Fountain Pen Friendly Cheap Composition Notebooks

[dadoody]

After much trial and experience, I've found that those cheap .99 cent composition notebooks that one may pick up at your local office supply store, aren't all the same: even if they're being sold under the same brand.

 

The brand and the price aren't important. I've found that where the notebooks are made determines how ink behaves!

 

This has been a consistent finding over the last 2 years of going through dozens of these composition books:

 

Made in USA: The ink consistently dries fast and fuzzy.

 

Made in Vietnam: The ink feathers like crazy - it branches out.

 

Made in Brazil: I've found, consistently, that the notebooks that are Made in Brazil behave the best! No fuzz, no feathering. The paper seems to be the smoothest and highest quality, yet they're the same price as any of the other notebooks.

 

I don't yet know why this is the case. I'm guessing it has to do with how they process the paper? I'm not sure why it has so much to do with the country of origin and NOT the brand.

[dadoody]

I took the images from my camera phone to compare. I guess it may be hard to tell the difference in the low res pictures below, but it has really been the case that where these composition notebooks are made makes the most difference. I've tried multiple brands: Tops, Norcom, Mead, and Bizmart. When it comes to these cheap notebooks, I think fountain pen users should always look for ones made in Brazil. The paper is smooth as harder stock journals and the ink doesn't feather.

 

I honestly believe this to be the case, as it has been proven the case to me going through all the dozens of composition books I've gone through. I write with a Cross Solo. Noodler's Bulletproof Black ink.

 

 

 

 

Slightly fuzzes out: http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i206/dadoody/photobucket-3303-1355061315505.jpg

 

 

Feathers into veins:

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i206/dadoody/photobucket-15546-1355061331461.jpg

 

Smooth and bright:

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i206/dadoody/photobucket-15913-1355061348554.jpg

Edited December 9, 2012 by dadoody

[Octo]

I watch for these and stock up on them, too. Unfortunately, the ones with narrower rule are hard to find at a cheap price.

[JefferyS]

The patrons of the local Office Depot must have thought I was nuts. I rummaged through all of the composition books, looking at the back of each. I bought all of the ones made in Brazil, and passed over the ones made in Viet Nam. I managed to find about 12 of the Brazilian-made books. They are my "go between" notebooks (I take notes in them, then type them into "Tinderbox" later).

 

The last time I looked, all of the composition books were Vietnamese in origin. The Brazilian ones were a real bargain.

[Bookman]

Even "Made in Brazil" is no guarantee of FP-friendliness, but rather an increased likelihood of it. Last week I test-wrote on the back pages of all ten "Made in Brazil" Norcom composition notebooks I had waiting in the wings. Four of them committed felony feathering and show-through and had to be shot.

[Alexandra]

Thanks for the tip. I haven't had good experiences with fountain pens on composition paper. Now I'll look for "Made in Brazil."

[Sailor Kenshin]

Also 'Made In India.'. The paper feels soft, even chalky, but takes fp ink surprisingly well.

[Mags]

I like made in Canada products but it is hard to find.....weird given we export so much paper and only to buy it back with another country as the binder or printer.

[rhodialover]

I actually have some comp books from Nam and they seem to be able to hold up to mild flexing of an Ahab inked with Apache sunset.

[fiberdrunk]

Staples makes Eco-Friendly Composition Books which uses the same fountain pen-friendly bagasse (sugarcane) paper as their Sustainable Earth Notebooks. Similar kraft covers, too. The website doesn't offer a choice of cover designs (you only get a plain cover with the word Staples stamped on front), but in-store you can choose from different printed designs. These are the only composition books I use because they hold up so well to fountain pen ink without feathering or bleed-through. They sometimes go on sale, too (I've seen them as low as $1 on the website during August, and $1.49 in-store. On the website they are currently $2.99). Here is a review of it with another cover design shown than what's on the website.

 

eta: by the way, both the web-order and in-store Staples Eco-Friendly composition books I have were made in Egypt.

Edited December 12, 2012 by fiberdrunk

[Dino Silone]

I mainly buy these books at Staples during the summer, when I've been able to get them for as little as .10 apiece. My experience has been that the Made in Brazil ones are the best - I haven't hit a bad one. Before I knew better, I'd bought about a dozen of the Made in Egypt ones. They're nowhere near as good as the Brazilian ones, but are still usable on both sides with the right pens and inks - finer nibs and drier inks. The Made in Vietnam notebooks I've gotten are not very good at all.

 

I love these notebooks. I've wanted to try the Staples Eco-whatever composition books, but haven't because I've only found them in wide ruling -- I like graph ruling for work and/or more technical stuff, and college ruling for everything else... don't have much use for wide ruled notebooks.

[fiberdrunk]

I mainly buy these books at Staples during the summer, when I've been able to get them for as little as .10 apiece. My experience has been that the Made in Brazil ones are the best - I haven't hit a bad one. Before I knew better, I'd bought about a dozen of the Made in Egypt ones. They're nowhere near as good as the Brazilian ones, but are still usable on both sides with the right pens and inks - finer nibs and drier inks. The Made in Vietnam notebooks I've gotten are not very good at all.

 

I love these notebooks. I've wanted to try the Staples Eco-whatever composition books, but haven't because I've only found them in wide ruling -- I like graph ruling for work and/or more technical stuff, and college ruling for everything else... don't have much use for wide ruled notebooks.

 

 

I've never seen the Brazilian ones offered here, though I keep watching for them. But I haven't had bad luck with the Egyptian ones yet. I agree, I wish they came in graph ruling. Unlined ones would be nice, too.

[Navegador]

Funny to hear that Brazilian notebooks are anything special. I've always used all kinds of pens, including fountain pens on cheap "local" notebooks without second thought. Now if I think about it, it's true I've never had any issues with fountain pens, in fact I'd never even heard of things like "feathering" or given much thought about the paper I use - but then again the only "foreign" paper I've ever used were nice Kokuyo refillable notebooks that'd better accept any sort of ink for the price I paid!

[Dino Silone]

I mainly buy these books at Staples during the summer, when I've been able to get them for as little as .10 apiece. My experience has been that the Made in Brazil ones are the best - I haven't hit a bad one. Before I knew better, I'd bought about a dozen of the Made in Egypt ones. They're nowhere near as good as the Brazilian ones, but are still usable on both sides with the right pens and inks - finer nibs and drier inks. The Made in Vietnam notebooks I've gotten are not very good at all.

 

I love these notebooks. I've wanted to try the Staples Eco-whatever composition books, but haven't because I've only found them in wide ruling -- I like graph ruling for work and/or more technical stuff, and college ruling for everything else... don't have much use for wide ruled notebooks.

 

 

I've never seen the Brazilian ones offered here, though I keep watching for them. But I haven't had bad luck with the Egyptian ones yet. I agree, I wish they came in graph ruling. Unlined ones would be nice, too.

The regular Staples composition notebooks DO come in graph ruling, as well as wide and college ruled. It's the Eco-whatever ones that my local Staples seems to only stock in wide ruling. Then again, as long as I can get the Brazilian ones in the regular line, I don't really care about the Eco ones...

[Navegador]

What brand(s) are those Brazilian notebooks?

[pencils+pens]

I think my Brazilians came from OfficeMax. On the back it states:

 

Distributed by:

 

BizMart Inc

263 Shuman Blvd

Naperville, IL 60563-1255

[Dino Silone]

What brand(s) are those Brazilian notebooks?

The ones I get at Staples are sold under the Staples brand. You have to look at the label in the back to see where they're made. Some are made in Brazil, others in Vietnam, others in Egypt,...

[Harlequin]

i have a question, if I may. Being a total FP newb (I don't actually have a pen yet, well, I do, but it's one I had years and years ago, so I'm not counting it), I've never even considered things like feathering, "wet" or "dry" inks (I didn't even know there was a difference and still don't know how to tell), and especially paper types before. Upon finding this thread, I grabbed a couple of old comp books I've had laying around for a LONG time- a decade or more. Three of them have the label "Class Gear" (a Walmart brand, since it says "Marketed by Walmart" and has a line about shopping at Walmart.com) on them; the back says they were made in China. The other one I have is a Mead but it has absolutely no info on where it is from.

 

I'd like to know basically if anyone knows of any brands or paper-source-countries to definitely avoid? I'm definitely going to write in these with my Sheaffer Nononsense using just the cartridge ink that it came with (Skrip, I think?) to see how it turns out, but can anyone also tell me anything about the Mead, since it doesn't say where the paper is from? Incidentally, does the nib size and type (I don't mean flex, but italic or regular) make a huge difference in the outcome as far as whether it will feather, or bleed through, etc?

 

Sorry for all the (I'm guessing!) beginner questions, I'm trying to bring myself up to speed. ^_^

Edited December 13, 2012 by Harlequin

[Sailor Kenshin]

When I joined FPN I had no idea what was meant about wet or dry ink or feathering or any of that. Don't worry, you,ll soon catch on.

 

Sometimes you have to look in a million places to find where the notebook and paper were made: on the back, on the inside, the front, you name it.

 

Skrip pen? And ink cart? Congrats. Those are actually very nice writers.

 

Whoops, sorry...NN pen. Still a good writer! I own a few.

Edited December 13, 2012 by Sailor Kenshin

[bassmannate]

Good to now since I plan on using my pens in copy notebooks for beer and winemaking notes and recipes.