Comparison of 12 journal papers in UK

[robeck]

On the advice of this topic I ordered a large Noto and can confirm that this is one of the best, if not the best commercial notebook that I've tried. The construction is top notch and looks very classy. There is even an embossed fleur de lys on the spine - very subtle but pleasing. The paper is a rich warm cream that feels very substantial and has absolutely no bleedthrough, show through or feathering. The paper is smooth and yet doesn't have the slickness that some smooth papers like Clairefontaine Triomphe do. The paper, though smooth, gives a hint of feedback too which makes for a great writing experience.

 

My only problem with this notebook is the ruling - it is too narrow for my handwriting. I would much prefer an unlined version of this notebook and then my quest to find the perfect notebook would be over. Does anyone know if Ciak make these with the same paper but no lined rulings?

 

regards,

Dean

 

Great, glad the post helped you find a good book I find the ruling is great for me with 4-5mm high handwriting, in fact one of the must-have features for me. The 90gsm Webnotebook is going to have to be something quiet extraordinary to move me from these Notos.

 

Paperchase do advertise a 90gsm plain notepad but I have not tried one yet, details (from Paperchase customer service) are:

Black Iguana Notebook

- Cover - paper laminate

- Paper weight - 90gsm

- Plain paper - no rulings

- Paper colour - White paper

- Page count - 90 sheets/ 180 pages

Link to the book

 

Enjoy

 

 

Thanks for that. I have been doing some independant researching in the meantime and found that the journal shop advertise A5 (large) Ciak leather bonded unruled notebooks in both white and cream/ivory paper. These look identical to the Noto as far as I can tell so I now have one on order...

[Hetty]

Thank you for taking the trouble to do this splendid review. My favourite everyday notebooks are the Paperchase squared ones with the coloured edges on the paper. That irritates me, but fountain pens work extremely well on the paper, and the squared paper is good for writing practice. I still love Moleskine notebooks; ink doesn't seem to feather, and I haven't had a problem with the qua;lity of paper. I shall continue to buy them; they open almost flat, and they fit into my handbag, and the larger size into my workbag. Next time, I will probably buy a squared paper version of these, too. I pop into Paperchase at Leeds station almost every working day, mainly to browse, and often run the risk of being late meeting my colleague!

 

Once again, thank you for the review.

 

Hetty

[Orange25]

Thanks for the review. I'm waiting round for the 90g Webbies, but the Notos look really good. I'm very tempted to get one of the plain ones if the paper quality is the same.

[NYLegMan]

Don't know if the Clairefontaine "Journey Notebook" is available in the UK. It lies rather flat, is well stitched, quite smooth without being slippery (Diamine or Aurora Black in Pelikan 625). But now... I MUST try the Noto!!

Edited April 18, 2010 by NYLegMan

[Miranda]

Thanks for the work you put into this review.

 

I have found that some apparently dreadful notebooks can behave quite well if I switch to the F, EF pens as they don't get so soaked in ink. and as someone else suggested, less saturated colours like herbin can help.

 

Not that I'm suggesting buying bad notebooks, only salvaging ones we already have. {I assume I'm not the only one with a few more than I need lying around]

[mrapollo]

I sort of hoped people might comment, share their experiences......

 

Thanks for the wide coverage of paper with a challenging ink. It helps to narrow the field.

 

I fill a dozen or so notebooks per year in pocket and 5" x 8" size.

 

I have been sampling notebook and ink combinations, using mostly fine nibbed pens such as Pilot 78G and Pilot Cavalier. Noodler's black works well (no bleed, minimal show-through) on the least FP-friendly paper (Moleskine), with Noodler's Bad Blue Heron not far behind. Pilot black in these fine Pilot nibs also does not run afoul of the thin paper, and the ink also dries quite quickly.

 

Notebooks with heavier paper -- including Rhodia webbie, O'Bon wirebounds made with sugar cane waste, and Black 'n Red polypropylene wirebounds -- tolerate a wider variety of inks and thicker nibs without making the back side of the leaves unusable. One of my favorite ink+ pen combos is Private Reserve Copper Burst, in a Lamy Vista with EF nib (comparable to a Pilot M ) . Copper Burst does not bleed, feather, or show through on the heavier papers. It is big trouble for the thin Moleskine paper. Another lovely and smooth ink that does not cooperate well with thin paper is J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche.

 

My personal optimal combinations:

 

Pocket size: Soft Moleskines with gel pens and Noodler Bad Blue Heron in Pilot F fountain pens. These Moleskines do well against all of my criteria except FP friendliness and "greenness".

 

Larger size: O'Bon wirebounds with Copper Burst and Bleu Pervenche in Lamy EF and Pilot M nibs. Copper Burst certainly looks good on the ivory paper of a Rhodia Webbie, but the Webbie is 3x as expensive as the O'Bon and the O'Bon is ecologically preferable.

 

-- regards to all, MrA in USA NY

[bluemagister]

Excellent work on the real-life tests! I prefer Miquelrius notebooks because we can get the A5 ringbound ones at large bookstores and clearance centers. The paper is always excellent. Miquelrius is a Spanish company.

 

We also have Paperchase re-branded Miquelrius notebooks here in the US, but they cost twice as much!

[ImolaS3]

I sort of hoped people might comment, share their experiences......

 

Thanks for the wide coverage of paper with a challenging ink. It helps to narrow the field.

 

I fill a dozen or so notebooks per year in pocket and 5" x 8" size.

 

I have been sampling notebook and ink combinations, using mostly fine nibbed pens such as Pilot 78G and Pilot Cavalier. Noodler's black works well (no bleed, minimal show-through) on the least FP-friendly paper (Moleskine), with Noodler's Bad Blue Heron not far behind. Pilot black in these fine Pilot nibs also does not run afoul of the thin paper, and the ink also dries quite quickly.

 

Notebooks with heavier paper -- including Rhodia webbie, O'Bon wirebounds made with sugar cane waste, and Black 'n Red polypropylene wirebounds -- tolerate a wider variety of inks and thicker nibs without making the back side of the leaves unusable. One of my favorite ink+ pen combos is Private Reserve Copper Burst, in a Lamy Vista with EF nib (comparable to a Pilot M ) . Copper Burst does not bleed, feather, or show through on the heavier papers. It is big trouble for the thin Moleskine paper. Another lovely and smooth ink that does not cooperate well with thin paper is J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche.

 

My personal optimal combinations:

 

Pocket size: Soft Moleskines with gel pens and Noodler Bad Blue Heron in Pilot F fountain pens. These Moleskines do well against all of my criteria except FP friendliness and "greenness".

 

Larger size: O'Bon wirebounds with Copper Burst and Bleu Pervenche in Lamy EF and Pilot M nibs. Copper Burst certainly looks good on the ivory paper of a Rhodia Webbie, but the Webbie is 3x as expensive as the O'Bon and the O'Bon is ecologically preferable.

 

-- regards to all, MrA in USA NY

 

 

Thanks MrA, that is really interesting.

 

My problem is that I am not prepared to let the paper determine the colour or type of ink I use, never mind with of my 20+ pens to use with it. I tend to generally buy what I consider quite expensive pens (listed in my profile) and try to use them all regularly.

 

I used to use the same Paperchase books that Hetty mentioned, with 5mm squares, without any bleed through issues. However, after working through the Getty and Dubay 'Write Now' workbook, I find my handwriting no longer really fits that size of spacing.

 

The Noto books give me exactly what I wanted, none of my inks (not tried them all, but tried the strongest colours) bleed through nor even show much echo.

[Orange25]

Decided to buy a medium Noto book from Paperchase. Nice, soft feel cover that's flexible. Off white pages and rounded corners. Looks really nice and feels like a quality product. Opens up fairly flat as well.

 

The paper is good. Not as good as the Optik paper you find in the Black n' Red notebooks, but good enough for fountain pens. Fairly smooth and a tiny bit of feathering, but nothing that bothers you much unless your nose is up against the paper. Very little bleedthrough on the pages.

 

Tested with:

 

- Parker Frontier (M) with Noodler's Bad Belted Kingfisher

 

- Lamy Safari (M) with Noodler's Heart of Darkness

 

I quite like the 'less than perfect' look of how the ink goes on. Gives it a more 'organic' quality if that's not too vague a term. Would recommend the Noto, but others may prefer smoother paper.

 

Still want a 90g Webbie!

[Ondina]

Mguelrius paper is fantastic for FPs. The best I've known. I just wish they wouldn't edge their paper in colours.

 

I have just seeing A5 notebooks in plain and rules paper with non edge color, but not cheap, 5€. I agree they simply make the best paper for fountain pen use.

 

Excellent work on the real-life tests! I prefer Miquelrius notebooks because we can get the A5 ringbound ones at large bookstores and clearance centers. The paper is always excellent. Miquelrius is a Spanish company.

 

We also have Paperchase re-branded Miquelrius notebooks here in the US, but they cost twice as much!

 

You can try Target; even at regular price the notebooks have great prices, when they go on sale, it's time to stock up.

[fpnuser]

Brilliantly useful review thanks to sound simplicity. Thanks so much. I vouch for the Noto - it's made by Ciak in Italy, and excellent value in their Paperchase form. They take any ink I throw at it - Sailor, Waterman, Private Reserve, Pelikan.One of mine had a soaking during a canoe trip but still holds up well. I like the one with multicoloured pages. I use the A5 Moleskines too, but find that Visconti ink is best for them as it's more viscous than the others, so does not bleed, with less show-through.

[ImolaS3]

I recently received 90gsm Webnotebooks which are now available in the UK.

 

They are equal to the Noto and the only real difference is in the cover and the elastic that holds the books closed (Noto elastic is around the centre of the book, Webnotebook is vertical). The edge of the Noto cover is quite sharp whereas the Webnotebook is rounded. For this reason, I will be using Webnotebooks in preference to Noto although from a point of view of fountian pen use and of cost, there is no difference.

 

Anybody care to post their own tests on other journals?

[Bo Bo Olson]

Thanks for the term a little show-through (echo).

I had not known that term, nor that one should test for echo.

 

I am slowly gathering German papers to do a written survey. Regular paper, in that I don't need a notebook of any kind; that I know of; now.

 

I will do it written, my camera is far sighted ...want some pictures of some mountains?

Edited June 22, 2010 by Bo Bo Olson

[LittleMissHijaabHead]

Ooo, glad I found this as a fellow Brit!

[Zanshin]

Holy thread resurrection Batman.

 

But well spotted LittleMiss, I hadn't seen this one and it's very useful. I've been using a Paperchase Noto which is, as someone commented above, a rebranded Ciak and I concur with the results here, it is very good.

 

Perhaps it's worth updating this thread with some of the other notebooks readily available now, such as the Sainsburys soft cover and Nu: elite etc.

[da vinci]

Holy thread resurrection Batman.

 

But well spotted LittleMiss, I hadn't seen this one and it's very useful. I've been using a Paperchase Noto which is, as someone commented above, a rebranded Ciak and I concur with the results here, it is very good.

 

Perhaps it's worth updating this thread with some of the other notebooks readily available now, such as the Sainsburys soft cover and Nu: elite etc.

 

http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af344/996nick2009/3e19bf9c348a2096fc0cf7c5af86e735.jpg

 

http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af344/996nick2009/ce6218ef9d672a86983ed3a62a187ff3.jpg

[LittleMissHijaabHead]

Thanks for that da Vinci, at least I now know I can pick up a notebook when I get my food shopping in. I've recently spent a small fortune online on rhodias, cartesios and ciak. I will think twice next time!

[Zanshin]

Here is the Sainsbury's A5 soft-touch notebook. Or rather, here are the Sainsbury's A5 soft-touch notebooks as I've just discovered there are two versions selling side-by-side. One has a white paper band around it and the other has a black paper band. The cover of the white band notebook is noticeably blacker but has a little more shine to. The black band version is a more matt finish which has a brown shade.

 

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv249/mosaic001/Notepads/Sainsburys01.jpg

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv249/mosaic001/Notepads/Sainsburys02.jpg

 

I found marked differences between the results with the white band version exhibiting much more show through and bleed through with most inks. The black banded version had hardly any bleed through.

 

Here's the white banded one

 

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv249/mosaic001/Notepads/SainsWhite01.jpg

 

Apologies for the pictures, the results are worse than they appear in this pic.

 

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv249/mosaic001/Notepads/SainsWhite02.jpg

 

And the black banded version

 

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv249/mosaic001/Notepads/SainsBlack01.jpg

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv249/mosaic001/Notepads/SainsBlack02.jpg

 

My local Sainsbury's had these even further reduced to just £1.49 each which may mean they're being discontinued. Based on my findings, the black banded version is a steal at that price.

[da vinci]

Thanks Zanshin a useful review. Will pop into sainsburys for a look.

[midnightblues]

I shall have to have a look in Sainsbury's!

 

I bought a Moleskine-lookalike in Paperchase, "A5 Blk 200 Page Leatherlook NB" - £8, and I'm rather meh about it. Small amount of bleedthrough, quite a lot of show-through with all my pens. I'm getting some nicer inks through the post so I'll test it with those, but really it's not that great. I'm having to only use one side. It doesn't fold out very well either.

 

Can anyone recommend a hard-backed, ring-bound pad or journal that's a bit fancier than Black and Red?