Cheap Wal-Mart Paper

[captnemo]

I've been buying papers right and left and testing them with various inks I have. I have expensive papers, cheap papers, various kinds of legal pads, school notebook papers, copier papers, 8 kinds of decorative writing papers, and on and on. My favorite utility writing paper right now is very surprising.

 

If you want some very fountain pen friendly paper, go to Wal-Mart and buy their wide-ruled, 1-subject, spiral school notebooks that show the BASIC brand. They are made by Norcom of Norcross, GA. and are actually manufactured in Brazil, part number 77070. A 70 sheet spiral notebook costs about 60 cents or something, and it is microperfed for clean tearouts. The paper in this notebook is beating every other paper I have in terms of ink acceptance, smoothness, lack of feathering, and ability to write on both sides.

 

The inks I am testing with are: Noodlers Bulletproof Black, Noodlers Hunter Green, Noodlers Socrates, PR American Blue, and Waterman Black. The worst in terms of feathering is the American Blue, which feathers like crazy on my legal pads including the Gold Fibre legal pads.

 

But this cheapo paper from Wal-Mart has the right "magic" (sizing) and all six of my pens write velvet smooth on it, and NO FEATHERING, not even with the American Blue.

 

So if you're looking for a cheap utility paper, or paper for a journal, or to copy the Bible, or whatever, this is the stuff. I use it to write letters because it is also lightweight. I'm amazed with this stuff.

 

Next week I plan to go back to Wal-Mart and test the batch that's on the shelf (batches of paper can vary) and buy a cartload of it.

 

Phil

Edited February 9, 2007 by captnemo

[KG4KAH]

Dear Phil,

 

Have you tested with Noodler's Polar Black? Yes, I know, I should be embarassed to have purchased Polar Black living here in Raleigh, NC, but I just couldn't resist the technology that makes a fountain pen ink fraud proof AND freeze proof down to a temperature so low, they should use the stuff as antifreeze in North Dakota. That being said, I like the ink. It lays down a smooth as silk line, that dries to a rich, high contrast black. Unfortunately, it shows through to the other side badly, and bleeds through if I don't write fast enough. I have been searching for an alternative, in either the ink, or the paper. Can you help?

 

Regards,

 

Wade

[captnemo]

Dear Phil,

 

Have you tested with Noodler's Polar Black?  Yes, I know, I should be embarassed to have purchased Polar Black living here in Raleigh, NC, but I just couldn't resist the technology that makes a fountain pen ink fraud proof AND freeze proof down to a temperature so low, they should use the stuff as antifreeze in North Dakota.  That being said, I like the ink.  It lays down a smooth as silk line, that dries to a rich, high contrast black.  Unfortunately, it shows through to the other side badly, and bleeds through if I don't write fast enough.  I have been searching for an alternative, in either the ink, or the paper.  Can you help?

 

Regards,

 

Wade

Hi Wade,

 

Gee, I don't have any Polar Black, although I suppose I should since the temperature here has not come above freezing for 2 weeks now, and it will be another week before it pulls out of this freeze.

 

Hunter Green is pretty feathery on a lot of papers and also tends to come through the other side of thinner papers, especially with my Phileas M that is sort of a firehose, On this Wal-Mart paper, the Hunter Green is right on the hairy edge of being unacceptable as far as coming through the opposite side. If Polar Black behaves like this Hunter Green, and I suspect it does, then this paper I'm describing might not please you.

 

Papers are a tradeoff. Thin papers, like this notebook paper, that take up less space in an envelope will bleed more but this paper is about as good as it gets for a thin paper, in my opinion. You probably just need to use a heavier paper with the Polar Black.

 

VY 73 DE KW2P (Phil)

[KG4KAH]

Dear Phil,

 

Thanks for the reply. I've looked at papers with more respect as I have been trying a number of them lately. I like the sensuous, silky, smoothness of Polar Black, and while I don't need it, I am intigued by the technology that makes it possible. On the other hand, my quest appears to lay in the direction of finding a less penetrating ink, that is still bulletproof, or nearly so. You mentioned Noodler's Black does well on this paper, so maybe I will purchase some of that, and save my Polar Black for trips to International Falls, MN. I have always wanted to go there...

[JohnS-MI]

I have not tried this particular paper. I have tried samples of both Noodler's standard Black and Polar Black on a variety of papers. My general conclusion was that standard black flowed well, but was also well-behaved on most papers.

 

Polar black had excessive flow in a Parker Frontier, spread wider than the nib (considerably), feathered, bled through, and showed through on most of the paper in my house. The only paper in which it was fairly acceptable was a Black N Red A5 notebook. It didn't do that well on Ampad Gold Fibre. It is cool that Polar Black can write outdoors in subzero weather. We have such weather here, but I'm not out writing with a fountain pen. I'm trying to get the snow shoveled and get back indoors. Writing can wait.

 

The standard black is also dark and contrasty. It is a slightly warmer black than Polar Black. I like the Polar Black color a little better, but not enough to put up with the bad performance on paper. Both are black enough that you need a lot of light to pick up on tonal differences. I bought a bottle of standard Black, and from the sample, concluded I have no interest in Polar black. To be completely fair, I should try it in a drier pen with fine or extra-fine nib, but I only had the one sample vial.

[Catsmelt]

captnemo -- my wife bought a stack of these notebooks and I was also pleased with how they take to FPs.

 

Unfortunately, I dislike spiral notebooks, even if there's a perforated edge. It would be great if they made letter- or legal-sized notepads.

Edited February 11, 2007 by Catsmelt

[captnemo]

captnemo -- my wife bought a stack of these notebooks and I was also pleased with how they take to FPs.

 

Unfortunately, I dislike spiral notebooks, even if there's a perforated edge.  It would be great if they made letter- or legal-sized notepads.

Oh good. I'm pleased to see that I'm not the only one to have this opinion. Some of the work I do is ideally suited to spiral notebooks, so they are standard equipment for me. I enjoy handwriting snail-mail letters and I have a wide range of papers to choose from, but I found myself stealing sheets out of these notebooks, trimming them, and using them for letter writing. I kept muttering to myself, "This is ridiculous!" And that's what prompted me to post this message, to let others know about this stuff.

 

Over the past ten years or so I have noticed that quite a number of products coming out of Brazil are of extremely high quality. (machinery, engines, refrigeration compressors, water pumps, etc.) so I am not surprised that a paper from Brazil is also made well.

 

And I like the Noodlers Black (regular) because it has no color. It is not brownish or bluish, it is dead black black black -- black body black. Even under a loupe it's dead black. And I like that.

[cctraderx]

catsmelt -

 

They do carry a Norcom legal pad at Walmart, at least the store I went to - haven't tried it with a FP.

[Catsmelt]

catsmelt -

 

They do carry a Norcom legal pad at Walmart, at least the store I went to - haven't tried it with a FP.

Thanks -- I'll have to look for it. I've just noticed the first- and second-tier Ampad products.

 

Then again, I'm out in the middle of nowhere so the demand for variety within a given product category is pretty thin...

[captnemo]

catsmelt -

 

They do carry a Norcom legal pad at Walmart, at least the store I went to - haven't tried it with a FP.

Hmm, I can't vouch for the legal pad. Norcom (located in Georgia) clearly has these things made for them off-shore, and quality can vary even from batch to batch. Please report back on how the legal pad is because Ampad has been letting me down recently with their products in terms of FP "friendliness". I love using legal pads too. I have a stack of different ones here and none of them behave that well with FPs and some are terrible, soaking up ink like a paper towel.

 

What I want is an FP friendly yellow legal pad, 8.5 x 11, that is 3-hole drilled. I'm still looking, Even if it's not drilled would be okay cuz I can get it drilled at a print shop.

[cctraderx]

As for legal pads, I have had good luck with the yellow pads from Sams. They are about $4.50 a dozen for the letter size at the store. They are made by Ampad. I've gotten 3 or 4 different batches and no feathering or bleed through but I use mainly fine and medium nibs.

[captnemo]

As for legal pads, I have had good luck with the yellow pads from Sams.  They are about $4.50 a dozen for the letter size at the store.  They are made by Ampad.  I've gotten 3 or 4 different batches and no feathering or bleed through but I use mainly fine and medium nibs.

Hmm, I wonder if Ampad makes different products for different stores? My most recent acquisition is an Ampad Evidence "Dual-Pad" 8.5x11, yellow, three-hole punched legal pad (has a black binding along the top) and it's the worst yet. It feathers and bleeds like a paper towel with every ink I have, so badly that it's the first paper I've run across that is simply not usable.

 

Puzzling problem this is... :blink:

[Catsmelt]

As for legal pads, I have had good luck with the yellow pads from Sams.  They are about $4.50 a dozen for the letter size at the store.  They are made by Ampad.  I've gotten 3 or 4 different batches and no feathering or bleed through but I use mainly fine and medium nibs.

Hmm, I wonder if Ampad makes different products for different stores? My most recent acquisition is an Ampad Evidence "Dual-Pad" 8.5x11, yellow, three-hole punched legal pad (has a black binding along the top) and it's the worst yet. It feathers and bleeds like a paper towel with every ink I have, so badly that it's the first paper I've run across that is simply not usable.

 

Puzzling problem this is... :blink:

I don't know if you can find these notepads in yellow, but I've had great luck with the value lines of Office Depot and Staples white notepads.

 

I'm not sure if this makes sense -- they wick up the ink, but they tend not to feather.