Shinola Small "kraft" Notebook Mini Review

[Bookman]

I bought a pair of Shinola Small "Kraft" Notebooks yesterday at FLAX in San Francisco. These two 3.75" x 5.5" notebooks came shrink-wrapped together, and I paid $6.75 for the pair.

 

 

 

The Shinola Small "Kraft" Notebook has a cardstock cover of about 80 gsm (my estimate). It contains 36 ruled leaves, 72 pages, none perforated. (The similar Moleskine notebook has 16 perforated leaves in the back, a feature I like.) I can't tell whether the binding is stitched or merely glued.

 

The ruling is 6.5 mm. The wrapper says the paper is "60 lb." and so does the Shinola website. And maybe it is, but it feels more like 28-32 lb. to me. It is ivory-colored and not particularly smooth to the touch. When I run my fingers across it, it reminds me of Mead 5-Star notebook/filler paper or Made-in-USA Norcom Composition Notebook paper. When I write on it, I indeed hear and feel a small but noticeable amount of feedback.

 

 

 

 

I test-wrote on ten leaves at random. I used nine different pen-ink combinations. The results were inconsistent, the leaves falling into three levels of quality.

 

THE GOOD: On the three "good" leaves there was no discernible feathering. Show through was moderate. If the notebook were filled with this paper, it might arguably be the best of its kind of notebook (cf. Moleskine and Field Notes), despite the lack of smoothness.

 

THE NOT-SO-GOOD: On the three "not-so-good" leaves, the following inks feathered noticeably: Aurora Black,Visconti Blue, Sailor Jentle Blue, and J. Herbin 1670 Bleu Ocean. Diamine Red Dragon feathered even more. Show-through was moderate to severe, with Diamine Red Dragon approaching bleed-through.

 

Here's a representative "good" recto and a representative "not-so-good" verso.

 

 

 

 

THE BAD: On the four remaining leaves I tested—the "bad"—every pen-ink combination feathered, with Diamine Red Dragon the worst by far. On the plus side, show-through was not remarkably worse than on the "not-so-good" leaves. Here's a representative "bad" leaf, front and back.

 

 

 

SUMMARY, SHINOLA SMALL "KRAFT" NOTEBOOK:

• 3.75" x 5.5"
• cardstock cover
• glued binding and not stitched?
• 36 leaves, 72 pp
• ivory paper, not smooth
• "60 lb."?
• no perforated leaves
• inconsistent quality, leaf to leaf, ranging from no feathering and moderate show-through to severe feathering and severe show-through
• BOTTOM LINE: Too much feathering, too much show-through
• RECOMMENDATION: Switch to consistent paper, albeit white, and buy the 3.54" X 5.51" Clairefontaine Classic Side-Staplebound Notebook; or, if you want a pocket-size ivory-paper notebook, buy the Moleskine 3.5" x 5.5" Plain (i.e. unlined) Volant Notebook (40 leaves, the last 16 of which are perforated for easy removal; I've had good luck with unlined paper in the small Moleskine notebooks: little or no feathering, moderate show-through; YMMV, but I can't recommend any lined Moleskine product)

Edited September 15, 2015 by Bookman

[bleair]

Thank you for the review.

 

I have see this brand in a few places (Flax, and others) and I was curious... I think this notebook isn't quite for me as spread & feathering bother me more than other properties.. but that's likely a good thing as I may have almost enough notebooks already.

 

I wonder if they use some recycled material in their paper and that might explain the variation...

[pen2paper]

since this is a fairly recent and up and coming company that advertises pride in local manufacture with high quality, will you also report your mixed findings to the company?

[Bookman]

since this is a fairly recent and up and coming company that advertises pride in local manufacture with high quality, will you also report your mixed findings to the company?

 

I emailed the company after reading your post, and I hope to hear back from somebody within 24 hours. Meanwhile, I alerted its email reader to this thread.

Edited September 16, 2015 by Bookman

[Bookman]

Follow up to this review and my previous post: No one from Shinola replied to my email. So much for pride.

[Drone]

Shinola - I'm not so sure I would buy my notebooks from a retread company that makes bicycles. Anyway, thanks for the review.

[FOUR X FOUR]

Son of a biscuit. I saw this notebook, today. Just from looking at it; I wasn't impressed. I didn't think it would FP friendly. So, I bought another notebook that's not FP friendly,,, Moleskine. I'm going back, tomorrow to get a few Shinolas

[pen2paper]

Son of a biscuit. I saw this notebook, today. Just from looking at it; I wasn't impressed. I didn't think it would FP friendly. So, I bought another notebook that's not FP friendly,,, Moleskine. I'm going back, tomorrow to get a few Shinolas

not yet... but a call requesting fountain pen friendly paper may help. I did phone. Requested candid information as fountain pen folks, Lots of them seeking suitable paper in nice journals are prepped to be customers. Candid response, ballpoint worthy at this time, not fountain pens, will pass inquiry along. Phones of interest may help.