Good Staples Pad And Bad Pads, Spirals, And Stenos

[pitonyak]

I decided to look at paper. I have 10 samples of cotton paper that will arrive this week for me test. My last test, I looked at

 

(edited because pasted table did not look correct so changed to a bullet list)

 

• HP 32 lb Premium Choice Laserjet My preferred paper
• HP 24 lb MultiPurpose Very nice
• HP 58 lb Glossy Photo Laser Dries slowly
• HP 28 lb Soft Gloss Presentation Parallel tried to bleed through
• Hammermill 20 lb Pastels Cream I would write a single sided letter with a fine nib.

 

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/349274-recommendation-for-fpn-friendly-paper-from-costcosams-clubetc

 

 

This time around, tested the following products:

 

(edited because pasted table did not look correct so changed to a bullet list)

 

• ampad.com Efficiency Steno Pad recycled paper Extreme feather and bleed through Avoid USA
• OfficeMax Steno notebook Extreme feather and bleed through Avoid USA
• Norcominc.com #77070 70 sheet spiral Ink matters Usable USA Norcominc.com #77070 70 sheet spiral Ink matters Usable Brazil
• Norcominc.com #77070 70 sheet spiral Sustainable Extreme feather and bleed through Avoid Mexico
• Greenbrier 3 subject spiral Extreme feather and bleed through Avoid India
• Staples Signa white pad Bad feather, ink matters Avoid
• Staples Signa Yellow pad Some feather, ink matters Usable
• Staples Cheap Yellow pad Low feather, buy this Nice

 

 

So, if you do not want to read any further, just go to Staples and buy their cheapest yellow pads, they work better than the expensive ones. Many thanks to the manager at my local Staples for spending time with me and letting me test against customer returns and pads that they were using in store.

 

I also tried the staples copy paper that they used in their copy shop and I did not like any of them. The manager suggested their 20lb color fast copy paper, which is very cheap, but I did not want to spend $5 to test when I have numerous reams of HP Premium paper that works great.

 

All original images are available here: https://pitonyak.smugmug.com/Pens/

 

For full page shots, I am using reduced size images. For close-ups, I am using 300dpi scans from my old Epson 4490 scanner with no color correction.

 

I labeled all of the inks on the page with a few exceptions. The Jowo #6 Medium ink is the Blackstone Barrier Reef Blue Ink from Lemur Ink. This was a free sample that I won at the 2019 Pelikan hub and I wanted to give it a try. I could not remember what it was when I wrote the samples. I like the color and the ink is affordable. I have limited experience with it so far, but, what I have seen I like.

 

https://www.lemurink.com/collections/blackstone-ink/products/blackstone-barrier-reef-blue-ink-30ml-bottle

 

 

The generic "diamine" ink is a mix of diamine inks as mentioned here:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/262494-faux-penman-sapphire-9/

 

Diamine Majestic Blue ..... 4 Parts

Diamine Sapphire Blue .... 3 Parts

Water ............................... 8 Parts

 

 

Now, on to the Paper!

 

Steno Pads are Bad

 

Both Steno pads looked about the same and OfficeMax is now out of business so I did not scan the OfficeMax pad. This is the AMPad made in the USA. Item #25-479 with 100% recycled paper and carries the sustainable forestry initiative label.

But these are no good for fountain pens. They feather and everything bleeds through. AVOID.

 

This close up from a Pelikan EF nib using Edelstein ink. For the record, this ink seems to feather a lot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Norocom Spiral are usable from USA and Brazil

 

Next I grabbed what appeared to be three identical spiral bound pads by www.norcomin.com (I actually picked them up in a store, probably Staples, to give to my students). I probably bought these last year

 

These are the Norocom basic notebook with 70 sheets, #77070. These are wide ruled.

 

The pads from Brazil and the USA were essentially the same. The pad from Mexico with the sustainable forestry label was much worse.

 

Lets start with the one made in the USA. The feathering is tolerable if you choose your ink and nib carefully. The Edelstein ink wants to behave poorly, but, this is usable but not great. The other ink look much better.

 

 

The Pilot Parallel pen using the ink that comes with the pen really likes to feather and bleed through. This bled through.

 

 

 

 

 

Now from Brazil, which looks the same as USA to me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Norocom Spiral Sustainable from Mexico are Bad

 

Everything bleeds through with this paper. If you must use this, choose your ink carefully and use a blotter sheet between pages. If you use this paper as the blotter paper, better use two sheets for the blotter paper because this bled through multiple sheets of paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imported by Greenbreir made in India this is BAD

 

This is a three subject 120 sheet college rule spiral bound notebook. There was multi-sheet bleed through. Just avoid this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Staples Signa (Premium) Pad White BAD

 

The premium pads sell for more than $2 a pad and they have a fax leather top above the paper. The white pads are horrible with bleed through and feathering. If you choose your ink carefully, the bleed through will still be there, but, it will be minimized and I recommend a blotter sheet, but, you can make it usable. When I wrote "horrible feathering" on the paper, I was thinking about the Pelikan Edelstein ink. The others are not too bad. I was hasty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Staples Signa (Premium) Pad Yellow are good

 

The yellow premium padas taht sell for over $2 each are good, but not great. The poorly behaved Pelikan ink is usable, so that is good. We have no bleed through, but, we come very close with the Pilot Parallel ink. So, I would buy and use these if it were not for their cheap pads which are great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Staples Cheap Pad Yellow are Very Good

 

These pads are less than a $1 each and they work very well. There is no bleed through and, although we have feathering, it is not too bad even with the Pelikan ink. I would use this to practice even with the Pilot parallel pens and ink.

 

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by pitonyak

[Rancho Gordo]

This is great. I was just noticing this the other day when I was noodling around on a cheap staples pad. It was fine! Now I have proof as I thought I was crazy.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Thanks, P...this is a great reference.