not going to work well when writing while standing and it won’t have great durability when moved in and out of a bag regularly. Etsy and other stores have many cover options but none that really did what is needed for my partner: be a firm, rigid surface that isn’t weirdly textured or fake feeling. Turns out bookboard is one of the only options so long as you get it thin enough. Due to the way the discs work you need to use thinner materials. Bookboard does what I was looking for and has the same failure as paper: it can catch fire and it turns to a soggy mess when wet. Since it’s reasonably low cost you can just replace it if it goes bad. The downside is it’s usually glued layers. The batch I bought uses a water-soluble glue so I can easily clean it up if needed; I just use a wet rag to soak it up.

Bookboard allows you to use any ‘real cover’ you want too. It can be taped / glued to a cover, wrapped, left as just a floating piece behind a cover, etc. It’s incredibly adaptable and I strongly recommend it if you need a firm notebook that’s not floppy. I bought some laminated covers from Etsy to go with the bookboard and they work well as a combo.

Punches

Punches were the biggest investment for me. I got a 3-sheet page-capacity punch (more like 5+ due to the paper weights I use) that can be adjusted for a variety of sheet sizes as well as a Crop-A-Dile. I use the page punch quite a bit and bulk punch my paper. I’ve considered a higher sheet capacity but I don’t really have a need now that I’ve built a small stock pile of punched sheets. The Crop-A-Dile was far more important. It’s the only tool I found that can punch bookboard cleanly. It works well so long as you make a template to align the first hole. I put a sheet of letter-sized paper in my punch, set it to A5 and use the resulting frankenpage as my template. The disc hole spacing is consistent and my punch goes up to A4 so I could easily create a template for the Crop-A-Dile.

Discs

Discs are the key piece of these notebooks and have a few gotchas I did not pick up on until I got my hands on them. They come in plastic or metal, sheets hook to them and the diameter of the disc dictates capacity. Pretty obvious stuff. On the other hand… the sheet punch depth dictates the smallest disc size you can use. You need to be able to put two sheets side by side with a 1mm (or more) gap in the discs to allow fold over. Paper weight dictates how easy a page can be removed from a notebook. Not having a cover like bookboard means the leading and trailing pages in a notebook can be pulled out when you put the notebook in a bag or pull it out due to ‘catching’ on any bag material. Turning the page using any ‘diagonal motion’ can cause the pages to be removed instead of turned (my partner is still adjusting to this fact). Overfilling can cause pages to be more easily pulled out, and pages may pop out when paging through since they have little room to move. Keep all of these things in mind as you build a notebook. They tend to bite.

Disc material is one thing I tend to ignore. As much as I dislike (hate) plastic, I have discs in plastic and don’t have the money for total swaps. Frustratingly, I’ve not seen any metal discs that can hold a pen like my partner needs. If I do find the necessary cash to switch my discs to metal, I will. So long as I can get the size(s) I need. That said, swapping to metal is just not an option (as of this writing) and the plastics used to make discs are durable enough for both my partner and I.

Archival

On the topic of metal discs: I will use them when I set up archive notebooks. Metal (aluminum) is a better choice for archive needs in my opinion and I plan to use it for archive notebook discs. I’ll also be using a 2- or 3-inch disc for archive notebooks. I’ll be taking the same general approach both my partner and I take for archival already: archive what’s needed and recycle the rest. We are reasonably discerning, so archival should only really need the disc purchase. I know paper, ink and the like matter and the paper we are using should work well enough and the ink my partner uses should be okay-ish.

The Notebooks

My Partner’s Notebook

In the end, my partner is using the following as their main disc notebook. Once they switch over completely, I would not be surprised if they want to build more. I’m also anticipating their ask to set up an archival notebook once they start producing archivable material.

  • A5 page size
  • 1" discs that can hold a pen
  • Matte finish, laminated paper front and back covers
  • Bookboard immediately behind both covers
  • A mini ‘quick start’ section I wrote
  • A section for monthly 2-day spreads
  • A section for weekly 2-day spreads
  • A section of loose paper
  • Additional section dividers at the back so they can adjust sections over time

My Personal Notebook

For myself…

  • A5 page size
  • 1/2" discs
  • Construction paper front cover
  • Bookboard back cover
  • A section of blank Tomoe River paper
  • A section of blank Sakae Iroful paper
  • Additional section dividers at the back in case I have a need

A Note

Because of the disc notebook setup’s flexibility, my partner and I were able to shed spiral-bound notebooks and clipboards in favor of notebooks that do more of what we need with far less frustration or annoyance.

Fridge Notebook

For bonus points, I created a fridge notebook for writing down the grocery list. I used the following components:

  • A6 paper size
  • 1/4" discs
  • Dot grid Sakae Iroful paper
  • Matte finish, laminated paper front cover
  • Bookboard back cover
  • Bookboard standoff taped to the back cover to make the back slightly deeper than the discs
  • Sheet magnet stuck to the standoff
  • Pen loop stuck in the bookboard back cover
  • Zebra F-301 pen with fine ballpoint insert

It does not fold over on itself; it simply ‘flips up’. The discs are far too shallow to allow fold over and the pen loop is mounted at the top so it’s also in the way of fold over. This is intentional: we remove the sheets regularly and put them in our main notebooks or transcribe them when we go grocery shopping.

A Final Thought

As you can tell, this is a very flexible system and is quite adaptable while remaining useful. Below is a list of everything I found while building our notebooks. I’ve included links and product-specific thoughts so you have everything you need.

Products

Pre-made notebooks

  • Generic A5 Discbound Notebook
    • https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DKDRLHBT
    • Meh for quality
    • Feels cheap-ish but seems to be a good proxy for the nicer / more expensive kit
    • Was overfilled so pages popped out more easily than preferred
    • Discs are kinda shit, which seems to make the pages prone to popping out, but less so if you reduce the number of pages in the binder
    • Pen loop stickers won’t adhere to the cover due to the texture it has
    • Slightly smaller in width than true A5 paper

Discs

Punches

  • Crop-A-Dile Punch
    • https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SW9CNK9
    • Works
    • The main complaint I have matches what others put forth: the first hole is a PITA to align; once that first hole is done, everything else gets significantly easier
  • 11-hole discbound punch (multi-page size ; holds 3 - 5 sheets depending on gsm)
    • https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G5NFHP3N
    • Fine, does the job
    • Really does have a small capacity
    • Be mindful of how far in sheets are pushed and check before punching
    • A6 doesn’t seem centered properly for top punching. Off by a few mm by eye

Covers

  • Plastic (thin) with patterns / images / etc
  • Book Board (black / brown / gray ; 80pt ; 2mm)
    • https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DSFS59JN
    • A PITA to cut (as expected based on online discussions)
    • Can be punched with a Crop-A-Dile
    • Make a template if you’re punching with a Crop-A-Dile
    • Do not try to punch with ‘paper punchers’: it’s too thick
  • Creaser tool (edge compression / help attaching to discs)
    • https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085XDSB3Y
    • Is helpful for pressing down bookboard after it’s inserted into discs
    • Useful tool to add if very serious about using bookboard or totally custom notebook setups that use any kind of ’thick’ material
  • Sandpaper (bookboard edge finishing)

Paper

  • Generic A5 100gsm 7mm ruled paper (punched)
  • Sakae Iroful A5 75gsm 7mm ruled paper (unpunched)
    • https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXWXY988
    • Standard 7mm ruled paper
    • No ‘fancy header’ which can be a problem for some
    • The very top and bottom lines seem to be half as tall, so there is a minor gutter at the top / bottom
    • Printed on only one side of the sheet
  • Sakae Iroful A5 75gsm 5mm dotted paper (unpunched)
  • Sakae Iroful A5 75gsm blank paper (unpunched)
  • Sakae Tomoe River A5 52gsm 5mm dotted paper (unpunched)
  • Generic A5 180gsm colored paper (variety pack)
  • Colored Paper

Pens

Accessories

Pictures

Notebooks

A cat image, matte finished, laminated cover

A matte finish laminated cover

An empty notebook showing rings that can hold a pen

The pen holder rings

A full notebook

A full notebook

An open notebook

An open notebook

Printables

A notebook open to the monthly 2 day spread printable

The monthly 2 day spread printable

A notebook open to the weekly 2 day spread printable

The weekly 2 day spread printable

A notebook open to the lined paper printable

The lined paper printable

Parts

A variety of discs showing relative sizes

An assortment of discs

3 covers: two A5 and one A6 with matte finish

An assortment of covers

Tools

The Crop-A-Dile locked and closed

The Crop-A-Dile

The Crop-A-Dile unlocked and open

The Crop-A-Dile

A creaser tool

A creaser tool

Printables

The content of this section was produced using AI assistance. I used DeepSeek-V4 Flash (0731) and DeepSeek-V4 Pro (0813) for this work. I don’t have the spoons or desire to fiddle fuck about with formatting a bunch of minutiae and static page content. I can do it. I’ve done it many times over the years. I’m tired and I offloaded this work. I believe the results are sufficient and not complete crap.

Feel free to avoid these, do your own thing, etc. I’m simply trying to be honest about how these came to be.

If you’d like more information on AI as it relates to this site, see the AI policy page. TLDR: all content unless otherwise stated is human.

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