What Composition Notebooks Are Fountain Pen Friendly?

[RCIfan]

The current notebook I'm using for my calculus notes and homework is not very fountain pen friendly, so I am looking for a better alternative. I purchased the current notebook from OfficeMax and is made by a company called Schoolio. I've heard good things about the Staples notebooks, but I am unsure. Any help that you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

RCIfan

[carlos.q]

The FP friendly composition books that I bought were made in Brazil. I bought them from OfficeMax with covers in various colors for 50 cents each if I remember correctly.

[SallyLyn]

The important thing seems to be not where you buy or even so called brand but where they are made. As mentioned Brazil usually good.

[Sasha Royale]

Wal-Mart also carries Norcom. Brazil-made is quite good. Columbia and USA last.

[mtnbiker62]

I've had decent luck with these:

 

http://www.staples.com/Sustainable-Earth-by-Staples-Composition-Notebook-9-3-4-inch-x-7/product_749566

 

They are probably the Staples ones you referenced earlier. The paper quality can be inconsistent, but they were usable.

[Octo]

Whatever size you buy, always look to see where the notebook was made. Papers from Brazil and India are usually good and are sold in several stores under various names.

[RCIfan]

Thanks for all the responses. I now have a better idea of what to look for.

[tendollarword]

I have a Norcom book which is quite nice.

[cellmatrix]

Dollar tree made in India comp books are also quite good for fountain pens.

[Baric]

The Clairefontaine side clothbound notebooks are nice. Great for fountain pens, smooth white 90 gsm paper, various rulings, etc.

[Wolverine1]

Another vote for the Walmart's Norcom brand. Be sure to make sure you get the ones manufactured either in India or Brazil. Walmart is currently having a back to school special, with these comp books being sold for 29 cents a piece, provided you get at least a dozen of them. Otherwise, they sell for about 59 cents a piece.

[TMac]

I recently started using the Dollar Tree books made in India. They have no bleed thru and hardly any show thru. Walmart Norcom books are good but only those made in Brazil.

[blINK]

Dollar tree made in India comp books are also quite good for fountain pens.

I purchased one of these last month. I think it was a dud. I'm sure for a $1 notebook the quality control isn't fantastic. Mine is scratchy and has a lot of feathering. The Norcom from Brazil and Vietnam have been great.

[inkstainedruth]

I managed to find one of the Brazil-made regular composition books at Staples a couple of days ago for 50¢; unfortunately it's one of the wide-ruled ones, not college-rule. The local store has lost about a third of its former space to another business, and they no longer carry the Sustainable Earth composition books at all (and only a few of the spiral bound ones) -- it's too bad, because I liked the SE composition books a whole lot.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[vinper]

Levenger Notabilia notebooks are extremely fp friendly; they can be found on the Levenger website. They also market a lovely leather cover for the notebooks. vinper

[Sailor Kenshin]

The current notebook I'm using for my calculus notes and homework is not very fountain pen friendly, so I am looking for a better alternative. I purchased the current notebook from OfficeMax and is made by a company called Schoolio. I've heard good things about the Staples notebooks, but I am unsure. Any help that you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

RCIfan

India-made paper has a very different texture than Claire or Rhodia, but it does take fountain pen ink well. And the comp books can be found at Dollar Tree.

 

Ps: everyone beat me to it, lol.

Edited September 4, 2014 by Sailor Kenshin

[Sach]

Only a slightly more technical note, papers made from hardwood pulp; of which Eucalyptus is most famous produce a paper that seems superior with respect to fountain pen paper. Brazil has the largest and most productive Eucalyptus plantations in the world, and I'm pretty sure most of their paper is Eucalyptus based.

 

Kraft pulp, which is normally made from soft wood, is actually more expensive in many international pulp markets than Eucalyptus pul and imparts strength to paper, but seems to negatively affect its use with fountain pens. I imagine that paper produced in the US is kraft pulp base (has ample softwood resources!), and that makes most of the paper produced there not very FP friendly!

[tendollarword]

My Norcom book say's "Made in USA", but still works very nicely with fountain pens--no feathering or bleeding and very little show through. It's a few years old and the paper is apparently certified by the "Sustainable Forestry Initiative".

 

Is this paper Brazilian or Indian or did I get lucky with US sourced paper?

[Bookman]

Made-in-India are the best, most FP-friendly composition notebooks I've used. And the worst. Made-in-Brazils are very good. And unquestionably bad. Inconsistency is the one constant. The market in composition notebooks is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you gonna get.

[SarcasmCheck]

I know this is an extremely old thread but I wanted to add, the ink is a big factor. I started out with Noodler's inks which I found only performed well on the best papers. Platinum, Diamine, and Mont Blanc inks performed better on cheap paper but still not great. Once I started using Akkerman #10 which is a gorgeous blue-black iron gall, I found that I wasn't having feathering on any paper I tried. I'd pretty much abandoned Moleskines for Leuchtturm 1917 which is now my preferred notebook, to be fair, but now Moleskine paper is fine. I can't confirm this but have been told all Akkerman ink performs well on cheaper paper. Most of their inks are not iron gall but I love the permanence of it. Of course, all ink performs best on higher quality paper link Leuchtturm, Clairefontaine/Rhodia (same paper), Tomoe River, Apica Premium, and Midori. As with cheaper paper, Moleskine performance will depend on the ink.

 

Also, finer nibs feather less, since you're putting out less ink in a line.

Edited December 20, 2018 by SarcasmCheck