I am looking for something that is cloth bound. Since I am a lefty and have started using FPs for everything its hard to write on the right page with a wire bound note book. Also the paper quality is gone down the tubes on the ones that I used.

I was looking at the clairefontane notebooks but was wondering if there might be something a little cheaper also in a french rule.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Being a lefty myself, I understand exactly what you mean about wirebound notebooks. Tsubame notebooks, discussed in this thread, are both fountain pen friendly and clothbound (there are links to sellers in the thread). The paper quality is somewhere between astonishing and mind-blowing.

If you are using the notebook for school, then you might consider a quad-ruled engineering computation pad. I used these when I was in college, although with a rollerball. The pages, which are joined at the top, can be torn off and placed in a binder after they are filled with notes. After the course is over, the notes can be placed in a report cover and archived. The computation pads I use at work are quite a good combination with a fountain pen - no problems at all.

I archive all my stuff in the notebook that i write in and I think that using the engineering pad I would tear up the top pages. I would like to stick with notebooks.

Hey do they make engineered ruled notebooks??

I might just bite the bullett and get teh clairfontane but the price is a bit high. Especially when I will eventually taking 5 classes. Is the only place to get those thedailyplanner.com?

Yes, they do make engineering ruled notebooks. I used them before switching to the engineering pads. Rediform
makes a number of different types, as do other manufacturers. Just ask for a "quad ruled notebook" in any of the larger office supply stores. They usually have the quad markings on the writing surface instead of the other side, but still work quite well. The only disadvantage is that the pages cannot be torn out and submitted for homework, quizzes and tests. One of the advantages is that they do not take up as much space as binders filled with notepaper.

Engineering pads are made to tear off the pages, especially those joined by a strip of gummy material at the top. You should have no problem with torn pages with these (I forget the brand name). The reason it is handy to archive with the report covers is that you can have sections for Notes, Quizzes, Homework, Tests, etc (tabbed dividers are great for this). That way everything is in one place and does not get lost, which is very handy should you ever want to refer back to the material later on.

Dang, those Clairefontaine notebooks are expensive! They seem to be priced about the same everywhere I looked.

I might just bite the bullett and get the clairfontaine. I was using mead 5 star notebooks but the paper quality has gone down hill.
Sometimes this obsession makes things difficult LOL.

With a spiral bound book how is a left handed person writing on the right page different from a right handed person writing on the left page?

And I suggest Apica notebooks- taylorintherockies has them on ebay- 100 pages for $6 and FP friendly goodness.


Kurt

The engineering pads that I use at work are Staedtler 937 811E and National brand 42-382. These are calculation sheets and I started using them in college because one prof. demanded that all homework be turned in on them. The one benefit/ problem with them is that there is a dark grid printed on the back that doesn't photocopy but it also makes using the back a little harder. I've had quad notebooks and the quality of paper is probalby as variable as normal notebooks. ( good to pencil only )

Kurt

I ended up going with the Apica, the price was right.
I guess I will have to look at the clairfontaine later so itl be regular ruled paper will just have to do. Thanks for the suggestion.

Are there any other ones that are out there either graphed or regular ruled that might work.

Being a lefty I do not like writing on the right page in a wire bound book and I am sure there are some right handers out there that do not use the back side of the pages (the left page).

Thanks again.