Fountain Pen Friendly Cheap Composition Notebooks

[cellmatrix]

Good to now since I plan on using my pens in copy notebooks for beer and winemaking notes and recipes.

I too like the office max brazil comp books but you will find certain inks bleed through more than others. In your case you may want to consider an iron gall based ink. It will have less bleed through on the thin brazil paper and it won't get washed away when your wort overboils. Pharmacist here on fpn 'brews' his own particularly nice iron gall inks but Mont Blanc midnite blue is a very good iron gall ink too. Many people talk about high maintenance with these inks but flushing your pens with water once every couple months is all that is needed. Happy brewing!

Edited December 15, 2012 by cellmatrix

[FPFan]

I quit trying to find composition notebooks once I found Levenger's Notabilia books. Yes they are more expensive, to say the least. But the ones I currently have never seem to have any problems with any ink issues. Perfectly good paper.

 

I even looked at their sight a minute ago and found this:

Notabilia Notebooks (set of two)-Grid

Price: $18.00 Now $15.00

 

They no longer do a blank book, and the lines ones are two for $24. Which I don't mind paying for the pease of mind that ink will behave in them.

 

(Hum, maybe I ought to buy some current ones to be sure they are the same quality as in the past!)

[Harlequin]

I have been writing in those cheap Walmart comp books, as well as the mead notebooks I have. Would it be useful, or even a good idea, to try and post images of what the pages look through regarding bleeding, feathering and ghosting, etc? Or is that frowned upon or even not allowed, or perhaps it's already been done? I want to really contribute to the community, so I figured I'd ask.

[Dino Silone]

Good to now since I plan on using my pens in copy notebooks for beer and winemaking notes and recipes.

I too like the office max brazil comp books but you will find certain inks bleed through more than others. In your case you may want to consider an iron gall based ink. It will have less bleed through on the thin brazil paper and it won't get washed away when your wort overboils. Pharmacist here on fpn 'brews' his own particularly nice iron gall inks but Mont Blanc midnite blue is a very good iron gall ink too. Many people talk about high maintenance with these inks but flushing your pens with water once every couple months is all that is needed. Happy brewing!

I have never experienced bleed through with the Made in Brazil comp books with any ink or fountain pen. Go figure...

[fiberdrunk]

I have been writing in those cheap Walmart comp books, as well as the mead notebooks I have. Would it be useful, or even a good idea, to try and post images of what the pages look through regarding bleeding, feathering and ghosting, etc? Or is that frowned upon or even not allowed, or perhaps it's already been done? I want to really contribute to the community, so I figured I'd ask.

 

Yes, by all means! We love that sort of thing here! There is a Paper & Pen Paraphernalia Reviews and Articles section where we post paper reviews. And the paper reviews are eventually indexed here by brand. Even if someone has already done a review of one particular brand of paper, you can certainly do one yourself, too. The more the better! FPN is a great resource for pen, ink and paper reviews. I browse often to get an idea of what I might like to try. (Warning, it's highly addicting, too!)

 

eta: I did a paper review of Staples Sustainable Earth here. The same paper used in this notebook is what is used in their Eco-Friendly Composition Books, too, so expect the ink to behave the same way.

Edited December 16, 2012 by fiberdrunk

[dadoody]

Funny to hear that Brazilian notebooks are anything special. I've always used all kinds of pens, including fountain pens on cheap "local" notebooks without second thought. Now if I think about it, it's true I've never had any issues with fountain pens, in fact I'd never even heard of things like "feathering" or given much thought about the paper I use - but then again the only "foreign" paper I've ever used were nice Kokuyo refillable notebooks that'd better accept any sort of ink for the price I paid!

 

Lots of things in Brazil are different from other places in the world. I have only been to Brazil once - March 2011. I went to a city called "Salvador De Bahia" and attended multiple "Camarotes" during Carnival, and I would say that most Brazilian women do not curve the same as women from Southern California. Not in the same ratio encountered anyways.

[Harlequin]

I picked up two comp books from Office Max today- both on clearance! They're both Norcom Eco-tec, "made from recycled tetra pak milk & juice cartons". I know a couple of people have mentioned Norcom earlier in the thread, but I didn't see if those books were of the same "EcoTec" line or not.

 

I haven't tried them yet, but one has paper made right here in the US and the other from Brazil (from the labels). Unfortunately they're both wide ruled, but for $0.50 each, I'll take them! If these weren't the same kind that were mentioned, I'll put up a review with pictures when I can try them in the next couple of days.

Edited December 23, 2012 by Harlequin

[bluefinger]

Staples makes Eco-Friendly Composition Books which uses the same fountain pen-friendly bagasse (sugarcane) paper as their Sustainable Earth Notebooks. Similar kraft covers, too. The website doesn't offer a choice of cover designs (you only get a plain cover with the word Staples stamped on front), but in-store you can choose from different printed designs. These are the only composition books I use because they hold up so well to fountain pen ink without feathering or bleed-through. They sometimes go on sale, too (I've seen them as low as $1 on the website during August, and $1.49 in-store. On the website they are currently $2.99). Here is a review of it with another cover design shown than what's on the website.

 

eta: by the way, both the web-order and in-store Staples Eco-Friendly composition books I have were made in Egypt.

 

Until my most recent order, I also was very pleased with the Staples bagasse spiral bound notebook (item #749563). Ones received a couple of weeks ago have the identical appearance and are made in Egypt like my older ones, but suffer from terrible bleed through. Can only use one side of each sheet. It's so bad there is some staining of the following page.

[Harlequin]

They have sugarcane in Egypt?

[bluefinger]

They have sugarcane in Egypt?

 

Don't know, but "Made in Egypt" is printed on the back cover.

[qwertzu]

Staples makes Eco-Friendly Composition Books which uses the same fountain pen-friendly bagasse (sugarcane) paper as their Sustainable Earth Notebooks. Similar kraft covers, too. The website doesn't offer a choice of cover designs (you only get a plain cover with the word Staples stamped on front), but in-store you can choose from different printed designs. These are the only composition books I use because they hold up so well to fountain pen ink without feathering or bleed-through. They sometimes go on sale, too (I've seen them as low as $1 on the website during August, and $1.49 in-store. On the website they are currently $2.99). Here is a review of it with another cover design shown than what's on the website.

 

eta: by the way, both the web-order and in-store Staples Eco-Friendly composition books I have were made in Egypt.

 

Until my most recent order, I also was very pleased with the Staples bagasse spiral bound notebook (item #749563). Ones received a couple of weeks ago have the identical appearance and are made in Egypt like my older ones, but suffer from terrible bleed through. Can only use one side of each sheet. It's so bad there is some staining of the following page.

 

Just had the same experience, even with a dryer nib, bleed through on the following page. Any good one's out there right now, all the one's at my Staples were the rough Vietnam ones