Dollar Tree Mini Composition Books

[ChadHahn]

The other day I read about mini compostion books from Dollar Tree. When I went to the grocery store I made a detour into the dollar store to check them out. They come in packs of three with different cover colors: red, blue and green, have 50 sheets each and are 3.25" x 4.5" with sewn in pages. All the packs in the first store I went to had sewn in pages, but the next store I went to (my daughter decided she needed some as well) had a mix of sewn and glued in notebooks. If they are sewn, it says so on the cover. The pages are ruled and FP friendly with little to no bleedthrough.

 

I'm in Arizona and the days where I don't wear a jacket far outnumber the days I do. With my other pockets filled with keys, change, wallet, cellphone, and Swiss Army Knife I really don't have room to carry a notebook of any size. This notebook slips right in a shirt breast pocket and I forget it's there until I need to write a note. Then I can grab it and my pen from the same pocket and write a note and slip it back in.

 

There are nicer and fancier notebooks to be had, but at three for a dollar, the price is hard to beat.

 

Chad

 

http://www.dollartree.com/assets/product_images/styles/alternate_large/176733.jpg

 

 

[Sasha Royale]

Thanks. I have two DT's within five miles of home.

[inkstainedruth]

I'm not sure whether I have any of those (but I seem to remember getting one at some point from one of the dollar store chains in the area). At the moment I have at hand a couple of that size of composition books from Staples, and a couple from CVS, and both brands are reasonably okay for FPs for what they are. Both brands have 80 pages (which look glued, rather than stitched) and I recall paying $1-$2 apiece for them (possibly the Staples books were in a 2-pack, and I may have gotten them on sale for a buck during a "Back to School" sale).

The Staples ones are labeled as being made for them in Egypt. The CVS ones, which say "caliber" on the front, are labeled as being "narrow-ruled" are made for CVS in the US.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ChadHahn]

These are made in India. With the name American Scholar I expected them to be made in China. They are narrow ruled too but only 50 sheets a book.

 

Chad

[mooshi]

I use these daily and have been for a couple of years now. They're definitely a great buy, IMHO and I hope they continue to be stocked. I stick one in my back pocket - they're fairly hardy, but for the past several months, I have been carrying them in a custom leather cover.

[ChadHahn]

That's funny. I've been thinking about making a leather cover for mine as well. It seems silly to make a cover for a 33 cent book but I bought the leather and supplies to do it.

 

Chad

[Sailor Kenshin]

The other day I read about mini compostion books from Dollar Tree. When I went to the grocery store I made a detour into the dollar store to check them out. They come in packs of three with different cover colors: red, blue and green, have 50 sheets each and are 3.25" x 4.5" with sewn in pages. All the packs in the first store I went to had sewn in pages, but the next store I went to (my daughter decided she needed some as well) had a mix of sewn and glued in notebooks. If they are sewn, it says so on the cover. The pages are ruled and FP friendly with little to no bleedthrough.

 

I'm in Arizona and the days where I don't wear a jacket far outnumber the days I do. With my other pockets filled with keys, change, wallet, cellphone, and Swiss Army Knife I really don't have room to carry a notebook of any size. This notebook slips right in a shirt breast pocket and I forget it's there until I need to write a note. Then I can grab it and my pen from the same pocket and write a note and slip it back in.

 

There are nicer and fancier notebooks to be had, but at three for a dollar, the price is hard to beat.

 

Chad

 

http://www.dollartree.com/assets/product_images/styles/alternate_large/176733.jpg

 

Thanks for bringing these to our attention. Y'gotta love Dollar Tree.

[ChadHahn]

I'll take your thanks, but I read about them on this forum. I can't remember who started the thread and couldn't find it when I searched for it but I thought that it was worth talking about again.

 

Chad

[PJohnP]

I picked up some of these today - who can resist three notebooks for $1 ? - and I find them pretty darned acceptable for the price.

 

What do I mean by "pretty acceptable" ?

 

Well, they do have some slight feathering with my wider CI Pelikan nibs using saturated wet inks. It's slight feathering, and visible with a magnifying glass, but only just perceptible to the bare eye. I have almost no feathering with my Pendleton fine CIs on the MilClip Sheaffers, and both of the pens glide quite neatly over the paper. I ran three inks that can feather to some degree, so this was a reasonable test.

 

There's a very light bleedthrough with those same CI nibs, both fine and wider, but it's not in any way a difficulty. I see about the same level of bleedthrough on my BanditCarnet and Field Notes notebooks, and I like those quite well. This is well within boundaries for a good FP-friendly paper, and far better than some that I've paid more for in years past.

 

Some might have qualms about these being only fifty sheets per book, but in all fairness, one might consider that three books are $1, totaling 150 sheets, which makes these three book sets quite the bargain ! No, they're not <fill-in-the-blank> popular paper of the moment, but then, I didn't expect that brand to be floating around the shelves of the Dollar Tree store in town !

 

I won't hesitate, like the OP, to throw one of these in my jeans' pocket, or to get it wet. I generally use waterproof or water-resistant inks, so what the heck, why not have a notebook with me all of the time ? I might even follow the lead of some and consider a leather cover (although these notebooks aren't quite the size of any cover that I have at hand).

 

Chad, thanks for drawing this to my attention !

 

 

 

John P.

[mooshi]

That's funny. I've been thinking about making a leather cover for mine as well. It seems silly to make a cover for a 33 cent book but I bought the leather and supplies to do it.

 

Chad

Yeah, kind of. But it makes me happy.

 

Here's mine:

 

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3707/10592074183_85b67d16c1_z.jpg

Edited November 2, 2013 by mooshisho

[PJohnP]

Here's mine:

 

That's pretty interesting - a lanyard attachment as well as ribbon placeholder ? You obviously have some serious leatherworking and fabrication skills ! Your blog has a couple of additional shots without the book inserted. Quite nice work.

 

Any chance of further photos to show how you've arranged this with the book inside, please ? There is always something to be learned - at least for me - in seeing how other people have considered and managed notebooks.

 

 

 

John P.

[mooshi]

 

That's pretty interesting - a lanyard attachment as well as ribbon placeholder ? You obviously have some serious leatherworking and fabrication skills ! Your blog has a couple of additional shots without the book inserted. Quite nice work.

 

Any chance of further photos to show how you've arranged this with the book inside, please ? There is always something to be learned - at least for me - in seeing how other people have considered and managed notebooks.

 

 

 

John P.

No lanyards - that's from the flashlight. No ribbon either - the copper thing is a KillboX pendant.

 

I'm not very good at making leather stuffs look pristine... this was made by a friend who'd started up his own leather work venture (Scout Leather Co.).

 

I'll snap some shots when I get the chance. But since I have a tendency to write inside the front covers of my notebooks with emergency information, semester schedule, frequently used addresses, etc., I just slip the back cover into the back slot of the leather cover.

 

The grommet and ring were put into the front cover because I like to put my notebooks in my back pocket, but girl pants don't lend to much retention. I keep it on a leash (like a wallet chain).

 

The tag was added by request because it's my favorite tag from Steel Flame, has the characters for "bushido" on it, a snake for my zodiac animal, and was a gift from a good friend.

Edited November 2, 2013 by mooshisho

[PJohnP]

No lanyards - that's from the flashlight. No ribbon either - the copper thing is a KillboX pendant.

 

I'm not very good at making leather stuffs look pristine... this was made by a friend who'd started up his own leather work venture (Scout Leather Co.).

 

Ah. The photo here in FPN looked like you'd hooked the out-of-frame retention ring to a lanyard, and the ones on your blog showed the retention ring, hence my assumption(s). Thanks for the explanations.

 

I did manage to find a Tumblr account that I think is your friend's company, but no contact info. I'd be curious about the cost for a plain cover for these notebooks. I don't need the retention ring, since I wear "guy pants"...

 

 

 

John P.