Leuchtturm1917

[Jake]

I'm surprised at all the love: I tried one and found it indistinguishable from Moleskines, save for being slightly taller—which makes it slightly harder to fit in pants pockets. The corners ripped after using them for a while, the paper quality was good but not Rhdoia, and the perforations in the back were terrible: I want a notebook that *won't* fall apart or shed leaves.

 

Buying one because it's cheaper than Moleskine makes sense; buying one because it's better is dubious.

[smodak]

I'm surprised at all the love: I tried one and found it indistinguishable from Moleskines, save for being slightly taller—which makes it slightly harder to fit in pants pockets. The corners ripped after using them for a while, the paper quality was good but not Rhdoia, and the perforations in the back were terrible: I want a notebook that *won't* fall apart or shed leaves.

 

Buying one because it's cheaper than Moleskine makes sense; buying one because it's better is dubious.

Simple. Paper quality is better than anything moleskine I ever tried.

[clickiechick]

Simple. Paper quality is better than anything moleskine I ever tried.

 

Ditto! I've tried more than my fair share of Moleskine, and it always without fail bleeds through on any non-ballpoint ink for me. And I haven't noticed any sturdiness issues at all on the Leuchtturm...just the opposite in fact! But all my notebooks are the newer variety.

 

I have noticed that Amazon's stock seems to have dried up some. They used to have a lot of Leuchtturms available at great prices, and now not so much.

Edited January 10, 2012 by clickiechick

[Ink Sandwich]

My girlfriend bought one of these a couple of weeks ago as a personal notebook / sketchbook. She's using marker pens, water color and her Lamy Logo with black Lamy cartridged ink and never has had any problems with bleedthrough, neither with pens nor with marker pens or the like (except one Copic marker which she won't be using again - but they sell pads especially for these markers that say 'bleedproof' all over the cover, so it has to be a known issue with these pens). There is a bit of showthrough on the back of the page because they are relatively thin, but I wouldn't really consider that problematic.

The only thing that puts me off is that they aren't exactly cheap, but I think they're really good notebooks, beautiful and functional.

Edited January 10, 2012 by Ink Sandwich

[Uwe W.]

I'm surprised at all the love: Buying one because it's cheaper than Moleskine makes sense; buying one because it's better is dubious.

 

I've used Moleskines daily for years (the Ruled Reporter Notebook - Pocket) as a part of my profession and have been satisfied by their performance. They handle the substantial abuse of my job and are have a very convenient form factor. I recently stumbled upon Leuchtturm1917, specifically their nearly identical sized version of what I'm already using (REPORTER BLÖCKE). What's intrigued me is the additional features it offers over the Moleskine - numbered pages and a blank TOC (a huge help for me), better quality paper (according to everything I've read) and stickers for archiving the pad once it's full. Best of all, they're much cheaper than the Moleskine.

 

Now here's the rub. I can't find them anywhere local to me (Toronto, Canada). Even finding a cost-effective on-line source has proven problematic. A U.S. distributor wants to charge $25 to FedEx them to me. That's ridiculous. Tomorrow morning I'm taking a drive to Laywine's, the only place I've been able to find Leuchtturm1917 - and they don't even carry the model that I'm after. I plan to a couple of other Leuchtturm1917 notebooks to test them out and then I might go ahead with Laywine's offer to order me a box of 18 REPORTER BLÖCKE notebooks at a good price. The quantity is their minimum order from the distributor, and since they don't carry that size, I'd have to commit to buying the whole lot. I'm hoping that I can find others who have been after this particular model to share the order with, but if not, I'll have a supply that should last me a very long time.

 

I don't know where this brand is, whether they're growing or shrinking in size, but they certainly need to look at their distribution network, because from everything I've been reading on the internet, there are many others who have been unlucky trying to find a source of their products.

[Uwe W.]

Update: I made a trip today to Laywine's in Toronto (25 Bellair St.). It was my first visit to this boutique and I had a nice conversation with the owner, Peter Laywine. I'm sure it's been reported ad nauseum here on FPN, but I was truly impressed with the shop; there was a very nice selection of fountain pens, inks, and paper, including Moleskine, Rhodia and Leuchtturm1917, which is why I made the trip to the store in the first place.

 

Peter showed me a Leuchtturm notebook that was being used as showroom 'tester'. He said that not only had he tried a wide variety of pens and inks in the notebook, but that it had also been subjected to testing by his customers. I added my own test paragraph using a Kaweco Sport (M) and Kaweco ink. Flipping through the book, it was obvious that the paper had very good ink qualities with the only potential issue being the paper's transparency, which isn't at all a problem for me. I bought a pocket and medium-sized notebook to test, and one of the cool little pen holders for keeping my FP attached to the pocket version. I'm quite chuffed, so far, with this brand especially since they're much less expensive than the Moleskine books I normally buy.

 

Although Laywine's has a decent selection of Leuchtturm1917 products, they don't carry what I'm specifically after and use for work, the pocket Reporter. I did arrange a deal with Peter to obtain a case of these Reporter notebooks at a very reasonable price, but I have to find a few people to share the order with first before I fully commit to the purchase.

[Korybas]

1917 Bleeds!

 

+1

It bleeds so much that the police almost got me arrested for murder! :ltcapd:

[Uwe W.]

1917 Bleeds!

 

+1

It bleeds so much that the police almost got me arrested for murder! :ltcapd:

 

-1

 

Maybe it did BEFORE Leuchtturm1917 changed their paper some time ago. Their current pads and notebooks use fountain pen friendly paper, as is indicated by a FP icon on the back side of its packaging and the description "Bleed Proof".

 

As I previously stated, after flipping through a notebook in the store that was filled with comments written by a countless variety of pens and inks, I didn't see any evidence of bleeding.

 

Maybe you could post a photo of your bleeding notebook? Oh, and tell us when you bought it?

[Old Nick]

I bought one of the newer A5 lined notebooks in August here in the UK marked FP friendly, whilst I don't see any bleed through (just echo!) I find that the line width from a wet writer just keeps growing!

 

What starts off as a wet medium line rapidly dries to a BBB line!

 

Once I have finished this one, will go back to the 'Webbies' which don't display this phenomenon

[lapis]

No offense meant but my Leuchtturm 1917 definitely does bleed. I bought it 3 weeks ago and it bleeds even more than my Moleskine. You might want to take a look at that which I see. Still, that doesn't worry me at all (even though I always write on both sides of one page).

 

Here's 2 scans (front and reverse sides). Inks from top to bottom: Eel Blue, Eel Blue, Delta Blue, Eel Blue, Diamine Racing Green.

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/Leuchtturm_vs_Moleskine_I.jpg

 

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/Leuchtturm_vs_Moleskine_II.jpg

 

Note added in defense of Leuchtturm. It may not only be differences in the production dates but also simply in the different models/page sizes. I.e. they may have recently improved their larger-sized journals and books but not this pocket version. What I used for these scans was posted here.

 

Mike

[Ghost Plane]

That's pretty much what I'm seeing. I have one of the larger ones that says Fountain Pen friendly and it's NOT. Your top row is what I see throughout.

[bogiesan]

That's pretty much what I'm seeing. I have one of the larger ones that says Fountain Pen friendly and it's NOT. Your top row is what I see throughout.

 

 

So there's little or no quality control, just a bunch of old stock books with the lousy paper that they're wrapping with the new "ink proof" wrappers.

Typical capitalist maneuver.

And we' so gullible.

[lapis]

I'm not so gullible, I'm an empirical user.

Mike

[The Good Captain]

I'm not so gullible, I'm an empirical user.

Mike

Nero was an empirical user too. Or was that abuser?

[lapis]

Uhh... y'mean I should now Nero-ize this paper?

Edited September 10, 2012 by lapis

[CAG_1787]

I find them generally better and more consistent in paper quality than the Moleskines. I switched last year after years of using the Moleskines and haven't had any problems. Echo doesn't bother me and I've had no bleedthrough at all, but I use nothing wider than a western medium, so that is probably a limited endorsement.

 

To be honest, to me, switching was an easy decision. Even conceding that the paper is only marginally better than the Moleskines (which is debatable, primarily because of the bipolar swings in Moleskine paper quality - even within the same notebook), the cheaper price and other little additions make the Leuchtturms preferable. One of my first steps on getting a Moleskine was having to go through and number each of the pages, whereas the Leuchttums are neatly prenumbered. Moreover, once I got used to the included Table of Contents, I found that a useful feature, too. The included labels are a nice touch, and I actually have used the included extras on my Moleskines.

 

Actually, I like them enough that I ordered a new one yesterday

[pengem]

I love this brand. I have not experienced any incompatibility with fountain pens. I have used several of these journals, which are very reasonably priced. I have tried several brands, yet others are inferior

[arcaneradio]

I really love the 1917. I first learned about them from this forum. I was using Moleskine's but found they weren't really fountain pen friendly.

Bleed through and smearing because the paper is smooth and some what shiny.

 

The 1917's paper is more "textured" and take FP well. I do not get bleed through. I do get the "echo" depending on the ink I use but it isn't a distraction and doesn't over power the text on the other side.

 

I think the echo effect is caused by the paper's opacity. When the paper lays flat again the page behind you can see the echo but when you raise the paper it disappears. I think the paper is meant to be translucent because the blank journal has a line and graph template you place behind the page as a guide when writing.

 

It's wider than moleskine. (I use the 5.75"x8.25" Large)

The cover doesn't have that weird waxy feel that moleskine does. (Eewwww )

And it seems better constructed than moleskine.

And the price is about the same depending on where you get them.

Oh and the color selection! black, red, Turquoise, Cornflower (Cornflower?), Pink, Lime, Lavender, Caramel, Tobacco, Taupe, and White

 

I've given all my blank moleskines to my wife who still uses ballpoint. (sigh, I know)

Edited September 13, 2012 by arcaneradio