How To Make Any Paper Fountain-Pen Friendly

[lurcho]

It sounds like this topic belongs in one of the stationery sub-forums. And I've brought the subject up before. And the headline sounds hyperbolic. But it has had such a dramatic effect on my fountain-pen life (ahem), that I though it warranted posting here, in the big house.

 

In any case, please try this out. Please.

 

Do this:-

 

1. Take any paper that you have found either resistant or not-brilliant or even very poor for fountain pens.

2. Take a rough paper tissue - kitchen roll is perfect - and vigorously rub a sheet of recalcitrant paper sideways, up-and-down, and stuff like that.

3. Some papers require only a little rubbing, others more.

4. It's not foolproof, but it works on most papers I've tried.

 

This process doesn't work on cheap stuff that is too absorbent, only on stuff that is the other way, that resists water-based ink to some extent.

 

If you actually try this, you will be amazed at the improvement generated by a few seconds of rubbing. For example, although many people on this forum love Oxford Optik paper - in Black n'Red, etc. - I have found it variable. But a little rubbing creates a superbly-improved surface for FPs.

 

I cal this rubbing process napping, because I believe it raises some of the fibres in the paper.

 

I'm not so thick as to not realise that others will have tried this. But please reply if you've either done this already or if you've tried it anew.

 

And the only stuff that hasn't really been enhanced is Rhodia Bloc.

Edited November 28, 2018 by lurcho

[Mongoosey]

There is another method to make any paper fountain pen friendly:

 

Use Sailor Kiwa-Guro.

[minddance]

what sort of friendliness are you looking for? kitchen rolls leave behind dust, raising paper fibres make paper more receptive to inks.

 

are you after less shading, better contact with nib, more legible inks, more saturated version of inks?

[Brianm_14]

Mongoosey,

I will be delighted to send you a full, detailed professional report on the effects of this ink on the surface of what might otherwise prove to be difficult paper for FP use. Please let me know when I can send you my mailing address by PM.

 

I am sure your generous contribution will be most welcome if it proves to work as well as you suggest it will, and you may count on me to give it a fair, unbiased trial, as I do in all my professional scientific work. Our new, fully-equipped instrumental chemistry lab is ready to bring fully online. 🤓😎😁

 

Sincerely,

 

Brian

 

Brian Mooney ALS (Lond.). MRMS, MRSB (UK)

Professor, Johnson & Wales University, Charlotte, NC

 

✒️⚛☢

Edited November 28, 2018 by Brianm_14

[Bo Bo Olson]

Good to better paper has a coating...if typewriter paper only one side.

I do like Optic my first shading paper.

 

As Minddance asked, "are you after less shading, better contact with nib,

more legible inks, more saturated version of inks?"

 

Yes, what do the inks do?

 

Use Sailor Kiwa-Guro.????? Kiwa-guro (nano carbon; black)..................well I'm sure Noodlers makes a black ink or two...........Aurora is very good black ink.....going to get some some decade. Pelikan 4001 black is good except with skinny nibs on PP paper. Still have half a bottle....was with 4001 Royal Blue, the first inks I bought coming back to fountain pens a decade ago.

 

Nano anything is very bad for your health, Nano particles ends up sitting in your lung sacs....don't even go away after 7 years like tobacco tar.

[lurcho]

Sorry, I wasn't very clear about what I want from a paper.

 

Specifically, this rubbing process makes a paper that makes ink form thin, unsatisfying lines into one where ink is nice and wet. Rough towels wick water from your body better than old, worn, smooth ones, and the mechanism is presumably similar.

 

Even more likely is Bo Bo's suggestion that some kind of coating is removed by rubbing.

 

I gave the example of Oxford Optik because it's a first-class paper that I have nonetheless found inconsistently 'receptive'. However, a quick rub invariably sorts it out.

[minddance]

u want a fairly absorbent that is receptive to inks and possibly improve nub contact with paper?

 

this is precisely what I want too. I find rhodia too difficult to write on.

[RudyR]

Best Ink for bad paper is Iron Gall ink. Never has failed me yet.

[bass1193]

It sounds like this topic belongs in one of the stationery sub-forums. And I've brought the subject up before. And the headline sounds hyperbolic. But it has had such a dramatic effect on my fountain-pen life (ahem), that I though it warranted posting here, in the big house.

 

In any case, please try this out. Please.

 

Do this:-

 

1. Take any paper that you have found either resistant or not-brilliant or even very poor for fountain pens.

2. Take a rough paper tissue - kitchen roll is perfect - and vigorously rub a sheet of recalcitrant paper sideways, up-and-down, and stuff like that.

3. Some papers require only a little rubbing, others more.

4. It's not foolproof, but it works on most papers I've tried.

 

This process doesn't work on cheap stuff that is too absorbent, only on stuff that is the other way, that resists water-based ink to some extent.

 

If you actually try this, you will be amazed at the improvement generated by a few seconds of rubbing. For example, although many people on this forum love Oxford Optik paper - in Black n'Red, etc. - I have found it variable. But a little rubbing creates a superbly-improved surface for FPs.

 

I cal this rubbing process napping, because I believe it raises some of the fibres in the paper.

 

I'm not so thick as to not realise that others will have tried this. But please reply if you've either done this already or if you've tried it anew.

 

And the only stuff that hasn't really been enhanced is Rhodia Bloc.

This is interesting to read! I have long suspected that Tomoe use a polishing step (like you describe, but large-scale) to polish their paper.

 

This polishing step would make the clay coating a super ink resistor, and explain the awesome behavior of Tomoe paper and its shininess.

[Mongoosey]

Mongoosey,

I will be delighted to send you a full, detailed professional report on the effects of this ink on the surface of what might otherwise prove to be difficult paper for FP use. Please let me know when I can send you my mailing address by PM.

 

I am sure your generous contribution will be most welcome if it proves to work as well as you suggest it will, and you may count on me to give it a fair, unbiased trial, as I do in all my professional scientific work. Our new, fully-equipped instrumental chemistry lab is ready to bring fully online.

 

Sincerely,

 

Brian

 

Brian Mooney ALS (Lond.). MRMS, MRSB (UK)

Professor, Johnson & Wales University, Charlotte, NC

 

✒️⚛☢

 

You haven't used Kiwa-Guro, yet?!

 

It's that good, especially on cheap paper. It's the best, but it can be a little dry in some pens, but cheaper, more absorbent paper may enhance the capillary effect, so it depends.

 

And it's lubricated so even cheaper paper, where other inks feel rough, Kiwa-Guro is smooth.

 

You can message me here if you like. I'll keep an eye on the thread. It would be nice not to have to go through all that trouble your discussing with the help of simply using a more fitting ink. Apropos.

 

And it's permanent and I find the maintenance relatively low for a waterproof ink. And it's nice and black so it's vibrant and easily legible. I personally think it's one of those inks that's worth finding a pen for, it's that good .

 

And what's nice is that since Kiwa-Guro works so well on cheaper paper, you wouldn't have to spend so much on higher quality paper, though I will always be guilty of such due to Tomoe River Paper . Gosh darn 52 gsm Nanami Seven Seas!

 

I really hope it makes a difference for you or can help. Sailor hit a bullseye with Kiwa-Guro; turns cheap paper into parchment .

[Tweel]

This is interesting to read! I have long suspected that Tomoe use a polishing step (like you describe, but large-scale) to polish their paper.

 

This polishing step would make the clay coating a super ink resistor, and explain the awesome behavior of Tomoe paper and its shininess.

 

It sounds as if the paper might be super-calendered.

[bass1193]

It sounds as if the paper might be super-calendered.

Bingo! Thank you for introducing the correct terminology! And as a bonus, I now know how polished cotton is produced Knocked out two hobbies with one stone there!

[Bo Bo Olson]

I am a paper 'noobie' only have 40 papers..............that I can't sit down and talk nuts and bolts.

I've read up on it....but as the link super-calendered proved there is much I forget.

[Precise]

I find that common papers bleed, both laterally and through. But I also have some pens with F or EF nibs that lay down so little ink, that they don't bleed on common papers.

 

But, I also enjoy the smooth glide of a well-tuned nib on smooth, high quality, paper. Common papers often are smooth enough, but only with somewhat wider nibs. And if my wider (M) nib isn't pretty dry, bleed appears.

 

And, as some of you have mentioned, inks can be very different. I have some bleedy Noodler's inks that lay down a fat furry line, even on the highest quality papers.

Edited December 2, 2018 by Precise

[catapult1]

I have run into some papers that repel ink, sort of like when you use Rain-X on your car where the liquid beads up and rolls off. I noticed it a lot with Apica notebook paper. The advice about removing some of the coating is helpful for me, because I hadn't really thought about how to fix it. Usually it's the other way around, where the liquid soaks into the paper too much because there was little or no surface coating. I was thinking, how can I make those cheap absorbent papers more fountain-pen friendly? Can I put a coating on it to reduce absorption? I don't have tons of resources to do this sort of coating/polishing thing at home, but, I also can't spend tons of money on buying Tomoe River paper either. It was interesting to hear that some FPN users have knowledge of the papermaking industry ("supercalendering"), and could contribute their knowledge for the benefit of the rest of us who want to use fountain pens on the kinds of paper we have available. That would be really helpful, if some experts could advise about when to put on paper coating, what kind of coating, and when/how to polish off some of the coating if there is too much.

Thanks.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Catapult.....sounds to me that you have good to great paper for two toned 'Shading Ink's'. They are supposed to sit on top of the paper to dry in two tones....not that it takes all that long....7-10 seconds is adequate and not all that long. There are supersaturated monotone inks that take that long to dry too.

Try a different direction from where you have been traveling. Herbin Lie de Thee, a real nice shading light brown. The Pelikan 4001 inks, or the R&K inks. All shade.

 

 

I don't know a hell of a lot. But Ink Jet Paper is Out....it is designed to absorb ink super fast so feathers.

Combo paper, Laser and Ink Jet....there is a compromise. My Southworth paper....in boxes mostly is expensive. When I was in the States I grabbed a whole arm load...........it wasn't until later I seen they are a combo paper. So can not be as good as pure laser.

 

For a while a Fugi-Xerox paper was considered the best laser paper than others ran into Fugi-Xerox paper that wasn't as good as claimed....they did make more than one paper.

HP paper has the same problem, once great then not so. Or different makes of similar paper.

 

I do know that 80g copy paper does not shade. 90g will. It does cost twice as much....but a ream should last a year or three, if one don't stick it in the printer.

 

You will have to go to one of the two paper sections her on the com...........for good to best US paper (Mohawk mill?). There is some I wish was sold in Europe but no one here buys inch products.

 

Clarefontaine Triomphe 90g and Rhodia (80g don't have, 90g do) Are slick papers............so are not good for butter smooth nibs.

I don't know what ink Minddance uses.............but wonder if wet Japanese inks do well on slick papers like Triomphe or Rhodia. (I will admit neither was quite godly when I finally after years got some....I have no problems with either. I didn't really test them....like I normally, just scribbled with what ever pen came to hand, instead of this ink in regular flex, that in semi-flex.

If one comes from cruddy paper....I can see it being 'slick', but from fairly good paper...M&K 90&95g, Oxford Optic/Clairefontaine Velout both 90g....'Is that all there is?'

 

Some folks think 120g-32 pound paper is heavy paper. It ain't ....medium weight. I have 150-160 and one 170g paper. I had thought heavy paper was the cure.............almost.

I had ordered sheets of Gmund papers that were fountain pen friendly from 90-100-110=120, 150 & 170g.

Now that's expensive paper. One batch Gmund original, is an Euro a sheet....E50 for 50 sheets. I did not find that as good as the half as expensive....E50-100 sheets other ones.

Liking the feel of the heavier paper 170g , didn't buy the tad more perfect 120g paper. Both were great paper....but heavy is not always the best. Often very good though.

Some year I may buy some of that 120g paper......some year. It only took me 4-5 years to test and dither, before finally ordering some. $$$$ can make one think for quite a while.

 

Then there are papers for those who use M or B nibs...where EF nibs are way too narrow and that in European EF.....the laid and linen effect papers.

Dam ...is Waterman ink wet enough to get into the conversation with Japanese ink........I don't want to spend E22-25 on one. Need to test those papers. Have some Waterman ink still.

 

So some wet Japanese inks shade.

From Catbookmom, from a long time ago....

"""" When I put Quink Black or Blue-Black in it, the ink lays down sparingly, the nib feels like it's just barely gliding across the paper on the ink, very little shading if any. When I switched to Iroshizuku Kon-Peki, there's more glide and a little more ink, such that there's shading......

Same pen, same paper, different feel. Then when I use the Kon-Peki ink in say my Waterman Phileas, F nib, there's more of a gliding feeling and the ink is more vivid.

So I do think different pens write drier or wetter, and that some inks are wetter than others."""

(Noodlers Golden Brown shades. It takes a full written page to dry enough to write on the back................I'd been sure that was a wet ink....but it shades very nicely.)

 

Have to look for what is wet, what is lubricated.............and how much does the lovers of wet 'boring' supersaturated inks who hate pastel two toned inks influence what is what?.............How come I never feel 'velvety? Not looking for it....not wanting the 'rich wet boring line'? Chasing shading inks....vs being chased by supersaturated inks?

 

I'm in three tabs of FPN, in two looking up wet and dry inks....and wanting to borrow a flashlight and a map....

Got to go look at what is pinned.......

Edited December 27, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[lurcho]

I have run into some papers that repel ink, sort of like when you use Rain-X on your car where the liquid beads up and rolls off. I noticed it a lot with Apica notebook paper. The advice about removing some of the coating is helpful for me, because I hadn't really thought about how to fix it. Usually it's the other way around, where the liquid soaks into the paper too much because there was little or no surface coating. I was thinking, how can I make those cheap absorbent papers more fountain-pen friendly? Can I put a coating on it to reduce absorption? I don't have tons of resources to do this sort of coating/polishing thing at home, but, I also can't spend tons of money on buying Tomoe River paper either. It was interesting to hear that some FPN users have knowledge of the papermaking industry ("supercalendering"), and could contribute their knowledge for the benefit of the rest of us who want to use fountain pens on the kinds of paper we have available. That would be really helpful, if some experts could advise about when to put on paper coating, what kind of coating, and when/how to polish off some of the coating if there is too much.

Thanks.

 

I've never tried Apica paper, but I was very disappointed when I tried Alwych notebooks. These are iconic notebooks in Britain (to the extent that notebooks can be), flogged as the favourites of birdwatchers, coppers, gardeners, and other outdoorsy types. They have the fundamental, and irredeemable flaw you describe: Ink beads on the paper.

 

The kind of rubbing with a coarse paper tissue that I advocate is not enough to save this paper. But my point is this: If you have a paper or a notebook that you really like but which isn't quite right for your fountain pen, just try rubbing it thoroughly for a few seconds. It might transform your writing experience.

 

One example (if I didn't mention it in my opening post): Black n' Red is much improved by this procedure.

[dvalliere]

One example (if I didn't mention it in my opening post): Black n' Red is much improved by this procedure.

Noooo! Black n' Red is IDEAL for fountain pens the way it is! Don't mess it up!!

[FOUR X FOUR]

I’ve never had any trouble with black n red paper