The Best Legal Pads Which Are Fountain Pen Friendly?

[TimMcL]

UPDATE

 

I have had the same experience as Chicagobear mentioned above.

 

I had been using Ampad Gold Fibre. Historically the paper has worked well, but my latest Order reacts differently than in the past. All pads in the bunch soak up the ink, feather...terrible quality.

 

Looks like I am back on the search for a wide ruled, 8 1/2 x 14 pad that is consistently fp friendly.

 

The order I've been using for the past year is lovely with pencil, but feathers intolerably with fountain pen. Interestingly, I just tried writing on the back of the pages, as someone suggested here with other paper. The back is much better than the front! Still a bit of feathering, but very, very much improved. Apparently, one needs to try both sides. An odd era we live in - when the front of the paper is made to work worse than the back.

[ateke]

Made in Korea Oxford (pastel) legal pads advertised as "best paper quality" and fountain pen friendly.

 

I really like Oxford notepads, not sure if they are affiliated with Oxford notebooks that are actually made in UK, they are so cheap for about 3$ for an A4 size legal pad too bad they are available only in Korea but in any case if you ever travel to Korea make sure you give a visit to Kyobo book store where you can find various quality notebooks including Rhodia as well.

 

you can also buy them online from gmarket.com (kind of Korean Amazon, eBay like store) though the shipping would cost a lot.

 

http://item2.gmarket.co.kr/Item/detailview/Item.aspx?goodscode=247765304

[Federalist Pens]

...... Also partial to Rhodia Pads........

 

[Maurizio]

Since this thread seems to continue to generate interest, I'm reposting here my review of the excellent Indian-made sugar cane based Canefields Legal Pads:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/289981-really-jazzed-about-cane-fields-sugar-cane-legal-pads/

[jwsandersjr]

My renewed obsession with fountain pens has brought me back here. Of course that renewed obsession is now fueling the desire to try additional inks and now papers. I've been using Tops Docket Gold (white) in the past because I like the heavier 20lb weight. I've yet to try Rhodia or Clairfontaine, but plan to do so, but I'm not sure that will be an economical everyday paper. I look forward to trying some of the sugar cane papers mentioned above.

[Maurizio]

Staples and Office Max also make sugar cane legal pads; I havn't tried the Staples pads, but I have tried the Office Max and they're not bad, but between the Office Max and the Canefield's pads, the Canefields are much better. Staples and Office Max don't always seem to stock them at their brick and mortar stores, but you can search for sugar cane legal pads on the companys' respective web sites.

[DrDebG]

You may also want to consider the Franklin Christoph Notepads. They are a bit pricey, but the paper is quite nice.

[Jeremington]

I've been having good luck with the yellow Staples Signa pads, it very rarely bleeds through with a really wet medium nib. And it is possible to write on both sides.

 

But terrible luck with white Ampads, it feathers and bleeds through with every pen. there is no possibility of using both sides of that paper.

[KelseyRo]

I've been having good luck with the yellow Staples Signa pads, it very rarely bleeds through with a really wet medium nib. And it is possible to write on both sides.

 

But terrible luck with white Ampads, it feathers and bleeds through with every pen. there is no possibility of using both sides of that paper.

 

Thanks to you, I tried the Staples Signa notepad, and it's been great! No feathering and no bleeding through. I even write on the front and back. Thanks

[alextkeane]

Has anyone recently tried the Levenger Freeleaf White Annotation Ruled pads? I use Tops Focus Notes pads with other pens (they bleed like crazy, even with Pilot V5s) for notes during witness questioning, and was wondering whether they were as good for fountain pens as they claim before I spend $32 on a pack.

[Mulrich]

My office had a steady supply of Staples dps branded legal pads that worked great with fountain pens but it looks like they aren't produced anymore. Our new supply of legal pads are also by Staples but are terrible so I picked up a Signa branded pack. The paper's okay but there is some feathering and bleed through. So I'm still on the hunt for a new legal pad option that's reasonably affordable.

[briang]

Vouch for Rhoda, very nice smooth paper.

[Mulrich]

I drove past an Office Depot today so I figured I would pick up their legal pad options. I bought the Office Depot Professional and Professional eco conscious (sugar cane). The standard Professional paper was terrible, lots of feathering, etc and shouldn't be used with FPs. The eco legal pad was much better and behaved similarly to the Signa from Staples. The Signa is a brighter shade of white which probably tips the scales in its favor. I also found a generic Staples legal pad sitting around my desk so I compared it against the rest. This paper also behaved better than the ODP (easy to do) but had a little more show through then the Signa or ODP-eco and the lines were not quite as crisp. If I were going really cheap this would probably be a sufficient option. Final rankings: Signa, ODP-eco, generic Staple (ODP doesn't even merit a ranking).

 

Someday I will try Rhodia paper but for some reason I'm cheap when it comes to paper.

[zwack]

My work has had some Staples Signa pads and some other Staples pads. I really like the Signa pads. The other (presumably economy) pads are basically useless. Signa has no noticeable feathering with any of my pens. For such a cheap pad I was impressed.

 

The other staples pads we have (a red band at the top of the pad) looks like a pillow fight in a down pillow factory it is that feathery.

[Mulrich]

I'm still in general happy with Signa pads but I've come across a few sheets in a pad that feather terribly. So quality can be inconsistent even within a single pad. Still on the hunt for other options.

[surprise123]

I know this is irrelevant, but what kind of wirebound pad with perforated lines would yall prefer?

[KKay]

The Tops Double Docket is awful for fountain pens. Don't waste your money on it like I did.

[coyotecai]

The white and yellow legal pads from Dollar General are actually quite nice! 90¢ each, 50 sheets, paper made in Indonesia. Almost no feathering or bleed, moderate amount of showing through because it’s thin but still very much writeable on both sides.

[joeserrone]

Recently I have been looking for a cheap paper alternative for my FPs and found the Amazobasics writing pad to be surprisingly cheap and very FP friendly. For $ 8.50 you can get a 12 Pack of 50 sheets with no feathering or bleedthrough. I found these pads to be really good if you just need to jot down a couple of notes.

[Chrissy]

I bought some Cambridge Everyday legal pads on Amazon when they were cheaper as an Amazon warehouse pack (with damaged outer wrapping). I find them excellent for fountain pens.