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This is a quick review of the Top's Engineer's Computation Pad. I used these throughout graduate school. But I typically used pencil or mechanical pencil since I was writing scientific equations and doing mathematical calculations. I always liked them because the paper was lighter, yet not cheap. And the surface had a nice smooth feel to it. I thought it would be fun to see how this paper holds up to fountain pens and fountain pen inks. I am sure many others have tested these pads before, so please refer to their reviews as well. For my test, I used all the pens that I had inked tonight, including a variety of nibs and inks. The majority of these pens have fairly wet nibs and many of the inks are fairly wet as well. Here is a scan of the actual page. This is the back of the page I expected a large amount of show through and far more bleed through that what is experienced here, especially with some of these inks which are notorious bleeders. The downside is that there was a fair amount of feathering with wider nibs - a little more than HP copy paper and far less than Cambridge notebook paper. Overall, I am pleasantly surprised and will continue to use these computation pads particularly for work related functions and general note-taking. I purchased the 2-pad pack of 100 sheets each for $6.98 on Amazon. They are easy on the eyes and on the budget and may be a good alternative for students.

Hi all, I recently bought a small notepad (3.5" x 5.5") by Quattro. They are available in blank, lined, and grid. The one I bought is lined. http://i.imgur.com/Upipt5G.jpg http://i.imgur.com/b6ET9RA.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/LSfdhwH.jpg http://i.imgur.com/6Z3M9rV.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/lymSuPX.jpg http://i.imgur.com/324GSCZ.jpg Pros: 1) It is affordable. You get 80 sheets for about $4.00 USD. 2) It has pretty nice paper. It feels like HP 24lb inkjet paper. 3) It has a fairly quick dry time (less than ten seconds in Pilot Metropolitan F), which is good for short notes. 4) It has micro-perforated paper. 5) The cover seems durable. 6) They are available in blank, lined, and grid. Cons: 1) As you can see in the second to last photo, the glue wore off. 2) Since the glue wore off, the cover could not lay flat. Things to be aware of: 1) It is 5 mm rule. Some people may find it too small for writing. 2) You can fold the cover to the back. 3) It has some feathering with one pen (Nemosine Singularity with Noodler's Couleur Royale). 4) It has some bleed-through with one pen (Nemosine Singularity with Noodler's La Couleur Royale). 5) I saw at the art store that there are leather covers available for these notepads. I do not know the exact price, but I think it is about $3.00 USD to $4.00 USD at the art store. However, on Amazon, they are currently $4.76 per pad. Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Hand-book-Journal-2-Inch-Quattro-Lined/dp/B004XC7ZRW --Sofia

I'm thinking of making some Tomoe River pads and/or notebooks? What would you like to see here in the UK and in Europe. Open to suggestion. A4? A5? Pads? Bound notepad? Let me know your thoughts..

I love the little Rhodia pads...I have a cover for the size 11, and wondered if anyone knows of a smaller cover to fit the size 10? Doesn't have to be the same brand....just a wee cover/holder for size 2" x 2"(5.2cm x 7.5cm) Alex

Does anyone know of a commercially available leather pad cover that will fit a Rhodia no 12 dot pad? I just moved up to the Sacramento area, and I am super happy to have Rhodia available to me now. I use my small no12 everyday, as well as larger notebooks, and it would be perfect if I could only find a leather cover! Thanks in advance guys!

I don't think anyone has ever said anything about this before on this forum, but I thought I should post something just in case anyone is tempted to buy. I bought the Markiaro scratch pad in orange leather by mistake. I bought it online for very little money (so feel I shouldn't really complain, but the info is worth knowing) and then the supplier promptly went out of business so I couldn't return it. It was incorrectly labelled and described. Anyway, I thought I could make use of it. I love the Markiaro range; their pens and pen cases are very nice and this scratch pad is nice leather too. It feels like it's good quality and it is well made....except for the paper. There are a lot of these doing the rounds on ebay at present (has Markiaro gone out of production?) and in case anyone is tempted to buy, I thought I should point out the flaw. I thought this was a flip top notebook and when I bought it, it was labelled as such. What it actually is, is a tear off scratch pad for a desk top. The quality of the paper is not great. It has a very strange scratchy feel and it feathers slightly with certain pens. It's not dreadful, but neither is it good. One thing in its favour is that there is no bleed through to the other side, even with very wet inks and heavy flow. As a basic scratch pad it is fine though, and I guess the paper can always be replaced if you can find a pad that will fit it. Just thought folk might like to know.

So it's probably not a great idea to put two topics in one thread, but it's easier for me, and it's both paper related at least. Lately I've been using dip pens and metallic ink, and some of the inks are like white or near-white and only look good on darker paper, but I've found when I try to use cardstock or construction paper it can make my dip pens scratchy and that's not good. So I want to know if there are friendlier papers that I can use? I just got test sheets from JAM papers, that has some different black sheets so we'll see if those are any good, but does anyone have any other suggestions? Now onto my second inquiry. I have recently fell in love with the look of the Rhodia Ice pads, and will probably buy more as soon as I get paid again, but they only come in a staple-top-bound pad form which I'm not used to using at all. Right now I'm a college student, so I mainly write to take notes in class, which means I'm not about to rip off the sheets as I use them, I'm more likely to turn the page, and want to use the back-side. Is there a common or better way for doing this? It just seems like pads aren't really made to be used that way, and yet to me it defeats the purpose of getting paper that's bound together to begin with. Is there maybe some easy way to save the paper together after you take it off the pad? I'm totally up for DIY ways of doing this as well if there's a good proven way.

Can anyone recommend a top quality A4 writing pad (for fountain pen and other types of pen), which is bound sideways (i.e. glued along the left hand side)? White or cream colour. Ideally lined. I recently bought an A4 writing folder from Smythson. As nice as the product is, I just feel that the blue shaded paper it comes with isn't what I'm after. It is nice paper, but I don't like the fact that it has a Smythson front cover on it in blue (looks pretentious) and I'd rather have white/cream paper. Any recommendations? Frustratingly, it seems that most pads are top-bound (e.g. Crown Paper Mill). And Smythson appear to have changed to side-bound in the last year or two.