Interaction Between Ballpoints And Paper

[Tadeo]

Hello everyone!

 

When one discusses about the writing experience of fountain pens, a common topic is the combination of the three big elements of FP writing: pen, paper and ink. If one starts the fp hobby, more or less inevitably end up becoming a paper connoisseur and with one or more tri-part favorite combos. Perhaps less mentioned is the recurrence of the topic with other types of pens, specially with ballpoint pens which have a double reputation of "writing on almost anything" (including paper, plastic surfaces, etc. due to water insoluble, high viscosity ink) and also of being really temperamental hard-starting and skipping writers.

 

After writing with fps for a while, I discovered that I like writing marks on paper as much as I like my fountain pens. lately I got back to (mechanical) pencils and ballpoints and started exploring into gel ink (rollerball?) pens. I am gladly surprised at what ballpoints can deliver in terms of smoothness, saturation and overall writing experience. Not what I remember of ballpoints as hideous disposable writing instruments. My current theory is that those poor pens are actually the remnants of once ok pens that suffered horrific mistreatments and kept painfully going despite this

 

So, for new-out-of-the-package ballpoints (modern ones, of course) the writing is not nearly as bad... well, most of the time. I have noticed that paper quality is of great importance for ballpoints, maybe even as much as with fountain pens! Let me explain why I think this is the case: After trying some brand new pens, I noticed that they wrote sometimes allrigth and sometimes very badly. This behavior coincided mostly with the end of pages where my arm and hand have passed many times, in contrast with fresh empty pages where writing was easy at first. At other times, the pens skipped on one particular part of the page and refuse to write no matter how hard I push. In this cases, the writing sensation was quite distinct, and can be described as if the point of the pen slides over a very smooth surface. This can be proven by looking close to the area where the pen is not writing where the surface looks polished and even slightly shiny. In normal writing, ballpoints have a drag feeling due to the viscosity of the ink but this was obviously not the case here. In order to write, the ball at the tip of a ballpoint pen needs to be constantly covered in ink, which is achieved by means of the rotation of the ball caused by the friction with the paper. So, to write, a ballpoint needs that the friction of the tip with the paper be more than the friction of the ball with the ink above it. If, for any reason the ball gets stuck, or the friction with the tip diminishes enough, the ball does not rotate and ink cannot come out.

 

The issue with paper is then if the paper can grip the point strongly enough to make it roll. In a fresh page, the surface is still rough enough to make this happen (Ink may also contribute to stick the point to the paper), but in the polished surface at the end of a page, it may become more and more difficult until the pen starts skipping and refusing to start. Other contributing factor that is relatively easy to observe is that small fibers can shed off the surface of the paper, then stick to the ink at the point of the pen and collect at the side of the nozzle making the ball stuck. this becomes visible as a little ball of inky fibers at one side of the tip. When you remove this material by wiping the borders of the tip in a clean paper, the pen starts out smooth again. This is very much reduced in other kinds of paper. I discovered that coated papers tend to grip the point much better, which eliminates skipping and makes starts much easier. the same papers tend to make a variety of pens to write nicer and smoother. Lines also look much more saturated and uniform. On the other hand, the tendency to smearing is more pronounced.

 

So, in practice, there may be also good (even ideal) ballpoint friendly paper.

 

I'd like to know if any of you have also had similar experiences and what is your favorite paper in combination with ballpoints.

 

Saludos

 

Tadeo

 

[usk15]

A very good observation Tadeo, but I don't think anybody will approach a ballpoint friendly paper idea.

[chravagni]

Moleskine. As much as I find impossible to write on a moleskine with a fountain pen, I find quite pleasant for ballpoint writing. Smooth. Even with older refill (I inherited some boxes of 30 year old Parker refill), which may feel stiff on other papers.

[Tadeo]

A very good observation Tadeo, but I don't think anybody will approach a ballpoint friendly paper idea.

Well, i guess it is more on the side of a subtlety, but fountain pens makes you care for the experience. After all, different writing instruments have particular characteristics that makes them interact better with certain papers, i. e. less absorbent paper with liquid inks or more abrasive paper with graphite.

 

 

Moleskine. As much as I find impossible to write on a moleskine with a fountain pen, I find quite pleasant for ballpoint writing. Smooth. Even with older refill (I inherited some boxes of 30 year old Parker refill), which may feel stiff on other papers.

I have never try them because they are outrageously expensive where I live, but after a little examination it seems like slightly thick and rough paper. Recently also spotted some Leuchtrum notebooks but with equally unfriendly price My bad experience has been with school notebooks which have thin paper.

 

Another example is with the Zebra Z-Grip Flight that i guess has hybrid ink. in my notebooks it simply refuses to write properly slipping through the page, and when it does, it blotches ink in the ugliest manner, but when I use it over one of the coated papers it writes ridiculously smooth and with a very bold line.

 

Tadeo

[tonydent84]

I noticed, too, that some papers can make even my most saturated ballpoints look like pencil marks. Paper quality is a big deal for all pens/pencils it seems.

Like you, I also went back to ballpoint pens and pencils to change things up from fountain pens (and even use them a bit more than fountain pens), and the way ballpoints are made these days are far superior to the way I remember them growing up as well.

And I'm not even speaking solely of the hybrid ink ballpoints like the Jetstream or z-Mulsion or Inkjoy or the Pilot Dr. Grip ballpoint refills (not the G2 gel ones), but with ordinary ballpoints having smoother tips and producing darker lines, negating the need for pushing down heavily onto the page. (Though there still exists a fair share of those sorts of ballpoints too.)

 

I did notice that a particular pen refill that gives me a bunch of problems depending on paper is the Parker refill. I love the Parker refills - relatively smooth and dark in ink - but there are times when they just don't write and I have to use either another paper or another part of the same paper to get them to write.

For a cheap source of papers, I've been using TOPS spiral notebooks (made in Brazil) which are like 10 for $8 or something like that on Amazon, and they come 70 sheets per notebook. Not luxurious by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems to work great with not only all my ballpoints, rollers, gels, fineliners and pencils, but also with fountain pens.

[Tadeo]

 

I did notice that a particular pen refill that gives me a bunch of problems depending on paper is the Parker refill. I love the Parker refills - relatively smooth and dark in ink - but there are times when they just don't write and I have to use either another paper or another part of the same paper to get them to write.

 

 

That has been my experience so far with Lamy M16 refills. I love the design and ergonomics of the pens, but it's not cool to have to fight with the pen every time you need to write something.