HP 32 Lb....

[heidi]

:blink: Wow, really? Kinko's will pad the paper in glue-top pads for only 50 cents?! Yee Haw!

[OboeJuan]

Thank you thank you thank you. I bought the last package of 32lb HP at my Staples here in Calgary and I am retiring all of the other writing paper and notebooks I own. I have 2 templates I made for printing lines. If anyone is interested, please pm me and I can send them to you. They are in excel. Nice and plain.

 

I love every pen I own on this stuff. Every ink works well, too. Finally, the characteristics of the paper are not interfering with my enjoyment of the pens. Paper issues are no longer a factor when I am getting to know my nibs and comparing the performance of both pens and inks.

 

Now, if I could only write on both sides of the paper, I would be a happy little person (I don't like the flip side). Oh well. Am currently looking for a printer that will be able to add perforations (top) and make me a notepad. Cheers.

 

Kathryn

[JakobS]

Though I do not doubt that 32# HP is a wonderful paper for fountain pens, I had to pass it up the other day in Office Depot for the main reason that it was too thick for the type of correspondence that do, usually five or more page letters. With the thickness of the 32# HP the envelopes would be bulging!! As far as 28lb, 24lb, 22lb, or even 20lb paper having a worse quality may we not forget that Rhodia is a 21.3 lb paper, Clairefontaine 24lb, and they have been gushed over by dozens and dozens of FPN'ers for their smoothness. In my own personal experience 20lb paper or approximate has worked fine and is very smooth for me(Rhodia and Ampad Gold Fibre) my pen (Pelikan Pelikano Jr.) sweeps over it like air. My 24lb paper is perfect as well(Clairfontaine, and Eaton Diamond White Bond paper)and Eaton is what I use for my letters. I have not tried a 28lb paper but I have looked into it for further experimentation. To be honest though the difference in smoothness between a 28lb paper and a 32lb paper with the same surface and paper product would vary little. Of course, the Pelikano Jr. was made so to have any child be able to write with it, so its a very smooth pen in general. Also I imagine if the pen digs into the paper more a thicker paper makes sense. I have nothing against 32# HB, but to say that a 28lb paper or even 24lb paper is far less superior is I think a stretch and an equal smoothness could be had all other qualities of the paper being equal.

Edited July 14, 2007 by JakobS

[angel]

Opus104: "FYI. Kinko's will pad the paper in glue top pads for only 50 cents per pad!! I prefer 50 sheets per pad since the paper is so heavy."

 

heidi: "Wow, really? Kinko's will pad the paper in glue-top pads for only 50 cents?! bunny01.gif Yee Haw! "

 

 

Thanks for this idea! I just had personalized notepads risographed using HP A4 80g (approx 20-24LB) paper (I can't find any HP 32LB here)! Total cost equivalent to less than $10

[Lloyd]

Though I do not doubt that 32# HP is a wonderful paper for fountain pens, I had to pass it up the other day in Office Depot for the main reason that it was too thick for the type of correspondence that do, usually five or more page letters. With the thickness of the 32# HP the envelopes would be bulging!! As far as 28lb, 24lb, 22lb, or even 20lb paper having a worse quality may we not forget that Rhodia is a 21.3 lb paper, Clairefontaine 24lb, and they have been gushed over by dozens and dozens of FPN'ers for their smoothness. In my own personal experience 20lb paper or approximate has worked fine and is very smooth for me(Rhodia and Ampad Gold Fibre) my pen (Pelikan Pelikano Jr.) sweeps over it like air. My 24lb paper is perfect as well(Clairfontaine, and Eaton Diamond White Bond paper)and Eaton is what I use for my letters. I have not tried a 28lb paper but I have looked into it for further experimentation. To be honest though the difference in smoothness between a 28lb paper and a 32lb paper with the same surface and paper product would vary little. Of course, the Pelikano Jr. was made so to have any child be able to write with it, so its a very smooth pen in general. Also I imagine if the pen digs into the paper more a thicker paper makes sense. I have nothing against 32# HB, but to say that a 28lb paper or even 24lb paper is far less superior is I think a stretch and an equal smoothness could be had all other qualities of the paper being equal.

The thickness (weight) of the paper is not directly correlated to the smoothness. There is thin smooth paper and thick coarse paper.

[JakobS]

Though I do not doubt that 32# HP is a wonderful paper for fountain pens, I had to pass it up the other day in Office Depot for the main reason that it was too thick for the type of correspondence that do, usually five or more page letters. With the thickness of the 32# HP the envelopes would be bulging!! As far as 28lb, 24lb, 22lb, or even 20lb paper having a worse quality may we not forget that Rhodia is a 21.3 lb paper, Clairefontaine 24lb, and they have been gushed over by dozens and dozens of FPN'ers for their smoothness. In my own personal experience 20lb paper or approximate has worked fine and is very smooth for me(Rhodia and Ampad Gold Fibre) my pen (Pelikan Pelikano Jr.) sweeps over it like air. My 24lb paper is perfect as well(Clairfontaine, and Eaton Diamond White Bond paper)and Eaton is what I use for my letters. I have not tried a 28lb paper but I have looked into it for further experimentation. To be honest though the difference in smoothness between a 28lb paper and a 32lb paper with the same surface and paper product would vary little. Of course, the Pelikano Jr. was made so to have any child be able to write with it, so its a very smooth pen in general. Also I imagine if the pen digs into the paper more a thicker paper makes sense. I have nothing against 32# HB, but to say that a 28lb paper or even 24lb paper is far less superior is I think a stretch and an equal smoothness could be had all other qualities of the paper being equal.

The thickness (weight) of the paper is not directly correlated to the smoothness. There is thin smooth paper and thick coarse paper.

 

That was the point I was trying to make!! As it seems in many of the posts above smoothness was being related to thickness. Between papers where only thickness was the varying factor smoothness would not change to a significant degree. So to use 32# HP paper for smoothness alone seems a bit much. I know other qualities of the paper were mentioned, but it seemed how smooth it is was the most common quality mentioned. But finding myself thinking there are indeed more important things in life than how thick a piece of paper is, I think I will leave it at that. If 24lb or 28lb paper is passed by for 32lb paper, all being equally smooth, and holding ink well, so be it, I'll sleep well no matter

Edited July 14, 2007 by JakobS

[donwinn]

Though I do not doubt that 32# HP is a wonderful paper for fountain pens, I had to pass it up the other day in Office Depot for the main reason that it was too thick for the type of correspondence that do, usually five or more page letters. With the thickness of the 32# HP the envelopes would be bulging!! As far as 28lb, 24lb, 22lb, or even 20lb paper having a worse quality may we not forget that Rhodia is a 21.3 lb paper, Clairefontaine 24lb, and they have been gushed over by dozens and dozens of FPN'ers for their smoothness. In my own personal experience 20lb paper or approximate has worked fine and is very smooth for me(Rhodia and Ampad Gold Fibre) my pen (Pelikan Pelikano Jr.) sweeps over it like air. My 24lb paper is perfect as well(Clairfontaine, and Eaton Diamond White Bond paper)and Eaton is what I use for my letters. I have not tried a 28lb paper but I have looked into it for further experimentation. To be honest though the difference in smoothness between a 28lb paper and a 32lb paper with the same surface and paper product would vary little. Of course, the Pelikano Jr. was made so to have any child be able to write with it, so its a very smooth pen in general. Also I imagine if the pen digs into the paper more a thicker paper makes sense. I have nothing against 32# HB, but to say that a 28lb paper or even 24lb paper is far less superior is I think a stretch and an equal smoothness could be had all other qualities of the paper being equal.

The thickness (weight) of the paper is not directly correlated to the smoothness. There is thin smooth paper and thick coarse paper.

 

That was the point I was trying to make!! As it seems in many of the posts above smoothness was being related to thickness. Between papers where only thickness was the varying factor smoothness would not change to a significant degree. So to use 32# HP paper for smoothness alone seems a bit much. I know other qualities of the paper were mentioned, but it seemed how smooth it is was the most common quality mentioned. But finding myself thinking there are indeed more important things in life than how thick a piece of paper is, I think I will leave it at that. If 24lb or 28lb paper is passed by for 32lb paper, all being equally smooth, and holding ink well, so be it, I'll sleep well no matter

 

I have been using various brands and weights of copier paper routinely since 1972, primarily for copiers, of course; however, I have also used the paper for writing (pencil, bp, rb and fp), typing, and computer printing. I suspect (believe?) that the issue is not, in the minds of the people who sing its praises, the weight of the 32 lb HP paper, but rather the texture, which may or may not be the same as the HP 28 or 24 lb paper. I remember nearly 20 years ago, when inkjet printers were first becoming popular, a friend worked at Hewlett Packard, building inkjet printers. Those early inkjet printers required the use of the HP 32 lb paper, which was developed specifically for the inkjet printer, as far as ink absorbtion, etc. They put a lot of research into the type of paper which would be most favorable to printing on by inkjet. The same coating is not necessarily on the lighter weight papers.

 

Donnie

[OboeJuan]

Hi Donnie. I cannot find the link, but when I researched the 32 HP stuff, it was described as their heaviest non-coated paper. The one I got was for laser-jet. Maybe I am simply confeused as to what "coated" means. Anyone care (or need) to elaborate?

 

Kathryn

[kpfeifle]

Thanks for the help. Any others out there?

 

Take a look here for a very nice notepaper, I use this daily.

 

Take a look here for a great collection of other templates. I use the To Do and Actions template daily as well.

 

Enjoy!

[maxmax]

The thickness (weight) of the paper is not directly correlated to the smoothness. There is thin smooth paper and thick coarse paper.

 

Not just that. I've found that not even the smoothness of a paper is correlated to the way the ink bleeds.

 

For my printer I use Clairefontaine 90 g/m² "DCP" paper. DCP is the best paper Clairefontaine produces for laser printers. DCP has the purest white you can imagine on a paper and the surface is supersmooth satinated. This really is as premium as printer paper can get. Yet, when I write on it with a Lamy 2000 filled with blue Lamy ink, it bleeds a bit. When I write with the same pen/ink combo on the good Clairefontaine 90g/m² paper, they use for their writing pads, it doesn't bleed at all. Both paper surfaces do feel the same to me and have a comparable degree of "whiteness" (maybe the DCP is a tad whiter).

 

Edit: I just compared the DCP to the writing pad paper again (both papers have the same weight, 90g/m²). The DCP is A LOT (!) whiter and smoother. The nib flows over the DCP as if it is teflon coated. Nevertheless the line is about 20% wider on the DCP (doesn't bleed entirely through though).

Edited July 20, 2007 by maxmax

[Cloud]

What I prefer for a template is just using your word processor and putting dots. (. . .) at the interval you like, copy paste and then find the letter size that fits your writing style, you can also add a nice little image on top. like your initials.

[Cloud]

I've also used Domtar 32lb paper from office depot.

 

Both are very nice.

[encremental]

This HP32lb thing has been driving me mad ever since I discovered FPN - can anybody say what the European HP equivalent paper to 32lb is? There is this one, which is 180gsm, and I think the heaviest in the European HP catalogue. Could it be the same?

 

John

[Cloud]

I think 32lb is 120 gsm, then 180 gsm is probably cardboard.

[Fountainbass]

Is there a big difference in feel between the 2 sides of this 32 lb HP paper? I bought some a while back & have been enjoying it with my FPs, but I honestly can't detect a difference between the 2 sides.

[Judybug]

Is there a big difference in feel between the 2 sides of this 32 lb HP paper? I bought some a while back & have been enjoying it with my FPs, but I honestly can't detect a difference between the 2 sides.

 

From my experience, both sides of HP 32# paper are equally good. The last time I needed some of this, Office Depot was out so I bought HP 28# Premium Laser paper. I like it just as much as the 32# paper - it's smooth, no bleed-through, feathering, or see-through - both sides equally good. I just went to Office Depot's website and refreshed my memory on price - 28# is $13.00 per ream, 32# is $16.00 per ream.

 

Judybug

[jsonewald]

How quickly does ink dry on the HP 32# paper? I'm curious because I found some 24# Georgia Pacific Color Laser paper at the local Big Lots ($5 per ream!), and it is really nice. However, ink tends to dry more slowly on it than I'm used to. As a lefty, I have to watch out for that.

[Fountainbass]

Thanks, Judy! My pens seem to write equally well on either side. I've been seeing the 32# paper at the local Office Depots for about $7, but that's for 250 sheets (half a ream?).

 

As far as drying, I never really paid that much attention to it. Maybe a few seconds? I know I can touch the ink after a few seconds & not smear it.

[HDoug]

Is there a big difference in feel between the 2 sides of this 32 lb HP paper? I bought some a while back & have been enjoying it with my FPs, but I honestly can't detect a difference between the 2 sides.

 

My batch is slightly smoother on one side. For some reason, I like the slightly fuzzier side better...

 

Doug

 

[CharlieB]

How quickly does ink dry on the HP 32# paper? I'm curious because I found some 24# Georgia Pacific Color Laser paper at the local Big Lots ($5 per ream!), and it is really nice. However, ink tends to dry more slowly on it than I'm used to. As a lefty, I have to watch out for that.

 

The 24 lb. Georgia Pacific paper is also very good with fountain pens. I first discovered it, because Swisher Pens recommends it for left handed writers on its website.

 

I've also had good luck with 24 lb. Hammermill paper.

 

At the office, I simply grab a handful of 20 lb. paper from the copy room. The brands change from month to month, depending on who submitted the low bid that month, and the performance of fountain pens varies with the brand.

 

I have noticed that, usually, you can either have fast drying or no feathering, but not both. It appears to me that the way the paper manufacturers prevent feathering is by designing the paper not to absorb the ink. If the ink is not absorbed, it stays on top of the page -- and dries more slowly as a consequence.