Loose Leaf Lined B5 Paper?

[tvradio]

I'm looking for non-feathering FP-friendly lined paper in the B5 size. (If I have to I'd take American 8.5"x11".) Over at Jetpens they have two types of Kokuyo 6mm lined loose leaf paper: the Sarasara and the Shikkari. They're both 26-hole papers and therefore use weird binders, but I'm okay with that if the paper is good.

Is it?

 

I couldn't find any information about the differences between Sarasara & Shikkari, but reviewers on the site seem to like them both with fountain pens.

 

Does anyone know what the different types for this brand mean?

 

And finally, what other lined loose leaf paper should I also be considering? I want to buy 50-100 pages at a time. (And I don't want to run blank paper through my printer to make my own lines.) 6mm or 7mm lined would be ideal.

 

 

 

 

[JakobS]

I have used the Shikkari in A5 and it is by far one of the best papers I have ever used. Perfect line width, no bleed though and feathering with a variety of different inks, and wetness of pens, neither overly smooth or toothy, really just a paper that lets you enjoy writing.

 

I did read that some think the image of a pencil on Sarasara indicates a less fountain pen friendly paper, but as you see from the reviews it looks like people have similar experience with it as I do with the Shikkari paper, so I am not sure if that holds up or not. It is also supposed to be a smoother paper, but I don't find Shikkari to be toothy.

 

Definitely worth the investment for one or both!

 

Cannot help much on other loose leaf paper, as most of my favorites are no longer made, or have been modified in a way that is no longer fountain pen friendly!

Edited June 1, 2018 by JakobS

[torstar]

I'm looking for non-feathering FP-friendly lined paper in the B5 size. (If I have to I'd take American 8.5"x11".) Over at Jetpens they have two types of Kokuyo 6mm lined loose leaf paper: the Sarasara and the Shikkari. They're both 26-hole papers and therefore use weird binders, but I'm okay with that if the paper is good.

Is it?

 

I couldn't find any information about the differences between Sarasara & Shikkari, but reviewers on the site seem to like them both with fountain pens.

 

Does anyone know what the different types for this brand mean?

 

And finally, what other lined loose leaf paper should I also be considering? I want to buy 50-100 pages at a time. (And I don't want to run blank paper through my printer to make my own lines.) 6mm or 7mm lined would be ideal.

 

 

 

 

 

the poundage (or equivalent measure) is most important to me

 

24 is great for lined paper, 20 is what you see all around you. 24 is usually found in all big-box stores selling business paper.

 

the higher you go the glossier it gets...

[Bookman]

Here's a test sheet of B5 Kokuyo Sarasara paper in the notebook that goes with it. The paper is as smooth as Apica Premium CD and Rhodia Premium. I use mostly EF and F nibs, but for what it's worth, feathering has never been an issue, even with BSB. BSB, however, partially bleeds through. But otherwise, show-through is minor. I haven't used the Kokuyo Shikari. If you can abide the 6mm ruling, which I couldn't, this is terrific paper. Correction: even if you can't abide the 6mm ruling, it's still terrific paper.

Edited June 3, 2018 by Bookman

[ridiculopathy]

I don't read Japanese, but I've tried both.

 

Obvious differences are that Shikkari has blue and dark grey print while Sarasara has all light grey print and is dot-lined.

 

I find Shikkari to be toothier/rougher than Sarasara, so it gives feedback when I write on it. Sarasara is more coated and smooth like other fp-friendly papers (e.g. Rhodia, Apica, Life). Hopefully the picture below helps to let you know what I mean (on the top is Sarasara, on the bottom is Shikkari).

 

 

Both of them are fp-friendly and don't bleed, but I personally prefer Sarasara.

 

Other options for loose-leaf B5 paper are:

From Maruman (also has A4 size): https://www.jetpens.com/Maruman-Smooth-to-Write-Loose-Leaf-Notepad-B5-6-mm-Rule-26-Holes-50-Sheets/pd/13365

(No affiliation to Jetpens.) It's smooth like Sarasara, white instead of cream paper, and has sharp instead of rounded corners. I've only found it in notepad form, so it's a little bit more expensive than the Kokuyo.

 

Muji has loose-leaf paper in their stores that is a lot cheaper. In general it's fp-friendly, but I find there are small points of almost-bleed-through with wetter writing pens.

 

Edit to add comments on feathering: I haven't had feathering on Kokuyo and Maruman; if you look very closely, Muji has small amounts of feathering with wet pens.

Edited June 4, 2018 by bananaclaw

[JakobS]

Having now tried both the Shikkari and Sarasara papers in A5, the one thing I have noticed is that indeed the Sarasara paper is smoother like Clairefontaine and Rhoda, but also like these papers can absorb oil from your hands quite easily, causing "slicks" that have the ink bead up and break the line on the page. This maybe most relevant for left handers, or those who tend to place their hands/fingers on the page or margins that have yet to be written on. The smoothness is not so great between the two papers that I find much benefit compared to the Shikkari, which I still prefer as I have yet to notice it being sensitive to hand oils, and lays down a more accurate line of ink per nib size compared to the Sarasara, though that paper is not horrible compared to Rhoda or Clairefontaine in this regard.

[inkypete]

I can add a vote for Muji and Daiso. They stock B5 ruled and they work well with my Lamy Safari fine nibs and my Parker 51 medium. The paper at both can vary from time to time so buy a single packet, try it and if it is good, stock up. I use Muji refills everyday in B5.

[Honeybadgers]

I use kokuyo B5 paper extensively, have gone through well over 200 sheets since this summer in my EKG studies (lined) biology (lined) and calculus (graph)

 

the kokuyo system is pretty sweet. I will say the standard 6mm rule paper I noticed a LOT of issues with. maybe I got a bad batch but the 6mm rule lined stuff feathered and bled like crazy. the 7mm rule has been perfect, as has the graph paper (you occasionally get a spot of feathering where the page coating wasn't thick enough but I'd say I only see that on one out of every 10-20 sheets, and it seems to happen on every paper apart from tomoe)

 

The other benefit is that they use removable sheets, which I appreciate for turning in homework and removing my bio scribbles every day after transcribing them to my notebook. the 26 hole setup means the pages are durable and do not come loose.

 

Paper thickness is good. I can use double broads with minimal showthrough and no bleeding or feathering. Sheen will pop pretty well. Paper is slightly cream colored, not pure white.

 

Kokuyo also sells a larger binder for holding pages once the little one is full (I'd say it holds 40 sheets, the larger one easily a couple hundred) that comes with index tabbed pages too.

 

And if you want to get REALLY cool results, you can actually buy a 26 hole punch by them that works with both their A4 and B5 paper. Which means that you can use loose leaf A4 and A5 tomoe river paper in the notebook! I have a third one for writing letters that has the standard 7mm ruled paper, traced over with black, and a bunch of sheets of blank tomoe, so I can write clean letters with no lines since the tomoe is so thin.

 

I love my kokuyo stuff. I will continue to use it for my math and any note taking where I may need to remove pages.

 

Similar to the kokuyo is the aqua drops stuff, also japanese, removable sheets. I like the aqua drops ring system better, but the paper in those is godawful, not even good as scratch paper, it feathers and bleeds impossibly. I find Maruman mnemosyne paper to be quite inconsistent in its coating, most pages have a spot towards the bottom where they will start to feather like crazy. Glassy smooth stuff, but every time I hit a patch where my EF pilot nib would feather out to a B line, it was just nails on a chalkboard.

 

Apica similarly has decent, but not great coating consistency.

Edited November 18, 2018 by Honeybadgers