Good Notebook For School?

[rumbleroar]

Hey, so I'm going into my senior year of high school, and I'm just about to go school supply shopping. I really only need a three-subject or five-subject notebook that's good with fountain pens, so any advice? I prefer the three or five subject ones because they have the folders in them, so are easiest to use for everything.

 

For context, I live in the US and I use a Lamy Safari XF, but will be getting a pen with a finer nib soon. Thank you!!

[Edwaroth]

Look for notebooks made in Brazil or Japan. Look for Bagasse (cane/bamboo) paper. Some are very reasonable. Finding a 3-5 subject in that material may be a wee bit difficult though. The other side is to try and find what you like in 20lb or above paper weight. I've noticed a lot of notebooks in 16lb or less lately, they do not play well with fountain pens.

[Cubane]

Clairefontaine and Rhodia both have a few different multiple-subject notebooks and very fountain pen-friendly paper.

[jordanjay29]

I found these notebooks on Goulet for a decent price. Rhodia and Clairefontaine's options are pretty spendy for school notes. http://www.gouletpens.com/Apica_Wirebound_Notebooks_s/1446.htm

[SharkOnWheels456]

Clairefontaine and Rhodia both have a few different multiple-subject notebooks and very fountain pen-friendly paper.

 

+1 to this suggestion.

 

Personally, I don't mind the price of Clairfontaine or Rhodia since both papers are great. I was able to find some decently priced Black and Red notebooks on Amazon, and I used those for the majority of last year's school year in addition to the other two books. Just make sure you don't accidentally order the wrong size as I did xD

[PAKMAN]

I've seen some nice ClaireFontaine spiral bound with pockets that might fit the bill.

[View from the Loft]

If you can find them, the Oxford Organiser series meets your requirements.

[ac12]

In the cheaper stuff (not Clairfontain) I have not been able to find ANY multi-subject spiral notebook that is FP friendly.

The paper in all the multi-subject notebooks that I looked at are less than smooth.

In my case FP friendly means that I can write with my F tip pens on it, and my F tips do not like any paper that is NOT smooth. If the paper is not smooth, it will feel scratchy to write and in worse cases, the tip will actually snag on the rough surface.

 

Go to Staples and get the 1-subject 70 page spiral notebooks that are MADE IN BRAZIL. It is on sale now for only 50 cents each, such a deal.

In my limited experience, that has been the only low cost spiral notebook that is FP friendly.

[cellmatrix]

Miquerlrius multiple subject spiral notebooks are fairly smooth/fountain pen friendly. In the bay area, I noticed that Fry's electronics sells them - at least the one in palo alto does. These notebooks don't have little folders in them though.

 

http://www.shopmiquelrius.com/servlet/the-ALL/keyword/subject/searchpath/56536/start/19/total/23/Categories

[LinnT]

Hello

There may be a new player in one to five subject notebooks. I stopped at my son's college bookstore this week and found Roaring Spring paper is now putting out notebooks under the "environotes" line. They use Cane Fields bagasse paper from India. I have done a quick scribble on one page with several iron gall inks, Noodler's KTC, and old Skrip permanent blue-black. It seems to be pretty smooth with most of the nibs, EF, F, and one M. No feathering, no bleed through, and moderate ghosting. The covers are very heavy and they had a file pocket in the front. Ran about $4 to $8 depending on number of subjects/pages. The one subject has 100 sheets and I think the five might have been 200 sheets. The bookstore was run by Follett bookstores.

[flatline]

My recommendation for technical majors is always the same: a 3-ring binder and a ream of engineering paper. It's thin paper that is semi-transparent (has to be for the grid on the back side to show through), but since you only write on one side, ghosting and bleed through aren't issues unless the ink bleeds through to the next page (I haven't experienced that, but I suppose it's possible).

 

My recommendation for non-technical majors is, well, err, I have no idea. For classes that didn't have any diagramming or equations, I just used a 6x9 college ruled notebook for notes and did any homework on the computer or looseleaf paper.

 

--flatline

[BT-7274]

I've had good experiences with most of the Staples Composition notebooks over the years; they can take most inks with minimal problems such as slight feather and slight ghosting. Bleedthrough isn't a problem unless you're using a really wet, broad nib or Baystate blue. That said, Baystate blue can still be tamed with a modified rollerball refill. Their new "ARC" products are quite good as well, although some inks still tend to feather on them. It varies a bit from batch to batch.

 

+1 to the suggestion of computation paper. I have had good experiences with AMPAD's computation pad paper; the one with a blank front and grid back. Only moderate ghosting and slight feathering were the problems. Easily double-sideable paper. I can upload a picture of an example if you'd like.

[Buzz_130]

Another good choice for inexpensive, side-spiral bound, fp-friendly writing paper is the Black-N-Red brand. They also make hardcover notebooks and journalling-sized notebooks. I use a hardcover book for my family's pen and ink log, and I use a wirebound notebook for testing out inks and nibs when I get new pens, refilling pens with different inks, or going through a weekly check for the pens that are inked. I also have Rhodia, Clarefointaine, QV, and other good paper, but I save those for my "serious" writing.

 

My only note of caution with fp's and school is to remember the two other parts of the equation. Once you've got the paper you want and can afford with the pen you enjoy, make sure you have the correct ink to go with them! You might have great paper and a pen you really like, but if the ink takes too long to dry on your paper, it's not going to be the tool for class can make you successful.

 

Buzz

[Tom Aquinas]

Miquerlrius multiple subject spiral notebooks are fairly smooth/fountain pen friendly. In the bay area, I noticed that Fry's electronics sells them - at least the one in palo alto does. These notebooks don't have little folders in them though.

 

http://www.shopmiquelrius.com/servlet/the-ALL/keyword/subject/searchpath/56536/start/19/total/23/Categories

These look good and suitable for a final year course. My stationer puts together wire bound 130 page books made of high quality especially with fp users in mind for $A4.50 each. Maybe some US stationer would do the same. Buzz abov emakes a good point with ink, I did my High School senior with a P51 using basic Shaeffer Skrip Washable ( my mother required that !!) Blue, and the school bookshop sold suitable notebooks with my school crest.

[LWJ2]

If you can't find what you want in spirals and go with the 3-ring binder I suggest using Hammermill 24# or 28# colour copy paper; I buy it at Staples.

 

If you absolutely must have ruled paper, e-mail me at RMLWJ1 at gmail.com; I can send you a set of PDFs ruled 1/4; 3/8 and 1/2 inch for 8.5 x 11; you can buy a 3-hole office punch.

[Jimmy Joe]

As a teacher in the US, I would find someone handing things in on A4 paper annoying. It's not going to stack or file nicely with other students' work. That rules out most of the nice European brands. I find the "TOPS" brand from Target perfectly good for fountain pens: they've taken everything I've tried so far, including writing with 1.5mm italic nibs. The quad-ruled notebooks seem to never go on sale, but are around two dollars even at full price. The wide- and college-ruled versions are on sale from some ridiculously low price now as part of the back to school specials.

[Parse Error]

Lamy Safaris are particularly dry, so you could use potentially any paper.

 

It's my only pen in my daily rotation that doesn't bleed through standard filler paper.

 

If you want to use looseleaf paper, DO NOT get copy paper -- get multipurpose instead, and it's not that much more expensive.

 

If you can write in 5 subject notebooks during class for notes, you can get a Five Star NoteBinder, and then load in the paper there. I use one to emulate a notebook.