I'm A Sad, Pathetic Stationery Junkie.

[ParramattaPaul]

3 hours ago, Mark from Yorkshire said:

Aye I have tried Neros but they do not have the A5 writing pads, I will wait and see if they respond to my letter or online contact us form in the week.

Have a look at Amazon.co.uk.  They have Silvine A4 and A5 listed.  They may have what you want.

[Mechanical]

9 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

  This is what I know about Tomoe River paper: there were always 2 machines, #7 made the 52 gsm and #9 made the 68gsm. #7 started having problems and was on the struggle bus for a long time. Sometime in the end of the last decade the manufacturer decided that the maintenance #7 required was getting to be too difficult. The 52 gsm was then also made on #9 (“new” TR 52). The paper recipe and machine (s?) were sold to Sakae. Sakae makes 52 gsm Tomoe River Successor (TR “S”).  Meanwhile, the 68 gsm is in some sort of purgatory. I have old stock, some that was sold to me as new but turned out to be old, and there’s talk that 68gsm is gone and that Sakae is trying to develop a higher gsm TR paper. 

 

Thanks for this @Penguincollector!  Several of these versions have passed through my hands over the years, but I never understood what was what.

 

I'm currently working through my TR 68gsm from #9 that I got at Barnes and Noble.  Hopefully Sakae will succeed with their new TR paper.

[Penguincollector]

13 minutes ago, Mechanical said:

 

Thanks for this @Penguincollector!  Several of these versions have passed through my hands over the years, but I never understood what was what.

 

I'm currently working through my TR 68gsm from #9 that I got at Barnes and Noble.  Hopefully Sakae will succeed with their new TR paper.

  You’re so welcome! I do have to give a disclaimer that I’m just working from memory, so I may be incorrect.

[Stompie]

Decided to give my Muji B6 Slim notebooks a go - wow, they are super good with pen ink. I used a dip pen and flexed it like crazy, no feathering and no bleed through, not even a slight shadow on the reverse size.  Very happy!

[Penguincollector]

@Stompie  I just bought a few of these at MUJI last month, it makes me excited to try them. 

[Runnin_Ute]

On 11/2/2024 at 9:54 PM, Mechanical said:

 

Thanks for this @Penguincollector!  Several of these versions have passed through my hands over the years, but I never understood what was what.

 

I'm currently working through my TR 68gsm from #9 that I got at Barnes and Noble.  Hopefully Sakae will succeed with their new TR paper.

My understanding is the "newest" version is "Sanzen" not Sakae - that was a previous maker. (I currently have a 100 pack of A4 from bont Sakae - the open one, and Sanzen, which I bought more recently.

[inkstainedruth]

On 10/29/2024 at 10:45 PM, Misfit said:

edited to add the letter opener works really well. 

Hmmm.  I bought a letter opener a few years ago at Staples (one of the standard looking ones, with the blade and handle) and it got dull really quickly.  I'm now curious about the style you bought, and whether what looks like a razor blade is replaceable.

I then bought one at an estate sale (back before I really started paying attention to the listings and photos) but seem to have misplaced it.  

Did I really need a letter opener that had the Goodyear logo on the handle?  Nope....  But I think only paid a buck or two for it, and it worked WAY better than the one from Staples did....  And that was the same morning where at the fifth place I went to, I found the Parker 41 up in the office alcove at the top of the stairs, digging through a shoebox of mostly ballpoints (I could have bought the entire contents of the box   for $5 US, but what am I gonna do with a bunch of click ballpoints with advertising printed on them?)

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Misfit]

My cheap letter opener cut the envelope enclosed in the bill. Other times I ended up cutting a curve. If I pay good attention, it works better. 

[Misfit]

I went to Dollar General yesterday, and got a notebook, plus some other items including a Zebra fountain pen. I saw the name Magenta, but it’s actually pink ink. 
 

[inkypete]

On 11/8/2024 at 6:14 AM, inkstainedruth said:

Hmmm.  I bought a letter opener a few years ago at Staples (one of the standard looking ones, with the blade and handle) and it got dull really quickly.  I'm now curious about the style you bought, and whether what looks like a razor blade is replaceable.

I then bought one at an estate sale (back before I really started paying attention to the listings and photos) but seem to have misplaced it.  

Did I really need a letter opener that had the Goodyear logo on the handle?  Nope....  But I think only paid a buck or two for it, and it worked WAY better than the one from Staples did....  And that was the same morning where at the fifth place I went to, I found the Parker 41 up in the office alcove at the top of the stairs, digging through a shoebox of mostly ballpoints (I could have bought the entire contents of the box   for $5 US, but what am I gonna do with a bunch of click ballpoints with advertising printed on them?)

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

This is my fave letter opener. Parker arrow but I cannot recall where I got it from.

 

 

[inkypete]

Hmmmm - can't seem to post a pic.

[ParramattaPaul]

I had a miniature bayonet letter opener many years ago. Now I use a 'spear point' kitchen pairing knife.  The spear point easile gets under envelope flap and the sharpish blade makes easy work of opening envelopes and parcels.

[inkstainedruth]

14 hours ago, Misfit said:

I went to Dollar General yesterday, and got a notebook, plus some other items including a Zebra fountain pen. I saw the name Magenta, but it’s actually pink ink. 

Interesting.  What sort of fill system does the pen have?  

Apparently the Dollar General in the center of town has a couple of colors in stock (but it's often hard to find stuff in there because the aisles are often blocked by carts of stuff they haven't gotten on the shelves yet....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Misfit]

@inkstainedruth I think the Zebra fountain pens at Dollar General are like the Pilot Varsity. Likely not meant to be refilled. But there are hacks to refill the Varsity, so I’d expect the same for the Zebra. 
 

I went to two Dollar General stores today. The one closest to me is smaller, and did not have stationery on two aisles. So I had to go back to the other store, which is larger, and has wide aisles. I got the green Zebra fountain pen because, well $2, plus a Zebra magenta Midliner for Spring and Summer, and the mint collection of Chapstick. 

[inkstainedruth]

I went to the Dollar General in the center of town earlier today, after running up to the large grocery store off the highway near me (they have their own brand of gas stations, and the air pump is free -- the dip in temperatures last night caused the tire pressure light on my dashboard to come on, and I didn't have time to do it in the morning while running to a couple of estate sales, even though I was doing a fair amount of highway driving ).  Only to discover a sign on the door saying they were currently closed for reconstruction.   So I may try, sometime next week, to check out one of the other locations in the area.

I had wondered if they were similar to the Pilot Varsity pens in design.  The one in town supposedly had three different colors: black, blue, and fuchsia.  

So now I'll have to check to see if other local stores have them in stock and -- if so -- what colors are available.  For two bucks I'm willing to take a risk (and who knows -- maybe they can be refilled like the Varsities...).

Ironically, I was killing time last month before a pen club meeting and stuck my nose in the Staples close to where meetings currently take place.  And there was some guy in there who was actually LOOKING for Pilot Varsities but that location didn't have them in stock.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Misfit]

@inkstainedruth have you tried looking at Dollar General online to see if they show stock for individual stores? I just tried it, and it does show stock. I switched between the two stores near me. The one I knew had stock was my first store set for shopping. Then I switched to the other store, and it showed no results, which I knew from going in. 

[inkstainedruth]

Yes.  That's how I knew that the three different colors were supposedly in the store in town.  Unfortunately, the website did NOT say that location was currently closed -- I discovered that when I got to the front door....

Admittedly, I didn't particularly like the local store all that much, because recently it's often so hard to find stuff on the shelves because of the restocking carts clogging the aisles.  But was willing to give them another go since they supposedly had the three different colors in stock.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth