Paper For High Humidity Regions Of The World

[dspeers58]

Hi,

 

I have a friend who may be moving East, perhaps India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and has been told that books/paper do not hold up well. now I know that countries and regions can be diverse wrt climate etc, but are there papers, available/used in these areas, that hold up better, e.g. for writing, publishing booklets, etc? Thanks for your help.

[shuuemura]

It seems that glossy paper holds up better in high humidity. But other fountain-pen friendly paper tends to get moldy after some time unless stored in a dry box. Speaking from my experience growing up in Singapore.

[dspeers58]

Ok, he may be moving West to Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, depending on the way the journey goes. However, the reason I ask, is that while paper in a humid region is going to have a hard time holding up to dampness etc, I also believe that we are not the first to have to deal with this. I am thinking about logs aboard sailing vessels, over the last couple of centuries, which must have had the same problem, if not worse, and yet they do survive, but how and what kind of paper.

 

We visited historic Williamburg, Va, and there is a shop there which actually makes paper from rags and hind binds books etc. You can actually buy the books in a variety of covers for around $200+. In the shop they had a sample of a piece of paper with script written 500 years ago. I am just wondering if there are paper manufacturers who produce papers which will last, are hardy and somewhat more resistant to humidity and weathering. I recently saw paper that claims to be somewhat weather proof, at a cost of $1.00 per sheet.

Thanks for viewing and answering. Thanks shuuemura!

[Wolverine1]

Well, I grew up in the state of Assam and Meghalaya in North-eastern India, where it rains a lot, and where the humidity is over 90% for 9 months of the year. Rainfall averages about 400 inches a year. Yet, in my experience, we took no special precautions- just made sure that notebooks and papers were kept safe from the rain.

Edited August 28, 2014 by Wolverine1

[ndw76]

I'm my experience in Bangkok any paper that is good for fountain pens will stand up well to the humidity, as long as you keep it dry. Even up to today business here generates copious amounts of paperwork and there are no special precautions to preserve it. Just don't let it get rained on.

[titan75]

I'm from Singapore and the humidity isn't really causing an issue on paper choices, my school notes from 20 odd years ago survived fine, slight yellowing on the edges but that's about it. There's a variety of papers used on those notes, from cheap ruled notepads to Kokuyo, Campus looseleaf, 80gsm copier paper, all held up pretty well.

 

 

Cheers'

Alan

[dspeers58]

Thanks for the responses!

[jimhughes]

I carried a n Engineering, Hard Bound Field Level Book for 21 Mos in Vietnam and used them in South Texas, land of high Humidity and Monsoon rains from 1971-1977. The Books come lined or grid, and are 25% Recycled Cotton fiber, paper. I used Fountain pens the second half of my Texas Tour, and Rapidiograph Technical pens with India ink in SEA and first half of Texas years. South east Asia I carried the notebook in a sealed vinyl bag as we got heavy monsoon rains in the field, Dar Lac Province , No issues at all. Blueprint Supply stores carry these or go on line to Sokia or Elan Engineering field books. 40 years later the Books and the writing is none the worse for wear. Convenient to carry and relatively inexpensive. In a 6 pack per cost is cheaper than Web Notebooks in a6 size. These are slightly bigger than 4. 75 x 7.5 x 0.5 " in size.