Staples Brand Filler Paper - Check It Out!

[DanF]

I stopped at Staples today and took advantage of their paper sale: this week only, buy $5 worth of stuff, and get up to five packages of filler paper (120 sheets) for a penny a pack. After that, it's $1 a pack,with the regular price $2. I wasn't expecting much, but I got 3 wide ruled and two college ruled. Not much of a gamble for a nickel.

 

It turns out that it's really pretty good stuff. It's thin, kind of reminds me of the Sustainable Earth (Bagesse) paper, but makes no claims for ingredients. It is quite smooth and has a nice feel. I tried a bunch of pens on it, and was surprised to see very little feathering. There is some show through, as the paper is thin, but had only the tiniest bit bleed through with my wettest, widest nib. It would be possible to use both sides of the paper if necessary, unless using a very wet ink with a wet nib.

 

I used Waterman Florida Blue, Diamine Syrah, Ancient Copper, Woodland Green, and Amazing Amethyst; Noodler's Benevolent Badger and Squetegue.

 

The wide ruled paper #37426 is made in Egypt, and the college ruled, #37427 is made in Mexico. If you are a student or on a budget, you really ought to try this stuff out. In spite of being made in different countries, the papers are very similar, and a lot like Bagess, but with blue, not brown lines.

 

I highly recommend checking this paper out - the sale is just for this week. At $0.05 for 600 sheets (after buying $5 worth of other stuff) you really can't go wrong. I'll try to get a review up with pictures tomorrow in the review section.

 

Dan

Edited August 8, 2012 by DanF

[JimB]

Is this a local Staples deal, or nationwide? I've been waiting on the dollar sale on Sustainable Earth Comp books, but this might do.

[jakelogan]

I have actually been relying on this paper for most of my scratchwork and I also find it an excellent value.

It works wonderfully with Waterman Serenity Blue (new branded version of Florida I think) more than most of my others ink. Noodlers feathers more, especially the bulletproofs.

 

There is a great feel to it but it tends to make my toothy pens feel toothier (if that makes sense)

[WC Lee]

The packs of filler paper in the Staples near me are made in Brazil and so are the composition notebooks they have. Stocked up on both since I rarely see these that are made in Brazil available in this particular store. I just hope the filler paper is just as good as the paper in the composition notebooks.

 

EDIT: just tested out a sheet of the filler paper with all the pens I got inked at the moment, there is no feathering and no bleed through what-so-ever, not even with the very wet writing Sheaffer pen with an italic nib that I got from Staples just for fun.

Edited August 8, 2012 by WC Lee

[DanF]

WC --- That sounds great, will keep my eyes pealed, maybe its al mixed and matched the the comp books at Wal-Mart.

 

By the way, a review with pics is not posted in the review forum.

 

Dan

[John Cullen]

I just went to my Staples in West Michigan to look at these papers.

 

Mostly I found Egyptian and Mexican made papers. Nothing from Brazil.

 

No more sustainable earth notepads at out local Staples, but the Egyptian spiral ring notebooks in large and small are still available and the paper is generally good.

 

I also bought a one dollar notebook with paper made in Vietnam.

 

It has a colorful plastic cover with a black textured plastic "binding" that looks sort of like duct tape, but the nice thing is the paper is stitched nicely in place with many "stitches" rather than just six or eight. I took the notebook home and folded it back completely to get it flat. Then I went through a few sheets at a time and pressed down on the stitching to get it flat. It became reasonably flat. The paper is decent with fountain pens. No one is going to throw away their expensive paper or even their Egyptian bagasse for this, but it is not bad, at least with the one test sheet I have done with Waterman ink in a full Fine nibbed FP.

 

If you are really into cheap notebooks, this may be a good one to consider. If you want high quality paper in a cool looking notebook, then this is not the one for you.

[Alohamora]

Thanks for the heads-up. All the one cent filler paper at my local Staples was "Made in USA". They had some of the wire-bound Sustainable Earth notebooks left at $1.99 each so I got 3 of those as well to make the $5 minimum purchase. I've only made a very quick test of the filler paper and it seems quite usable, it's not not super smooth, but there's minimal to no feathering.

[DanF]

Another thing I spotted were Brazilian notebooks for $2.00, non spiral, edge bound and perfed for tear out, three holes punched. I don't use notebooks much any more, so didn't buy any, but the paper looked like the typical Brazilian paper. Probably 100 page. I'm hoping to find some wide ruled Brazilian filler paper one of these times, as I prefer it to the college rule.

 

Dan

[John Cullen]

Dan- I will go back to my store and look again, but I could not find any paper made in Brazil.

 

Did you have some made in Vietnam in your store?

 

Just curious. j

[DanF]

Dan- I will go back to my store and look again, but I could not find any paper made in Brazil.

 

Did you have some made in Vietnam in your store?

 

Just curious. j

 

I don't remember seeing any from Viet Nam, but the wide rule was from Mexico and Egypt, same for college rule, but there was some Brazilian mixed in with it too. It was it was in the minority, most of the college rule was from Mexico, most of the wide from Egypt. Hoping eventually to find wide Brazil, but don't know if there is any out there. There were a lot of spiral notebooks from Viet Nam though.

 

 

 

[Rugrat]

Another thing I spotted were Brazilian notebooks for $2.00, non spiral, edge bound and perfed for tear out, three holes punched. I don't use notebooks much any more, so didn't buy any, but the paper looked like the typical Brazilian paper. Probably 100 page. I'm hoping to find some wide ruled Brazilian filler paper one of these times, as I prefer it to the college rule.

 

Dan

 

Here in Ohio, Staples has the 8 x 10.5 college ruled Brazilian filler paper that was on big time sale last week. This week, they have 8.5 x 11 college rule for $4 for 400 sheets. It is also Brazilian but a little larger than last weeks paper, as it is the same as a full size sheet. I wonder if it is as smooth. Anyone try the larger Brazilian filler paper?

 

Regards,

Eric

[DanF]

I've never seen Brazilian paper that wasn't good. Not to say that it might not exist, but if you don't have enough from last weeks sale, it's a pretty safe bet that it will be good. Everything at Staples is guaranteed, so no risk.

 

Dan

[John Cullen]

Just a quick FYI

 

I stopped at a Office max today and bought a packet of Norcom made in Argentina college ruled filler paper. It comes in a packet that is mainly dark red and it is called reinforced filler paper.

 

I was surprised how smooth the paper was. Little show through and little feathering even with a wettish medium nib. The paper feels a bit heavy.

 

For some people this may be worth looking at, though there is a plastic "tape" like reinforcer down the far left side.

 

Anyway, I guess at least this brand of Argentinian paper can go on the FP friendly list.

 

J

 

The person in the aisle told me it was 99 cents a pack, but it rang up at $2 for 100 sheets at the register. I was in a hurry and did not say anything. Had to run. Still, very smooth and a nice white with blue lines on the horizontal and one red margin line down the left.

Edited August 15, 2012 by John Cullen

[kronos77]

It is official. There is a new winner. Staples Bagasse has been dethroned by Staples filler paper from Brazil. Got some yesterday and it is as good as the old original Bagasse.

[AlejoPlay]

Stay away from the US made paper. I got some of that today and it was a waste of $2. I am using it as scrap paper at work, since I can't bear to throw away paper in any way.

 

Going to see if I can hunt down more Brazil paper while it's on sale. I even got a Staples Arc notebook and punch so I can just use this paper more. It's that good.

[shocol]

Thanks for the recommendations. I bought three composition books with graph ruling and three packs of the 400 sheet filler paper, all made in Brazil.

[Alohamora]

Stay away from the US made paper. I got some of that today and it was a waste of $2. I am using it as scrap paper at work, since I can't bear to throw away paper in any way.

 

 

That's odd, is yours narrow or wide ruled? The US made college-ruled stuff I got is OK. I've been using it this week for my note-taking at work. I seem to get good ink flow on it and there's no feathering.

[AlejoPlay]

Stay away from the US made paper. I got some of that today and it was a waste of $2. I am using it as scrap paper at work, since I can't bear to throw away paper in any way.

 

 

That's odd, is yours narrow or wide ruled? The US made college-ruled stuff I got is OK. I've been using it this week for my note-taking at work. I seem to get good ink flow on it and there's no feathering.

 

narrow ruled. I got so much feathering and bleed. It was worse than Moleskine paper. I even tried it with my Sapporo M with Jentle Blue, which plays well with Moleskine, but no dice.

[OcalaFlGuy]

Thanks to the very gracious Paper Fairy, I got a 200 pack of the Brazilian filler and am ready to make my pronouncnment on it that everyone's been waiting for.

 

 

 

:roflmho: :ltcapd:

 

It's pretty good paper. But. It's also Filler, Notebook, paper. It's certainly great paper for the money if you don't mind "just notebook paper".

 

Vs Bagassee? I personally put the 8.5 x 11 pad ahead of loose filler in the form/function area. Bagassee is just such an Unusual And Nice paper that pushes it a ways ahead of the current filler. Also while I won't say it's bleeding or feathering, I like the way the ink reacts to Bagasse better than the filler paper. The sizing is more noticeable in the filler.

 

The filler paper Is Good, but if you've got some Bagasse and don't have the filler, don't go feeling all deprived...

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[DanF]

I too just found some wide ruled Brazilian filler at Staples, and stocked up accordingly, though mine came is packs of 120 sheets, not 200. I wonder if Bruce's is full letter size, rather than the smaller sized sheets that I found?

 

Compared to the Bagesse filler paper of old, it's the same size: 8 x 10.5", bagesse is a little thinner: .0021 vs .0027" for the Brazilian (per my dial caliper), bleed through is nonexistent for both, show through is present but not really an issue on both. Feathering is not present on either. They have a similar feel in the hand, and share a similar crispness of sound when rustled. If handed a sheet of each while blindfolded, I would be hard pressed to tell the difference, but the Bagesse might be just the tiniest degree slicker, and perhaps a little crisper sounding. In a blindfold test, I don't think I could tell them apart while writing on them. With a 10x loupe, I couldn't see any difference in the appearance of the writing once the ink was dry.

 

There are really only two apparent differences that I can determine reliably. One is the brown lines of the bagesse, the other is the subtle, uneven parchment-like look of the bagesse, which makes it appear a little less opaque than the Brazilian. These do add to the cool factor, which I fully appreciate, but not to the performance, where I think they are quite evenly matched. I quite enjoy both, though if they were available in full letter sized sheets, it would be even better. I am happy to have a very good supply of both. However for important uses, where durability or presentation is a factor, I will still use my own printed 24 - 32# papers. For reference, the Staples paper is 15#.

 

At $1.00 for 120 sheets, the Brazilian Staples filler paper is a fabulous deal, and probably more reliable, given the varied quality of bagesse by history.

 

On the matter of filler vs. notebooks, I prefer filler paper for two reasons: I don't have to tear it out of a notebook when I'm done writing and take the chance that it won't tear off cleanly along the perf's, and I don't have to deal with the gap between the top page of the notebook and the surface of the desk. Using just a few sheets at a time, I don't have to compensate for that gap as my hand goes down the page. As mentioned earlier, I would prefer the larger sheet, and could do without the punched holes too, but those are minor quibbles.

 

Dan

Edited August 19, 2012 by DanF