Homage to the composition notebook

[Sailor Kenshin]

I'm going to choose my words carefully here, but in case I slip up, apologies in advance! I'm a little bit surprised at the interest on this thread, because I'm really curious how people actually use these things. My memories of dreading these books in school don't come from how they handled (or didn't) ink, but rather how I was constantly fighting that binding! They just always felt like they were designed specifically to frustrate the writer. Always shutting, and the margin all curving inward... So is there some trick to it, or is this just something people have more patience with than I do?

 

I hear ya, and some bindings annoy the ink outta me. I can barely use them and feel like it's a struggle cover to cover.

 

But some lie flatter than others. Those are fun to write in.

[brh]

Personally, I use (and will be using) composition notebooks for a couple of different areas. I use one for a journal at work to kind of capture thoughts during lunch (I eat at my desk most days). I also use them to record Bible study notes, topical notes (i.e., we are house hunting right now), etc. So, I guess the best way to put it is that I use them for things that I don't believe require a $20+ journal to capture (I am very cheap, FYI). As far as the binding, it really doesn't bother me much except on the first few pages.

 

I hear ya, and some bindings annoy the ink outta me. I can barely use them and feel like it's a struggle cover to cover.

 

But some lie flatter than others. Those are fun to write in.

 

Interesting, thanks! I guess for the 20 cents or whatever, it's worth giving one a second chance...

[2GreyCats]

Just scored a Roaring Spring Environotes composition book, college ruled, sugarcane paper, at my campus bookstore in Denver. Solid colored covers (maroon, olive, navy, black), $2.69.

 

I bought it for myself because I'm going to do the demented challenge of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November. You can't start actually writing it until Nov.1, but character notes, research notes, etc. are OK to do before the pistol goes off, as it were. I've had the plot and basic outline in my head for about 20 years -- about time to actually write the dratted thing, eh.

 

P.S. As soon as I'd paid for it, I showed the student worker in the bookstore how nicely it handled liquid ink -- wrote on the back page with my wettest pen (a Sheaffer M nib) in a notoriously wet ink (PR Spearment), and there was no bleed, ooze, spread, or feather, though a trifle slow to dry.

Edited August 24, 2012 by 2GreyCats

[Sailor Kenshin]

Just scored a Roaring Spring Environotes composition book, college ruled, sugarcane paper, at my campus bookstore in Denver. Solid colored covers (maroon, olive, navy, black), $2.69.

 

I bought it for myself because I'm going to do the demented challenge of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November. You can't start actually writing it until Nov.1, but character notes, research notes, etc. are OK to do before the pistol goes off, as it were. I've had the plot and basic outline in my head for about 20 years -- about time to actually write the dratted thing, eh.

 

P.S. As soon as I'd paid for it, I showed the student worker in the bookstore how nicely it handled liquid ink -- wrote on the back page with my wettest pen (a Sheaffer M nib) in a notoriously wet ink (PR Spearment), and there was no bleed, ooze, spread, or feather, though a trifle slow to dry.

 

Ooo, another notebook to try...

 

Good luck!

[Moynihan]

The Roaring Springs composition books i find work VERY well. Seem to find them in university book stores....

[ribbit]

Ordered a pre-made school supply kit for my daughter this year. How sad to see this inside:

 

http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/tt337/hawkfall/IMG_20120825_143801.jpg

[Jimmy Joe]

Just scored a Roaring Spring Environotes composition book, college ruled, sugarcane paper, at my campus bookstore in Denver. Solid colored covers (maroon, olive, navy, black), $2.69.

Thank you for mentioning a college bookstore. I'd completely forgotten about the local university, though I'd checked the local community college.

 

I picked up four of these, but quad ruled. I teach math and use one for each course I teach. Lesson plans for an entire year in a convenient form factor and finally one that is fountain-pen friendly. I've been completely unable to find cheap, made-in-Brazil ones with quad ruling in the same stores as I can find wide-ruled ones. Though they are more expensive than some of the steals in this thread, a $2.49 for 80 pages with both sides useable, I still think they're a good deal.

 

After a quick test, after purchasing of course, I had a little bit of bleed through with Violet Vote in a Pelikano Style, but that's a combination of a rather wet ink and broadish nib. As I normally use EF nibs for math, I don't expect any problems.

[Dino Silone]

Help me out here, comp book lovers, I just picked up a couple Staple's brand and YUCK! Is there one brand preferred over another? Are you all talking about the Mead in particular?

I've been stocking up on the Staples composition notebooks over the last couple of months - have stacks of them. (At one point, they were selling the first three you bought for 0.10 apiece if you spent $5. And the cashier let me split my order to qualify for the offer multiple times...)

 

What problems have you had? I'm loving these books. No feathering, no bleed-through, great feel to the paper ... very FP friendly. I wonder if there are different suppliers that produce the Staples brand ... Around here, anyway (NE NJ), they're batches we've been getting are fantastic.

[cellmatrix]

On the basis of recommendations here at FPN, I picked up a quad ruled, made in Brazil, composition book from OfficeMax for the hefty sum of $1.50, and I find that it is quite a good performer with my current pen/ink combo (broad VP/Sheaffer blue-black). Smooth with just a touch of feed back, good preservation of shading, without feathering/bleedthrough. Just wonderful paper.Tomorrow, I am going back to get several more.

Edited August 31, 2012 by cellmatrix

[wpb]

I am on a business trip this week in Brazil and from what I've learned, Brazil is a huge producer of sugarcane. I guess that is why the paper in the Brazil comp books are such high quality. I have not had time to visit any office supply stores and probably won't get a chance to buy any paper, unless I can find some in the airport shops.

 

Bill

[engineerboy]

I've been using various composition books for years for engineering and design records. One make in particular that holds up well is Roaring Springs paper products. Its a company in the US and has been around since 1887. Is it as good as Leuchtturm1917, no but, its a half to a third of the price and they come unruled and in grid formats.

 

The reason I use the Leuchtturm1917 is more sentimental than practical. My father was born in 1917 so, it just seemed fitting....

 

Cheers,

 

Steve

[welch]

I'm going to choose my words carefully here, but in case I slip up, apologies in advance! I'm a little bit surprised at the interest on this thread, because I'm really curious how people actually use these things. My memories of dreading these books in school don't come from how they handled (or didn't) ink, but rather how I was constantly fighting that binding! They just always felt like they were designed specifically to frustrate the writer. Always shutting, and the margin all curving inward... So is there some trick to it, or is this just something people have more patience with than I do?

 

I have used Levenger's Notabilia comp books for about twelve years, first with ballpoints and then with fountain pens. I use them as a work journal: mark the date on each page, page number within that date, and topic number for that day. The notebooks have my ideas, tasks, project notes, design drawings. They line up with my Outlook calendar and email folders (when did we decide about project X?), and they serve as the basics for my formal reports.

 

Handy.

 

(I use Notabilia grid paper, because the vertical lines make outlining easier, and make it easier to draw computer ideas)

 

 

[Tweel]

I am on a business trip this week in Brazil and from what I've learned, Brazil is a huge producer of sugarcane. I guess that is why the paper in the Brazil comp books are such high quality.

I think that Brazilian paper is typically mostly eucalyptus, plus some pine. They do famously use the sugarcane to produce ethanol for fuel, though.

[JohnS-MI]

I am on a business trip this week in Brazil and from what I've learned, Brazil is a huge producer of sugarcane. I guess that is why the paper in the Brazil comp books are such high quality.

I think that Brazilian paper is typically mostly eucalyptus, plus some pine. They do famously use the sugarcane to produce ethanol for fuel, though.

 

 

I don't know about the paper. However, both sugar and ethanol processes can only use the juices pressed from the cane. A lot of left-over stalk material, the waste is called bagasse. In ethanol plants, they need a lot of process heat to distill the ethanol, and burn the bagasse. In those plants they sell the extra steam to orange juice processors or generate electricity. In sugar plants, I don't know what they do with the bagasse. In both cases, I suspect they look for more profitable uses, as they have a lot, typically more than they need, even in an ethanol plant.

[Bookman]

The composition notebook market is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. In my experience only one thing is certain: the paper is reliably inconsistent.

 

The best I've owned were the same brand and had the same paper source as some of the worst: Staples "Made in India." I bought several last year. I've hunted around but I can't find them anymore. Each one had paper as smooth as Clairefontaine. They were a dream to write on, and I don't have any blanks left. I haven't found any competitor with paper like that. The best of these were also as resistent to show-through as HP 24lb laser. But it was 50-50. Half of them suffered from consistently severe show-through and occasional slight bleed-through, and so the sheets were one-side-only. (By the way, I did find a "Made in India" comp notebook at Office Depot. The paper wasn't smooth, but I bought it anyway. When I got it home, the bleed-through was so severe I threw it straight into the recycle basket.)

 

I've bought Norcom "Made in Brazil" comp notebooks at various Walmart stores throughout Northern California. I have a handful in use and several blanks in the wings. At $.40 apiece last year and $.50 now, they're hard to pass up. The paper isn't as smooth as those old Staples "Made in India" notebooks, but it's smooth enough. I've test written on all of the blanks, and the reliable inconsistency hasn't changed. About a third have almost no show-through. Another third have enough show-through to make them borderline one-side-only. The remaining third have consistently severe show-through and occasional bleed-through, and are definitely one-side-only.

 

Last week I bought four Roaring Springs 7¾x10¼ 20lb. college-ruled marble notebooks for $4.00 apiece at my nearest college bookstore. I test-wrote on one page in each as soon as I got home, using half a dozen pen-ink combinations. The paper wasn't smooth, a fact which made me disinclined ever to write in them. It reminded me of Mead 20lb notebook filler paper. The first one I wrote in had severe bleed-through with a couple of pen-ink combos and otherwise consistently severe show-through. I tossed it. The other three notebooks had the least show-through of any comp notebooks I've owned. Go figure.

 

Happy hunting.

 

[leicamaster]

I haven't been following these forums for a while, but what happened to the Staples Bagasse comp. books? Are they not available anymore? I stocked up on 20+ books about one year ago so I haven't gone and bought any more. They are still my favorite notebooks along with Apica journals. I am going to pick more up bagasse comp books tomorrow because I'm down to my last one.

[Dino Silone]

My Staples still has the bagasse comp books, but only in the wide ruling, which I don't care for very much.

 

I picked up a couple of dozen of the regular marbled ones during the summer pre-back to school sales, and now that I've started a couple of them, I have realized something that maybe other people already knew: These books are very inconsistent. The "Made in Brazil" books actually use bagasse paper, I think. In any case, it acts like it - glossy, no show through, no feathering. Fantastic with every pen and every ink I have. Incredible deal, as low as $.10 apiece at one point. The others ... not so much. I'm using a "Made in Egypt" one right now, and it's pretty horrible. The paper is scratchy, there's lots of show through with most of my inks. The only inks that don't show through are a vintage Shaeffer's Skrip Permanent Royal Blue 532, which I found at a junk shop (got a full quart for $18, which was a pretty good deal...), and Monteverde Burgundy. One of these books lasts me between 6 and 8 weeks, and I just started it. Ugh.

 

I tried some composition books from Target - they were selling them at $.53 apiece, so I picked up three to try them. They're made in The Philippines, use recycled paper, and are as bad as the Staples "Made in Egypt" ones. Awful except with my driest inks. I'm still trying to decide whether to just get rid of these notebooks and just keep the good ones, or just make it a point to either live with a lot of show through or use my crappy-notebook friendly inks. I'm glad I have a quart of the Royal Blue ...

[Sailor Kenshin]

If it was me, I would either donate the Bad Books, or use them with the icky-paper inks.

 

Or give them to someone who likes balloints, lol.

[Dino Silone]

If it was me, I would either donate the Bad Books, or use them with the icky-paper inks.

 

Or give them to someone who likes balloints, lol.

That's sensible. I've got a total of something less than $20 sunk into them, when it comes right down to it. I waste more money than that in a week on convenience food, just so that I don't have to actually cook something. So donating them to someone who likes them would be perfect.

 

BUT ... something in me says a Writer should be able to write on anything, with anything. It's the Writing that matters, not the stuff he uses to do it. (I wonder if I'd be able to actually write more if I could lose the capitalization...) Eff that! Life is too short. It sucks to be fighting with your tools.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Yes indeed.... I hate fighting with my tools. Though I can be waaaay toooo fussy, er, particular, yeah, we'll go with that...if a pen or book is actually a struggle to use, I look elsewhere.

 

I don't even rule out otherwise good notebooks that dislike fountain pen ink. I'll use it with a pencil if I have to. i mean pens that leak, notebooks that you have to c-clamp open.