Random Find $1 Fp Friendly Paper!

[gryphon1911]

Thought I would share this. My family is always looking for things to get me for Christmas. Knowing that I love to write, they often get me paper.

 

This year, I open up a box and there are 3 writing pads from Dollar General discount store. I open up the cover and look at the paper and it doesn't feel like the usual bargain store paper. So, I figure, Ii'll check it out with the fountain pens I currently had inked up.

 

TWSBI Diamond 580 - 1.1mm nib with Noodler's Golden Brown

Bexley Poseidon Magnum II - fine with Iroshizuku Asa-Gao

Pelikan Stola III - medium with Pelikan Royal Blue

Hero 616 - Extra fine with Private Reserve Spearmint

 

I was pretty impressed that it handled all that with no feathering, no bleed through(normal writing, even calligraphy faired OK).

 

I went to my local Dollar General and the Writing Pads were $1 each. I bought them out.

Another Dollar General is close to my work, so I went there a few days later, and they had steno books and yellow legal pads with the same writing quality!! the Steno books were $1 each and the legal pads were $1.80 each package, 2 pads per package.

 

120 pages in the writing pad, 100 pages in the steno, and each legal pad was 50 pages(100 pages total).

 

If you have a Dollar General near you and you want some decent, FP friendly paper - definitely check it out!

 

Made in Indonesia might have something to do with the FP friendliness.

 

Writing Sample:

 

Bleed through - I needed to write in that same area for about 5 seconds to get this kind of bleed through.

 

Show through is minimal

 

[mwpannell]

Cool. DG nearby, I'll have try. Thanks for the info!

[inkypete]

If you find a bargain buy that is what you have to do - go back and stock up as there is no guarantee that the next shipment will have the same quality paper. Indonesian branded papers generally speaking seem to be very FP friendly as a rule of thumb.

[mwpannell]

I picked up one writing tablet today and gave it a quick try with a very smooth-nibbled (F) Platinum PE500 using Noodler's Black. Nice. Worth a dollar for sure. Was toothy, a bit scratchy, but not too much more than I find Midori MD papers. Handled ink well, no feathering or bleed problem. Not a pure delight to write on but delightful at the price. My verdict: a true scratch pad. Scratchy, yes, but at $1/120 sheets it's a really, really good paper for junk notes and goofing around without feeling guilty, ie scratch paper. And can be used for "real" writing, too. I don't know that I'll buy out the local stock,there are a lot of DGs around and there was a huge stack where I went, but I'll likely get a couple more. Maybe the legal pad.

 

What was interesting too was Indonesian made envelopes. Cheap envelopes. To have cheap envelopes that take ink would be great. May have to try that now. There are other Indonesian made products there.

 

What was really disappointing though, was they had legal pad graph paper under the same branding--but it was made in India. Not sure that's worth (another) try. But that would have really gotten me going if it had been the same paper. Maybe in time it will be before they change everything up again.

[dvalliere]

On your recommendation, I stopped by a Dollar General store today and picked up two copies of this paper pad (also made in Indonesia). They are definitely worth the price paid, and take most fountain pens and inks adequately or very well depending. I had no problem with fine pens, while medium nib pens tended to produce a fair amount of show through. My firehose stub nib pen produced just a hint of bleedthrough. Only the beginning hints of feathering was seen with a couple of inks; most performed fine.

 

Thank you for the heads up and recommendation.

[gryphon1911]

I'm glad everyone is finding this paper useful.

 

there are times when i want to just practice my writing, create to do lists and the like, but why use my Rhodia/Clairefontaine, etc paper when this would do.

 

As others have found, for the price paid, a good scratch paper that allows us to write with most of our favorite pen and ink combinations without feeling guilty over wasting more "premium" stocks.

[mwpannell]

I'm glad everyone is finding this paper useful.

 

there are times when i want to just practice my writing, create to do lists and the like, but why use my Rhodia/Clairefontaine, etc paper when this would do.

 

As others have found, for the price paid, a good scratch paper that allows us to write with most of our favorite pen and ink combinations without feeling guilty over wasting more "premium" stocks.

Exactly. Exactly. Again, thanks for the heads up. A while back someone made note some Dollar Tree/dollar store locations had a fairly fountain pen friendly writing pad, but I never found any at my local store. Happy to see these at Dollar General. Good 'ole Dollar General. The poor man's Walmart. Actually, they have some really good everyday values and now this: "quality stationary." Whood-a-thunk-it?

[Sailor Kenshin]

I picked up one writing tablet today and gave it a quick try with a very smooth-nibbled (F) Platinum PE500 using Noodler's Black. Nice. Worth a dollar for sure. Was toothy, a bit scratchy, but not too much more than I find Midori MD papers. Handled ink well, no feathering or bleed problem. Not a pure delight to write on but delightful at the price. My verdict: a true scratch pad. Scratchy, yes, but at $1/120 sheets it's a really, really good paper for junk notes and goofing around without feeling guilty, ie scratch paper. And can be used for "real" writing, too. I don't know that I'll buy out the local stock,there are a lot of DGs around and there was a huge stack where I went, but I'll likely get a couple more. Maybe the legal pad.

What was interesting too was Indonesian made envelopes. Cheap envelopes. To have cheap envelopes that take ink would be great. May have to try that now. There are other Indonesian made products there.

What was really disappointing though, was they had legal pad graph paper under the same branding--but it was made in India. Not sure that's worth (another) try. But that would have really gotten me going if it had been the same paper. Maybe in time it will be before they change everything up again.

 

India paper is usually excellent! And for that price, if you don't like it?....

[mwpannell]

I was thinking I had only had bad experiences with India paper in composition notebooks. But then I have such a stash of compositions with Brazil paper I hardly ever buy or try others these days. At that price I will give it a try. It would be nice if it's decent. I guess I'll have to go back and for the first time ever at Dollar General, get a shopping buggy! Well probably not, but I was planning to try the envelopes, etc., if I liked the pad. And I do. But your right, at the price -- worth a try I suppose.

[mwpannell]

I see bob_hayden had a review of this paper, and other cheap brands, back in November. Worth a look.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/315347-writing-tablet-bleed-through-battle/

 

 

 

[mwpannell]

After a week-or-so's use on and off, I'm liking this stuff better and better. A wider variety of pens and inks, all fine-ish, have given good results and pleasant writing on a $1 pad.

[Candleinthewilderness]

I used the gregg ruled at fsmily doller for the longest. I Teach sunday school scriptures on one side and notes on the other. I never tried big stubs on It but it handled my fine nibs great. Doller general unlined paper was good also it's same size as the paper you reviewed. It used to be good also but it's been awhile since I used the dg paper

Edited January 22, 2017 by Candleinthewilderness

[Vespagirl]

Thank you for the tip! I finally had time to go by Dollar General today and I purchased the recommended notebook (their last) and a three subject spiral (a $2 splurge). Both work great for the moderately wet writers I have tried on them.

 

I could not be happier with my $3 investment.

[hh1990]

Thank you for sharing this.

[countrydirt]

I popped in to our local DG and picked up 2 tablets based on this thread. I did take a FP in with me and made a couple of lines on the last sheet of 1 pad before I pried $2 out of my wallet. Well worth the money!

[LordNova2]

While I have not explored too much into the tablets yet, I have found that allot of the dollar stores (like Dollar General and Dollar Tree) can be a good source for cheap FP friendly paper.
No matter which store I have purchased the paper from they all have one thing in common (including the OP's tablet) and that is they are all made in Indonesia. So I am guessing this is all coming out of the same paper mill.
The paper I normally get from the dollar stores are the lined loose-leaf filler paper, and the spiral-bound notebooks (1-subject, 3-subject, and 5-subject).

[JerryA2Z]

An old thread, but here's my two cents:

I experimented with a Bazik notebook from a local 99 cents store and though it is made in Indonesia, it's not really fountain pen friendly. Using a Jinhao pen with a stainless steel medium nib and Rohrer & Klingner Royal Blue ink there is noticeable bleedthrough. A rollerball with a Pilot G2 Gel Pen refill gives less bleedthrough, and a ballpoint gives the least but it's still there. It looks like a pencil would work best. On the plus side, there's no feathering with the fountain pen and the paper is smooth; it's a pleasure to write on it.

There are no Dollar General stores in Manhattan, and three in Queens, where I live. If I can get to the one nearest to where I live I'll try out the store brand notebook. Based on the previous posts, it should be more FP-friendly than the Bazik brand and I'm going to need a notebook in a few months.

[Chmara]

This Indonesian paper .works with Noodlers X-Feather black perfectly and allows use of both side of the paper for those of us who are impecunious and live near a Dollar General.

 

But if you use Noodler's Baystate Blue -- the bleed through is excessive.

 

Heart of Darkness works OK - as does Diamine Ancient Copper where bleed though is not excessive but is a definite shadow, For those inks this is good practice paper unless you have to overlay a second stroke.

 

I got his paper in the 3 hole noitebook packs as it was all I could find unless I make a trip to other, more distant in Tucson, Dollar General Stores.

[bluebellrose]

Not me. I wait for the back to school season and stock up on everyday essentials paper at 25 cents a package. Fp friendly too

[bob_hayden]

I recently discovered a Dollar General near me and today I checked it out. Wide ruled three hole loose leaf filler was on sale but, though it looked just like the package I bought some time ago, the performance was not nearly as good. It was still acceptable for tame pens and inks;-) I would much prefer the paper from Wal-mart that always costs about what this costs when on sale.

 

The 6X9 writing pads now have but 100 sheets and are made in India but perform even better than the ones from Indonesia. This is now my favorite 6X9 pad.

 

I got some yellow 5X8 legal pads and they were better still. Three fifty page pads for $1. This is now my favorite 5X8 among readily available options, though I do not care for the yellow color.

 

I got 100 #6 letter size envelopes for $1. also from Indobesia. That's a very good price and performance was between the filler paper and the 6X9 pad, though I should not think bleed through or show through would be an issue here. The really deadly Always Greener came out broad (with a ubiquitous Jinhao M/F nib) but did not look like it needed a shave. Other inks looked fine. These will now be my default envelopes in this size.