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Full Version: Cheap Office Depot notebook....not bad!
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ducatisteve
A few weeks ago I was wandering around the paper section of Office Depot, picking up RB refills and a stack of their cheapest legal pads (I was going through one every few days until I discovered Evernote!). I was poking around their notebooks and decided to pick one up that I could keep on my desk at work to jot random non-work related ideas in, practice my handwriting when it's not busy....you know, basic time wasting stuff. I came across a cheap Foray spiralbound notebook with 100 perforated sheets of 20lb paper cut to 5.5"x8.5" (roughly A5-ish, or Half-Letter/Memo sized). The back says "Made in USA", but who knows where the paper is really from?

Over the last few weeks it has taken notes and musings from a Rotring 600 RB with a Parker Gel insert, a Porsche RB with a Hauser insert (made by Leed's Promotional, not one of the nicer Porsche Design pens made by Faber-Castell), Namiki VP M nib with a Pilot blue cartridge, Waterman Phileas M nib with a black Waterman cartridge, and most recently a Lamy 2000 F nib with Parker Quink black.

Surprisingly, it has taken to each pen and ink extremely well, with none showing much if any feathering or bleed through at all. The only pen that bleeds enough that I would not write on the back of the sheet is the Porsche RB. It's really kind of a nasty pen that will belch ink onto the page at random points, but hey, it was free. The notebooks is not as durable or handy as a Moleskine, and the paper not nearly as slick or luxurious as Clairefontaine or Black N' Red, but it sure does take to a FP quite well. For $3.99, I really can't complain! If you go to Office Depot, or officedepot.com it is item # 838647.

I'll make sure to post up some pictures if I remember to take it home from work tonight!


disclaimer: I have no relation to either Office Depot, or Foray, I'm just a satisfied customer of this particular product.
Bart
Are you talking about the ones with black plastic covers with silver "Foray" imprint, and very light gray rule lines on the pages? If so, I like those too, and have a few in various sizes. The paper is not as dense and "solid" as Brazilian paper, but still quite bleedthrough-proof, and quite smooth.
ducatisteve
These have a semi-transparent smoked plastic cover with nothing on it. The first page is a thin plastic sheet that says Foray Notebook Personal Size. The lines are a bluish-gray.

The paper does not give as tight a line as you would get with a slicker paper like Black N' Red or Clairefontaine, it will thicken your line more a bit like Moleskine.
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