Homage to the composition notebook

[odie5533]

I used a comp book for lab write ups but haven't used one for notes taken in class. I don't see anyone in my classes using them so they don't seem very popular. I get a lot of bleeding using regular spiral notebooks so I may have to switch to something a bit higher quality. Guess I'll have to buy a couple different brands of comp books and see which has the least bleeding. BTW they are about 20-50 cents here.

[donwinn]

After reading the OP around the back to school time, I purchased 4 comp notebooks at WalMart. I am taking them today to the Dallas Pen Show to use for people to try out nibs, because the paper is about as good as some samples of Clairefontaine someone gave me. All this for $0.50 each!!

 

Donnie

[Sailor Kenshin]

Keep it up, people.

[Poetman]

I just picked up a new order of Roaring Springs composition notebooks, and I was very disappointed. First of all, one of the reasons I liked Roaring Springs was because they were made in PA America--not outsourced to some third world country--so I didn't have to spend 10 minutes looking through their notebooks to make sure I bought the right "Made in..." product. Well, when I picked this stack up from my local bookstore, the quad ruled said "Made in India," the paper was descent, but not like the older ones I had. I also picked some unruled notebooks--they were AWFUL!!! They were just like tracing paper. The bleed through wasn't the most irritating; what I hated most was that the actual indentation of the pen into the paper showed through and was more frustrating!

 

[escribo]

I picked up a Roaring Springs yesterday. The quality was disappointing.

Horrible feathering and bleed-through with a Pilot Varsity; not quite as

bad with Waterman Fla. Blue. I expected better performance from the 20 lb. paper.

-jon

[Silke]

Hey, Europeans -- don't forget about the little school handwriting exercise books.

(Got one right here, picked up for something like 20 pence.)

 

Granted, they are much thinner (about 50 pages / 100 sides), but if you can pick them up cheap, they are usually made for fountain pens, since that's what kids in school are taught handwriting with. (or at least used to be)

 

The lines may not be for everyone (since it's designed for handwriting) but it's not a bad thing. You sort of get in a habit to stay within certain lines after a while...

 

[Sailor Kenshin]

We never get cool stuff like that here.

[Steveareno]

Just saw a nice variation on the composition book at a Borders' Paperchase. It's the same size and configuration as regular composition books, with very stiff glossy covers in colorful patterns, with fairly heavy paper inside. I didn't check the price or see how many sheets were in each one, but I was pretty impressed (though I didn't much care for the colors and patterns on the covers).

[bluestocking]

That reminds me: UK Paperchase has a sort of rock n roll theme collection out right now that include, yes, US-style composition books for 2quidfiddy. I am willing to bet that these are the only comp books in the continent, excepting the half dozen that I brought back from my hometown this summer, so if the Britons are curious, get them before they switch them out.

 

 

[Pink Ink]

Please indulge my neurosis but…

 

Is anyone else peeved when the pages aren’t stiched down the center but off to the side a bit? Does anyone else like to go through the shelves looking for the most centered stitching?

 

Also: I got the Roaring Spring unruled comp book. Black marble cover, meh. Please tell me this isn’t my only option for unruled comp books. However the paper is “heavyweight” whatever that means but I look forward to doing some ink tests on it.

[Slush99]

Pink Ink, LOL. I never really noticed.

 

I did notice that all the composition books these days are made in India, and TERRIBLE. They bleed, they feather, and little strands of the page get stuck in my fountain pen nib. AGGHHHH!!! I'm going to stick to spiral bound!!!

[Pink Ink]

Made in India = bad. Duly noted. The ones I bought last week at Staples are made in Brazil and the paper is excellent — thin so there’s a lot of show through with thick lines and dark inks but, no feathering at all.

[eherreid]

I did notice that all the composition books these days are made in India, and TERRIBLE. They bleed, they feather, and little strands of the page get stuck in my fountain pen nib. AGGHHHH!!! I'm going to stick to spiral bound!!!

 

I've found that Wal-mart and Office Depot are the best sources for the Made in Brazil ones with the better paper. At Office Depot, you do have to hunt a little--some of the "fashion" ones with patterns on the cover are "Made in Brazil" and have good paper, some (within the same stack at the store!) are made in Vietnam or India or China and have nasty, spongy, fibrous paper that takes ink about as well as bad newsprint. Ick.

 

But the "Made in Brazil" ones are nice, bright, smooth paper. I can write on both sides with a fairly wet writer with very minimal show-through and no bleeding (except, alas, for the Baystate inks). They don't feather much if at all with most pens and ink, either.

 

Wal-mart almost always has stacks of "Norcom" brand com books that are also the nicer paper. The last batch I got there were the colored marble covers. The black and white ones were some sort of inferior paper...Vietnam, I think. This time of year, they cost the princely sum of 92 cents each. As others have noted, they're sometimes as little as half that near the beginning of the school year. They're a little rougher than the Office Depot ones--sometimes stitched a little off, and I've come across at least one that didn't have the right number of pages, but for the price, you can't beat 'em.

 

I soooo love comp books! Not that I don't use all the other nice papers I can get my hands on, but for my fiction scribbling and even for journals, I keep coming back to composition books. No lost pages, perfect size, durable and cheap.

[Sailor Kenshin]

It's true what you're saying about paper quality. I've even tested it in spiral-bound notebooks. The new paper is awful.

 

Never again will I get rid of an old unused notebook.

[Slush99]

Brazil, right? I'll check next time =)

[Nenona]

I got about 5 of the 3-subject composition books from a local buy-out place for 0.50 each.

I currently use one for story-writing.

And my current journal is one of those leather-look ones from walmart that I got from the same place.

But yes! they work pretty good as long as you're not about to soak the page with ink. I can see my writing through the page, but as long as it doesn't bleed through, I'm happy. Also, for the price, you can afford to skip the back of the page.

 

I would like to find a cover for them that's leather and doesn't cost $30, though.

[escribo]

Hobby Lobby sells a kid skin for ~$26 that ought to cover

3 of the what? A5 size? 8x10 or whatever they are.

A whole lot of the pocket size.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Having noticed the difference between older and newer papers (an' in don't come down in favor of the new) I will never again give away old notebooks, no matter how purdy the new covers are.

 

I salvaged four or five older spiral-bound books ranging from 5/7 to the standard 8.5x11---NO INK shows through on the reverse side, ever!

 

Good thing I kept some old comp notebooks.

[Nenona]

hrm...oddly enough, There's a hobby lobby back at the university...so I'll have to check there. And post pictures if I ever make a cover for them.

Thank you.

[Nick A]

You're onto me.

 

That Brazilian paper is nice, isn't it! ;-)

 

I always stock up on these when back-to-school time comes. Walmart has the best prices.

 

I usually get some spiral notebooks as well, those have had nice paper in them the past few years.

 

Another thing I do with them, since I run a print shop, I have access to a large guillotine cutter. I have chopped the comp books into smaller notebooks to fit in various leather covers and such that I have.