Jump to content

Student & Fp Friendly Paper


gattmiffin

Recommended Posts

Hey there guys,

As the title implies I am currently a college student and I am looking for a notebook or any other paper that is both friendly to fountain pens, and friendly to the plight of the poor college student. I know that there is no such thing as a super amazing, greatest ever paper that costs nothing at all, but I feel like there has to be a solid price/ performance paper out there. Basically if any of you have found any decent/ good enough paper that comes in at a reasonable price point, I would love to hear about it from you.

 

-Matt

Edited by gattmiffin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 50
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • KBeezie

    8

  • ac12

    5

  • gattmiffin

    5

  • David_W

    4

Miquelrius is pretty awesome (a 6 subject notebook lasted me nearly a year but the paper is coated, so a bit slow drying), I've heard good things about Black 'N Red but haven't tried it personally, Mead 5 Star is tolerable if you can stand some feathering and bleeding and use fine nibs, and I know that many people get a lot of mileage out of binders and refillable notebooks (disc bound systems, Mead Flex that uses regular 3 hole punched paper) and reams of nice printer paper, 28lb or 32lb is about the best paper you can get and it's not much money for quite a bit of paper. For super cheap options, sometimes paper made in Brazil (filler paper, composition books) is worth a shot but if feathering or showthrough bothers you even a little bit I'd suggest getting the slightly nicer notebooks because the ease of use is worth it, and a binder, punch and printer paper is probably the best way to get your desired paper quality and price.

 

Also, there's a bazillion threads on this in this subforum, with many more recommendations out there, try checking through the threads and seeing what else you find.

Edited by WirsPlm
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to name a couple that I've come across that's been rather friendly even with my wetter nibs, and rather cheap too:

 

CPP University Ruled Notebooks (80 sheets, spiral, college ruled, 7.75" x 5", made in Canada)

- About $1.50

- Paper does vary a little in color from one to the next, some yellow, some whiter, some smooth some softer, but all three I've used has been pretty well behaved with all my pens.

- 2 out of the 3 I got were probably the best "cheap" paper I've ever written on (the third one, bleached the whitest was also the slickest on the surface of the page and didn't write quite as well).

 

Mead 5-Star Paper (size/etc varies, I mainly use those 5-subject spiral ones)

- Relatively cheap

- Also pretty well behaved, bleeds a tiny bit more than the CPP above, but bareble

- Next to no feathering at all with German Fine or smaller (even with the 1.5mm stub nib and waterman intense black or diamine coral, it's well behaved)

 

Arc Paper (as in those Arc Notebook Systems made by Staples)

- Not that cheap (bout $4.50 for a refill of 50 sheets, but if you can get the hole puncher on ebay cheap can fit anything in it)

- Next to no bleeding on fine nibs, very little bleeding on medium or wet nib (not enough to make note taking impratical)

- No feathering that my eyes can see

 

Mead Neatbook (I use the quad ruled grid one that has 5 squares per inch on one side and 4 squares per inch on the other)

- Rather inexpensive, bout 1.99 for a 80 sheet perforated binder with the pages already hole punched

- bleed is somewhat noticeable with the very wet medium/broad nib, but not too bad

- feathering is minimal

 

The notebooks I don't care for especially for the price:

 

Moleskine (any size)

- Not that cheap (ran me bout 13$ just for a 3 pack of Caheir notebooks, in the 'large' [5'x7'] size)

- Not very FP or rollerball friendly

- Easily bleeds a lot of my medium or wet nibs

- Not only does it feather, it does so in a weird manner, like little spikes shooting off when it catches ink

- mainly good for regular ballpoint or pencil

 

Cambridge Limited (by Mead)

- Not that cheap ($9 for a spiral bound letter size journal at 80 sheets of 20lb paper)

- The very "soft" paper feathers like crazy, even on extra fine nibs

- Bleeds incredibly easy

 

 

 

As a note if you hit up the dollar store or walmart, any paper you can find that says "Made in Brazil" are likely to be well behaved with fountain pens, where as ones made in Vietnam are not. Also as a rule of thumb, most 100% Recycled paper tends not to be friendly as they can be inconsistent from paper to paper. The ones made in the USA or Canada with "Regulated Forestry" advertisements seem to do decent most of the time, as it's not a mix of various recycled paper, so a bit more consistent.

Edited by KBeezie
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You might also want to try made-in-India or Brazil composition books, the marbled cover ones. Inexpensive and tons of paper. You do want to make sure you get the ones made in India or Brazil, not China or Vietnam or the USA, since those look almost exactly alike but the paper is awful. Especially the Bazic notebooks (from China). Haven't found one yet that could take fountain pen ink without bleeding through to the next page and feathering, too.

I've also found packages of Indian-made filler paper, in containing 5 packs of 200 sheets each, that seemed to have good quality, although I must say that if given the chance to absorb ambient moisture, the quality becomes less... I had one pack that initially was wonderful but now, after six months or so, shows both feathering and bleeding... But, we have high relative humidity here, year round, so it is not very surprising.

a fountain pen is physics in action... Proud member of the SuperPinks

fpn_1425200643__fpn_1425160066__super_pi

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, thank you guys for the great suggestions! As of now I have tried different Mead 5-Star notebooks and they all feather pretty terribly with anything besides Waterman Serenity (Florida) Blue. I have found 2 different types of notebooks that work pretty well but one of them has absolutely no branding on it at all and I have no idea where they come from (besides partially used from my moms 5th grade classroom...). I also found a Mead (non 5-Star) notebook, but it seems to be only available at the start of the school year and it came with a bunch of coupons inside of the cover. But thanks again for the great suggestions and it is very nice to have a great place to start looking now!

 

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the fancy writing paper sections of Staples (or its ilk) they sell notebook paper/foolscap that is 24 pounds, much better than the 20 pounds they let go 300-500 pages for almost nothing.

 

It comes in 100 or 200 sheets and is a bit more expensive, bet well worth it if it fits your need.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Try Black and red it's affordable, high quality and very fountain pen friendly. The price of it is fair for what you are getting.

 

I have been using them through school and University and with all honesty I never needed to try a different paper as I found the perfect one.

Edited by top pen
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For CHEAP but decent paper.

Go to STAPLES and get the 1-subject spiral bound notebooks that are made in BRAZIL.

The Staples filler paper made in BRAZIL is also good.

During the back to school sale in July/Aug, it sells for 2 for $1.

Try one now, then you know what to expect.

 

Next step up is the Black and Red notebooks.

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can also consider HP Laser Jet paper 24lb. 32lb is wonderful but expensive, thick and heavy for carrying around. The 24lb should not bleed with most FP/ink use. Can punch holes if you want. No lines on it and to keep the price down I would not run through the printer to get any.

 

I'm quite fond of the Walmart Norcom --BRAZIL 8x11-ish notebooks. Usually less than $1. Come July/August they bring them in by the truck load and go on sale. If you know you like buy couple years worth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks again to all of you who have posted! I was just wondering what the reason is that paper from Brazil seems to be recommended by so many people? I have no experience with Brazilian paper but it sounds like a pretty great deal to me!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Thanks again to all of you who have posted! I was just wondering what the reason is that paper from Brazil seems to be recommended by so many people? I have no experience with Brazilian paper but it sounds like a pretty great deal to me!

 

I don't know, but the Brazil paper seems to be the most consistent and FP friendly of the cheap/inexpensive papers.

What I look for is a SMOOTH surface, for use with my Fine nib pens. Surface texture gets transmitted up the pen into my hand as scratchy irritating feel.

After a while, you fingers will be able to feel the paper and tell you if the paper is friendly to a Fine nib pen, and to a degree about the feathering/blotting of the paper.

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, thank you guys for the great suggestions! As of now I have tried different Mead 5-Star notebooks and they all feather pretty terribly with anything besides Waterman Serenity (Florida) Blue. I have found 2 different types of notebooks that work pretty well but one of them has absolutely no branding on it at all and I have no idea where they come from (besides partially used from my moms 5th grade classroom...). I also found a Mead (non 5-Star) notebook, but it seems to be only available at the start of the school year and it came with a bunch of coupons inside of the cover. But thanks again for the great suggestions and it is very nice to have a great place to start looking now!

 

Thanks!

 

What pens and nibs are you using for all of them to feather pretty badly? Sounds like a few very wet nibs if they're anything like my Mead 5-star notebooks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just did a quick sample on one of my mead 5-star notebooks using every inked pen I had on me. Also did a heavy scribble down the side to check for feather and bleed-thru (and attempted to flex my only flex-ish nib, which tends to give much more ink than the others)

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/5star_apr16_2014_front.jpg

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/5star_apr16_2014_back.jpg

 

My Idea of 'feather pretty heavy', is something like this Mead Cambridge Limited notebook that's expensive with a 'soft' surface paper.

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/reviews/paper/cambridge_front.jpg

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/reviews/paper/cambridge_back.jpg

Edited by KBeezie
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And for comparison, front and back off a sheet of the CPP University Notebook. (The worse of the 3 with the brightest white pages which is slick on the surface as such doesn't write as well as the other two).

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/cpp_apr16_2014_front.jpg

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/cpp_apr16_2014_back.jpg

 

For clarification, when I say worse of the 3, I mean out of the 3 CPP notebooks I have. The one with the brightest white pages and slickest surface seems to be worse than the other two which are a little softer on the surface and not bleached as much.

Edited by KBeezie
Link to comment
Share on other sites

+1 to Brazil paper.

You can find the composition notebooks for a fairly inexpensive price at staples or walmart. Staples also sells a filler paper made in Brazil. It's not bad. It will feather with tough inks from wet pens, but you can't beat the price.

 

My favorite inexpensive paper right now is the sustainable earth copy paper from staples. I think you can only get it online. It will stand up to basically any ink/pen combination without bleedthrough or feathering. At $55 a case it's a little bit to put down up front, but in the end it comes out to about $0.01 per sheet.

 

http://www.staples.com/Sustainable-Earth-by-Staples-Copy-Paper-8-1-2-inch-x-11/product_375577

Link to comment
Share on other sites

+1 to Brazil paper.

You can find the composition notebooks for a fairly inexpensive price at staples or walmart. Staples also sells a filler paper made in Brazil. It's not bad. It will feather with tough inks from wet pens, but you can't beat the price.

 

My favorite inexpensive paper right now is the sustainable earth copy paper from staples. I think you can only get it online. It will stand up to basically any ink/pen combination without bleedthrough or feathering. At $55 a case it's a little bit to put down up front, but in the end it comes out to about $0.01 per sheet.

 

http://www.staples.com/Sustainable-Earth-by-Staples-Copy-Paper-8-1-2-inch-x-11/product_375577

 

Out of all the local stores lately I've yet to find one that says "Brazil", there's a lot that say USA, Vietnam, China, including one from Maylasia, and one or two says from Canada, but I haven't found "Brazil" labeled on any at Walmart, Staples, Meijers, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will add to the praise for the Black N' Red line of notebooks. I have several that are my ink and nib testing paper. After a fill with a new ink, I write for half of a page to see how the pen responds on "average" paper. I also keep my pen and ink log in a hard cover Black N Red notebook. The price is great, and I've found it's a good way to test some pens.

 

Buzz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had to check my "Marble Cover-80 Sheets" "5x5 Quad Ruled", and it turns out it is from Roaring Spring Paper Products, Roaring Spring, PA in the USA. Handles an nib/ink combination I have managed to throw at it so far! But not sure where I got it. CVS store?

"... for even though the multitude may be utterly deceived, subsequently it usually hates those who have led it to do anything improper." Aristotle, Athenian Constitution, XXVIII:3 Loeb Edition

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have Tops 3 subject spiral bound notebook and Composition books, all made in vietnam and are really good with feathering (none with M nibs), but not all that smooth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These are all great suggestions! On a side note has anyone had any experience with stone paper? I was at the pharmacy today and I saw a notebook of it and it felt very very smooth. I dont mean to sidetrack this discussion but I figured I would throw this in there if any of you guys have any experience with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33501
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...