Good Stationery And Legal Pads From Staples?

[lourdesgirl101]

I am going to go to Staples sometime this week. I noticed that they had notepads on sale. I have been writing letters to my friends, but have been using the Staples Accel notebooks. I don't want to use three hole punched paper for letters anymore. I find it very tacky and, even though I don't experience bleedthrough or feathering, I still usually only use one side especially when I want to use my Lamy Joy 1.1.

 

Is there any heavy enough stock legal pads and decorative stationery that could be used with my Lamy Safari medium and a Lamy Joy 1.1 nib with Lamy black/blue/blue black/turquoise ink and a Kaweco Ice Sport with Diamine blue black ink? (Yes, I really like blue black ink.)

 

Would I be better off just go ahead and purchase a Rhodia top staplebound/wirebound pad or Clairefontaine Triomphe?

 

[Bennett]

Well, you can't go wrong with Rhodia or Clairfontaine for fountain pen friendly paper. But another alternative that Stapes does carry is the Black and Red notebook. I think there is one that goes for about $9 that has perforations that allow neat paper removal. I have tried them and have heard others have also had good experience with that paper.

[lourdesgirl101]

Thank you so much for your quick response! I will have to check it out. Have a great day!

[ac12]

This if for Office Depot, I think Staples is similar.

 

DOCKET GOLD branded. Is a heavy weight legal pads. 20 pound paper, FP friendly surface (or so it says on the packaging).

TOPS branded pads are also good for FPs. I tried a pad that my wife gave me, nice stuff.

They also have a sugar cane based pads called "eco conscious!". That I think are FP friendly. I have not tested them yet.

 

The way I test paper In the store is with my finger. I feel for how smooth the paper is. If it is not smooth, my F tips will not like the paper, and there is a good chance of feathering. So far my fingers have not been wrong. You need to develop a standard that you can use as a reference point. This should be a piece of Brazil made paper that you carry with you, to compare the surfaces.

 

Another alternative is to use 24 or 28 pound SMOOTH laser paper. Then use a guide sheet underneath to give you your lines to write on. I have a ream of Hammermill 28 pound Color Copy Digital paper, and my FPs seem to like it. But 28 pound paper is dense enough to make it hard to see the guide sheet below it. If you use 32 pound paper, I doubt that you will be able to see the guide sheet through the paper, except on a light table/box.

Edited July 29, 2013 by ac12

[ThePenPiper]

If you use 32 pound paper, I doubt that you will be able to see the guide sheet through the paper, except on a light table/box.

 

I'm not sure about you but I don't have a light box sitting around at home!

That being said I'm going to have to look at getting some of the 28# paper - seems like a very economical way to procure lots of stationery!

[cellmatrix]

Staples Eco easy sustainable earth writing pads are excellent for fountain pens and cheap too. But you must order them online.

[ac12]

 

I'm not sure about you but I don't have a light box sitting around at home!

That being said I'm going to have to look at getting some of the 28# paper - seems like a very economical way to procure lots of stationery!

 

That is why I am glad that I got the 28 pound paper rather than the 32 pound paper.

I NEED the help of a guide sheet to keep my writing straight and level.

 

The more I am writing, the more I am feeling that what I should use is blank or filler paper.

My hand has trouble when I reach near the bottom of the page and my hand is half on and half off the notebook. It becomes awkward to write.

But single sheets will require me to punch the blank sheets and file the sheets into a ring binder, which isn't such a big deal, since all my writing is at home. But I have a LOT of comp and note books to work through.

Edited July 29, 2013 by ac12

[wallylynn]

For legal pads, I can heartedly recommend the "M by Staples" pad. It's heavy and smooth. No feathering or bleedthrough. Very nice stuff.

[Catsmelt]

Staples Eco easy sustainable earth writing pads are excellent for fountain pens and cheap too. But you must order them online.

 

In my experience, the newer Sustainable Earth pads don't compare with the earlier bagasse notepads. Their feel and look are different.

 

Most importantly, they don't take fountain pens very well at all. At least with every pen/ink combo I've thrown at them. Very disappointed.

[Dionzi]

Staples' house brand paper http://www.staples.com/Staples-Reinforced-Filler-Paper-8-1-2-inch-x-11-inch/product_326530 is perfect for writing with pencil, and the newer version behaves reasonably well under fountain pen (my current pen is a Sheaffer Prelude, and I'm using, sadly, Sheaffer cartridges). Let's see if I can post a picture or two: Yep. See below. Sorry about the large size, but I wanted to make sure that the photos were sufficient - my scanner is FUBARed. Photos were taken in natural, north-exposure light, just as a rainstorm started, with a FujiFilm FinePix S700 digital camera, with stabilization and super-macro auto-focus enabled.

 

The stationary on the left was purchased from Staples in a Virginia location in January 2012. It works excellently with pencil, but as you can see, there is significant bleed-through. The stationary on the right was purchased from the same Staples location in July 2013. It is much smoother than last year's manufacture (indicating to me that a hot-press was used, or, rather, the hot press was hotter and pressed harder than the earlier version), and while it doesn't capture graphite (from Palomino's Blackwing line) quite as nicely as the earlier version, it is much smoother, and has virtually no bleed-through from either of the inks I used.

 

I write almost exclusively in cursive before plugging it into my Typewriter (a 2011 MacBook Pro), and, having always been a product snob, I've got to say that I've not found anything on the market quite as nice as this. I prefer the older version of the Staples stationary, simply because I currently write primarily with pencil, but the new version is much more utilitarian. I bring reams of it to my local printer and they make tear-pads for me (note pads with one edge glued and mounted on heavy card stock) for virtually nothing.

 

Since I can't get this product in Canada, I have to get someone in the USA to buy and ship it to me - and 10 reams (1000 sheets) lasts me roughly a year.

 

Highly recommended!

 

I also transcribe research notes into bound sketch books I get from a local art store: http://bijansartstudio.com/1717-Buy-Q--Hard-Cover-8-5x11-Sketch-Book.aspx and http://bijansartstudio.com/1593-Buy-DalerRowney-Sketchbook.aspx . The paper in these hard-bound, flat-open books is absolutely perfect, and is worth the cost, and extra effort required to transcribe dozens of pages of notes from looseleaf into these volumes. I use the same books for sketching/painting/drawing concepts.

 

And yes, that is my normal script.

 

http://www.skyfallminiatures.com/WHPhotoHosting/ScriptSample_Staples20lbsReinforcedHouseBrand.jpg

Edited August 3, 2013 by Dionzi

[Runnin_Ute]

Well, you can't go wrong with Rhodia or Clairfontaine for fountain pen friendly paper. But another alternative that Stapes does carry is the Black and Red notebook. I think there is one that goes for about $9 that has perforations that allow neat paper removal. I have tried them and have heard others have also had good experience with that paper.

I have also had good luck with the Black n' Red.

 

Strathmore makes some parchment style paper (I got my pad of 50 sheets, which is acid free and 60 lb/89 gsm at Barnes & Noble) 8.5 x11 size and the pad I have has about 5 different colors....It is fairly inexpensive and is a bit more absorbent than the black n' red, but I haven't had issues with bleed through or feathering either. (~$6 or so for 50 sheets)

[Octo]

 

 

Is there any heavy enough stock legal pads and decorative stationery that could be used with my Lamy Safari medium and a Lamy Joy 1.1 nib

 

 

There's no Staples within 75 miles from me, :-( but I do fairly well at Office Depot and even better at the Office Max in the nearest city by watching the clearance bins. One can often find nicely decorated 8.5 x 11 inch computer stationery for $2 or $3 for 100 sheets. Quality is a gamble, but I've acquired a nice variety of quite usable decorated stationery that way. The paper that doesn't play well with fountain pens can always be run through the printer for rough drafts, etc.

[linux3214]

 

In my experience, the newer Sustainable Earth pads don't compare with the earlier bagasse notepads. Their feel and look are different.

 

Most importantly, they don't take fountain pens very well at all. At least with every pen/ink combo I've thrown at them. Very disappointed.

I've also had ups and downs with the

 

For legal pads, I can heartedly recommend the "M by Staples" pad. It's heavy and smooth. No feathering or bleedthrough. Very nice stuff.

The planner pads are great too. Hoping that they will be more standardized and consistent than other Staples pick of the months.

Sustainable Earth notebooks. Early on, around 2010, all the notebooks were great with the only problem being showthrough but now even the Egypt and especially the Vietnam books are terrible. I mistakenly bought all their stock when it was on sale and did not check the paper so now I've got a pile of notebooks that can only be used with my most well behaved ink, Noodler's Black.

[Paddler]

I use Southworth and Wausau parchment papers that are packaged in the 100 sheet boxes. I am unfamiliar with the pens and inks you use, but these papers don't feather or bleed for me.

[Juanjavier]

I tried Docket Gold legal pads that specify that are fountainpen friendly. They are NOT. I returned the 5 pack solely on the feathering experienced on my Lamy Al-Star F nib with Lamy black, and my Vanishing Point. It was a big dissappointment. The packaging even shows a fountainpen writing on the freaking thing. At any rate, if you try them, hold on th your reciept. They're quite pricey.

[lourdesgirl101]

I tried Docket Gold legal pads that specify that are fountainpen friendly. They are NOT. I returned the 5 pack solely on the feathering experienced on my Lamy Al-Star F nib with Lamy black, and my Vanishing Point. It was a big dissappointment. The packaging even shows a fountainpen writing on the freaking thing. At any rate, if you try them, hold on th your reciept. They're quite pricey.

I am sorry for your experience. I have yet to buy any stationery - and I am still eyeing Clairefontaine ruled stationery because it's about the only ruled stationery on the market. Plus I love the smoothness of Clairefontaine. In my experience, Lamy inks do pretty well on any paper. Maybe it's because they have pens marketed for schoolchildren.