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The Best Legal Pads Which Are Fountain Pen Friendly?


Boston Brian

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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.

I've also bought Indonesian made pads from a dollar store under the Bazic brand ( I think a Chinese brand). I've found that the Indonesian paper, like pads made with Indian made paper, is pretty good. I think they also have some sugarcane fiber in the paper but don't state so on the package.

The prizes of life are never to be had without trouble - Horace
Kind words do not cost much, yet they accomplish much - Pascal

You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream - C.S. Lewis

 Favorite shop:https://www.fountainpenhospital.com

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I have a different issue. My concern with yellow legal pads isn't bleeding, but skipping. It feels like some material is quickly building up in the nib which causes my fp to start to skip particularly while making vertical marks. This is also the case on printing paper that appears to be coated. I thought that me MB 149 needed to be serviced but after giving the nib a good long soak it writes beautifully on every paper but still experiences some skipping (less than before) on the yellow legal pad. I can't identify what brand I'm using, it has no identifiers. Is this something that other folks have experienced, and are there legal pads where this is not an issue? Thanks.

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I have experienced that skipping with yellow legal pads also. I think they are micro coated with something which makes them somewhat repellent to fountain pen ink, not by design but because of the coating which may have something to do with coloring them yellow. That’s why I use white (letter size) “legal pads”. In my experience, white paper pads are generally more fountain pen friendly than yellow pads. And moreover, I have further found that pads made from sugarcane content paper are even more fountain pen friendly than ordinary white paper.

The prizes of life are never to be had without trouble - Horace
Kind words do not cost much, yet they accomplish much - Pascal

You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream - C.S. Lewis

 Favorite shop:https://www.fountainpenhospital.com

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  • 11 months later...

This thread has proven super helpful even though I haven't been able to find some of the writing pads mentioned, such as the Up&Ups from Target. In any case, I thought I would share that Dollar Tree has some Jot brand spiral notebooks that do not feather or bleed. The ones I bought look just like these, but the spiral is on the side. You have to see what's in the store. The ones I bought may be discontinued, although I purchased five more today. The paper is thin, but the price is right. I bought a case and use them regularly. These are the closest I can find. Their legal pads are terrible, but they work fine with ballpoint pens.

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Thought I'd share this. Amazon currently has Office Depot white sugarcane legal pads for $8.59 for 12. Do the math - that's less than a dollar a pad. I just ordered a pack of 12.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F63GPC8?pf_rd_p=c2463b52-1139-4aba-9ac9-26d103f6c586&pf_rd_r=KBAHBXXQ26N2R7S7K23C

The prizes of life are never to be had without trouble - Horace
Kind words do not cost much, yet they accomplish much - Pascal

You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream - C.S. Lewis

 Favorite shop:https://www.fountainpenhospital.com

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I just received a shipment of 36 sugarcane legal pads from Office Depot. While the paper is understandably not luxurious, it doesn't bleed or feather, even with Diamine Blue, my new favorite ink. Be aware that Office Depot took a week to deliver my order (one item - Scotch tape - has yet to be delivered) so don't expect prompt service. They are now a vendor of last resort for me.

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I have had a lot of luck with the Tops Brand sold in Costco.

 

I too have had good luck with these pads for the past few years. There must’ve been a change in paper-sourcing just before that: I’d been buying these once in a while starting nine years ago, hoping against hope that they’d become FP-friendly. Alas and alack, they hadn’t; that is, they hadn’t until a few years ago. Since then I’ve bought these three or four times (still sold in 8-packs?), and each one has been FP-friendly-enough. It hasn’t invited me upstairs for coffee: it isn’t that friendly. It isn’t smooth but it isn’t course either. Smourse, maybe. But it’s gone from consistently exhibiting feathering and bleed-through to consistently avoiding feathering and exhibiting minimal bleed-through and only moderate show-through. And the thick backing is harder than on any other pad. Harvest them when you’re finished with the paper. You’ll find uses for them.

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

 

 

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