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Leuchtturm 1917 - The Next Moleskine?


bankung

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Hi,

 

I am normally a fan of Rhodia paper and have used them without any problem. Anyway, I heard good things about Leuchtturm and decide to give it a try and bought an A5 hard cover dotted notebook from them.

 

With great expectation, I tried the notebook with my wet noodle swan and here is the result. Is it normal for this brand?

 

fpn_1472154406__14087185_102077997754464

 

fpn_1472154399__14114635_102077997755264

 

fpn_1472154389__14059999_102077997772064

 

 

Here is the same pen and ink on Rhodia notebook

 

fpn_1472154372__14101814_102077997806865

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Yikes!!! I have been hearing more people complain about the Leuchtturm lately. At first it was only the Master sized notebooks but I do believe there are threads about the A5 being less than satisfactory as well. This is a shame....

 

It could be the nib (wet noodle) and the saturation of the of that particular ink....still though :unsure:

Edited by FountainPenBibliophile
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I have to say that the nib is very wet.... but Rhodia could handle it perfectly. I just read a review elsewhere and it seems Leuchtturm A5 is now bleeding a bit even with a mid point nib.....

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I've never seen anything quite like this at all BUT I must say that I don't use wet or wide nibs. Usually F or EF. The odd Japanese M might be there sometimes. I'll have a look and see what my older books are like.

The Good Captain

"Meddler's 'Salamander' - almost as good as the real thing!"

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I bought two this week, one A5 and one A6. On medium and fine pens with wet inks there is no feathering and only with a currently problematic nib is there bleeding. It depends what you use. I would not bother swapping the Leuchtturms for other paper unless my pens and inks gave me a problem, because there are advantages also in the format.

X

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I bought a Leuchtturm A6. Fine was needed to prevent strike through. And like Moleskine A6 my TUL gel pens skip on Leuchtturm paper. Sarasa gel pens work great on it. Is there some kind of sizing on the paper causing problems with TUL gel pens? They work fine on everything else. I think the paper quality isn't much better or different than Moleskine. It's all about economics trying to save money and send out a product that has a following. I still buy moleskine but I have to experiment with my FP, RB and BP to see what works in that particular book and now also with leuchtterm A6. I have two Leuchtturm A6 books but I don't know if I want any more.

Edited by Studio97
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I've never seen anything quite like this at all BUT I must say that I don't use wet or wide nibs. Usually F or EF. The odd Japanese M might be there sometimes. I'll have a look and see what my older books are like.

 

Right on. I've never taken these to have the same qualities Rhodia books have and my expectations were thus different.

 

I don't think the quality has gone down, Leuchtturm notebook paper has always been prone to feathering and bleedthrough with wet and medium to wide wide nibs, although not as much as Moleskine paper.

 

This is why I switched to the Leuchtturm. In my experience the paper quality has been more consistent than Moleskine, overall quality is better, plus they are cheaper where I live.

 

If you use them with F/XF nibs and graphite pencils, they are fine.

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The price is more or less the same as Rhodia notebook and thats why the expectation arose. People also recommended that Leuchtturm has a good quality paper suitable for fountain pen, but obviously its not. Even my cheap A4 printing paper could do better that this.

 

However, the real let down and to stay away from is Monsieur notebook. This one is terrible in every aspect. The leather cover is poorly made with the uneven colour due to the bleach from the packaging where the black paper is covered. The paper, even worse than Leuchtturm.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Monsieur-Notebook-Leather-Journal-Brown/dp/1781431612

Edited by bankung
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<<<. Even my cheap A4 printing paper could do better that this.>>>

 

MINE TOO. I will NOT be buying one of these notebooks. I would freak if I got one that did that. Thanks for the heads up!!!

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However, the real let down and to stay away from is Monsieur notebook. This one is terrible in every aspect. The leather cover is poorly made with the uneven colour due to the bleach from the packaging where the black paper is covered. The paper, even worse than Leuchtturm.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Monsieur-Notebook-Leather-Journal-Brown/dp/1781431612

 

I don't know the Monsieur brand, and now I don't think I will. Thanks for the heads up!

 

Don't get me wrong, Rhodia is the better paper, no question, but I still like some of the 1917's features and construction - if I'm using a fine nib, which is pretty much all the time.

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I use A6 Leuchtturm notebooks. I have three going right now, including a reporter's notebook that's my daily pocket-carry. I bought the latter and one other early last year. I bought the third one early this year. Although most of my nibs are F or EF, neither bleed-through nor feathering have been issues with the paper in any of the three. Show-through hasn't been a problem either. And all three are consistent. In fact I'm going to order an A6 2017 Leuchtturm weekly planner—my first—right now.

Edited by Bookman

I love the smell of fountain pen ink in the morning.

 

 

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Interesting. I use Rhodia mostly, but I like using Leuchtturm 1917 occasionally because it has such a different feel (more tooth than the Rhodia), which makes a nice change.

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Tried a few when first launched and they were terrible then. I liked what they do with labels etc but never went back after the poor performance. was tempted again a year or so ago when reports suggested they had a new improved paper, but never bothered in the end. It is the worst thing when a notebook you have used for a long time changes their stock for the worst. I still have nightmares from when Quo Vadis destroyed the Habana notebook - damn, here we go again bringing this up. Back to my stationery counsellor.

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I just started a bullet journal in an A5. I get some ghosting but no bleed through even with a juicy writer. It did feather a bit with Kiri-same but I'm generally pleased with the notebook

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The difference between Clairefontaine and all the rest is that their paper is hot pressed, hence its uniform and glossy surface, which absorb less ink into the paper... Sometimes you need the gliding effect you get writing with broader wet nibs on hot pressed paper, sometimes you need more feedback while using smaller nibs on regular paper.

 

You can't get both worlds at the same time unless you get a heavier paper, affecting its functionality as a notebook.

 

The A4 Master series have a heavier paper, maybe that would do the trick!

 

I haven't had any issues with the Leuchtturm notebooks jet, even when using broader and wet nibs, but that flex nib is just too much to ask for regular 70 gr paper.

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Both Rhodia and Leuchtturm have 80gr paper. However, the quality is just different - Rhodia has no feathering and ghosting problems from this example - maybe due to the hot press you mentioned earlier. However, I also believe there is no good or bad paper as people preferences are also different for different kind of writing instruments.

 

Anyway, my whole point for this topic is to show that Leuchtturm 80gr paper is not capable of handling wet flex nib writing, and people shouldn't buy it if they would use it like what I did.

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