I've been searching for the legendary HP 32# paper, and it seems there isn't a sheet of it to be had in central PA. But I did find some 100% cotton paper. I know the 25% cotton sort has been recommended, but I haven't purchased any because I can't find any with a smooth-ish finish (it must be another central PA thing, because I remember using smooth bond paper in an old typewriter when I was a young'un, but around here all they're selling has this deeply patterned weave).

Anyway, the point of all this rambling is: Is 100% cotton paper better or worse for fountain pens than the 25% cotton stuff? My guess would be yes, but for all I know it could do odd things to the ink to have no wood pulp in the paper, and I don't feel like spending $7.00 for 100 sheets to experiment.

In my experience well finished 100% cotton paper is awesome but expensive! If you're getting some thats smooth finished and sized to take take ink, then you shouldn't have any problems with feathering and such.

Have to be careful with some of the artist's papers, the finishing and sizing is different, and some can be quite rough, very unsuitable for nibs. Others will have no surface sizing, also giving feathering problems.

If you're after some smooth cheapish paper, try a Bond Layout pad. I'm not sure what they're called in the states. The sheets are fairly thin, almost translucent, but not quite tracing paper, and very smooth. Your pen will glide across the page.

Crane's, which has 100% cotton, is just perfect, IME. You might find some issues with the kid finish, since you are looking for super smooth paper, but when it comes to pulp in the pen's tines, or feathering, there's none like that at all in my entire experience of writing on Cran'es 100% cotton papers.

I bought some Crown Mill 100% cotton, and hate it! Their other lines (their Vellum in particular) are amongst my favourite papers, but the 100% cotton feathered with all of my favourite inks (Aurora, Visconti and Waterman) and is currently at the very bottom of the pile of paper to use.

How bizarre... I have the Crown Mill Pure Cotton and it is very heavily sized - more so than the Crane, and thus makes a dry writer out of most pens!

I'm really amazed it feathered for you - really amazed!

I have brought my wettest writers and exercised maximum flex on some of my nibs - putting a lot of ink onto the paper - and there is no feathering in sight.

I think its wonderful paper, personally!

I'm surprised you couldn't find 32 pound HP paper. All the Staples in Eastern PA carry it. It is often next to the photo paper, not necessarily with the other writing papers. My wife had trouble finding it when I asked her to get some for me.

Papers that are 100% cotton are not necessarily smoother than lower grades. It really depends upon the type of finish, which can be smooother or toothier whatever the cottton content is. The HP paper is not 100% cotton but it is the smoothest I've tried; smoother than most Crane papers. The Crane Thesis paper is very smooth, acid free and 100% cotton, but it's expensive and not that heavy. Great for fine nibs anyway.

Ah, I see. Thanks. I guess I'll order the HP stuff online, rather than experiment with very expensive papers.

I live in State College, and while you might think a college town would be well-stocked with little necessities like paper, that isn't the case. We have two office supply stores, an aging Office Depot and a smaller store where they've been exceedingly rude and have thus lost my business. It's a great town for shopping at Amazon.com.

I've got Southworth Resume paper in both 25% & 100% cotton. The 100% cotton is on the toothy side and is better for dip pens than fountain pens. I'm happy to send paper samples if you send me a PM.

is the HP 32# paper laser paper? I didnt see any other kind. Any people must not buy this paper very often here because there were at least 30 reams of it.

A cheaper HP paper is the HP Multipurpose paper. It's 20# and 96 brightness.

One of my inks bleeds through (Waterman Green), but that ink also bleeds through the mighty 32# paper too.

Oh, and i've been reading about bond paper. What is it and where can I buy it? I was given some Hammermill envelopes that appear to be bond paper and writing on those was very smooth.

Bond is an amourphous name in paper. Most copier paper is considered a 20# bond. It designates a size of parent sheet (the big printer sheets that get cut down to sizes like 8.5 x 11) and thus the type of weight system used (a long story, but for example a 20# bond is the same wight of paper as a 50# text).

Bond paper is often used to mean a premium paper with some cotton content - that is the dictionary definition you will find.

Here is the definition from the American Forest and Paper Association website:

Phthalo: I guess it could be a random quality control thing. The inks I like are quite "wet" to begin with, of course. But as I say, I couldn't get a well-defined line out of my pens on it.

I'll get around to posting a scan at some point.

This is an old thread, newcomer here, I've just read it doing a search on papers. I was a bit irritated about Clairefontaine notebook paper : good paper (I used it at school when I was 10) but too much on the smooth side for my taste, and like drinking ink. I usually prefer to write on single sheet Clairefontaine copy paper : as the paper is very slightly coarsy, one gets a better feedback from paper and nib.

About rag papers, I have just done some writing tests on three heavy (250 to 320 gsm) 100% cotton papers that I use for photographic platinum prints (not especially made for photographic work, except Arches Platine which is slightly different from other Arches but also well-suited to drawing or painting). That's really a pleasure to write on such papers. I used Crane's cover, Van Gelder Simili Japon and Arches Platine. All three papers work fine for writing, especially Simili Japon on which writing is a real pleasure. Best results with Sailor FP with M nib and Aurora Black ink : where it's very wet, almost too wet on Clairefontaine paper with this smooth nib and Aurora ink, on Simili Japon, it shows a straight, precise, much narrower and thinner line, and a deep good black. The nib is a real oriental thin M size on these papers. The other paper also work well, but Simili Japon is a beauty and a pleasure to write with. Crane's is nice also, but SM is better here, writing is thicker on the two other.

These are vellum papers, but as they are less smooth than Clairefontaine paper, one has a very good feeling. I also wrote with a Safari and Lamy blue ink, a basic Waterman with Florida blue, a basic Rotring Art pen with unbranded ink, all wrote nicely. A Sheaffer with fine nib and Sheaffer blue ink had difficulty, maybe because of the finer nib and paper very slight grain.

Should worth to buy good thinner vellum cotton paper pads for imperishable writings :-). It's really nice to write on such papers.

Jimmy

I'm hooked on Howard Linen by the Fox River Paper Company. Their 70 lb. writing paper is amazing with all my fountain pens. The smooth side works best for me. Costs about 20 bucks for 500 sheets. You won't be sorry.

PeteWK

I have some 100% cotton Crane's and my pens have wildly different reactions to it, I've never seen anything like it. Some become finer writers, others thicker; some put down precise beautiful lines, others feather; some glide smoothly despite the kid finish, others can barely move at all! Here is a summary of some of my pens' compatibility with Crane's:

Best Compatibility with Crane's 100% cotton kid finish:

Sheaffer Heritage Legacy Victorian, F nib: writes Finer and dryer than normal (which is a good thing for this pen); more control over penmanship than on regular paper; perfect pen for this paper.

Pelikans M215 and 100, EF Nibs: perfectly smooth gliding despite kid finish; nib width unchanged; no feathering what so ever

Namiki, F and M nibs: same as above, but slightly drier than the Pelikans

Lamy Al-Stars and Safaris, EF nibs: a bit dryer than normal, but write perfectly well


Worst Compatibility with Crane's 100% cotton kid finish:

Aurora Talentum, EF Nib: this is normally my best writer -- exquisite semi-flex nib and super-smooth. But it refuses to write on Crane's; will hardly move across the page, skips mercilessly and feathers!

Platimum, F nib: writes wider than normal and feathers so that it's impossible to use

Krone Architectus, F nib: becomes enormously wide

Sailor Student Pen: skips badly

Sailor 1911s and Sapporo, EF and F nibs: loses its wetness; has to be dragged across the page with some effort


Having said this, it is entirely possible that others have had completely different experiences with Crane's.

The paper that works best and unanimously with all my pens is Clairefontaine, but I don't think it's 100% cotton.

QM2