Hand Made Notebooks

by Tony Thomas

I really enjoy making my own notebooks. Not only do I save a lot of money, I can use whatever paper I like.

I have used HP Laser Paper (32#), Staples Laser Paper (28#), Rhodia grid paper, Canson Drawing paper and others. For covers, I either use card stock from my office supply store or fancy paper from the scrapbook section of my local craft store.

I use my ancient Boston paper cutter and my limited sewing skills to put them together. My notebooks are only 24 pages making them easier to trim.

I highly recommend making notebooks if you are a fountain pen user and love fountain pen friendly paper.

iScholar Notebooks

by Tony Thomas

It is "back to school" time again!  That time of year where we scour all of the bins for fountain pen friendly pads and paper.

I have been using composition books, notebooks and notebook paper from a company called iScholar (Englewood, NY) for a while with great results.  You can find them in many discount stores all over the U. S.

The paper is that I use is made in Indonesia and plays nice with fountain pens.  The paper isn't Rhodia smooth, but I haven't had any feathering or bleed through issues with a wide variety of pens and inks.  

I found the 70 sheet notebooks locally for 39 cents and the composition books for two for a buck.  Highly recommended!

http://www.ischolarinc.com/

Staples Perforated Writing Pads

by Tony Thomas

Finding fountain pen friendly paper in office supply stores is a real challenge. Much of it is very absorbent--kind of like writing on a napkin when using a fountain pen.

The biggest problem is that you usually can't try out the paper in the store or even touch it. The legal pads and looseleaf paper are sealed up in plastic wrap. As they say: “You pay your money and you take your chances.”

If you are like me, you can't afford to feed your pens a steady supply of Rhodia A4 pads at $9-10 each plus shipping. As I result, I find myself using legal pads and composition books for a lot of general note taking.

I either use a fountain pen filled with Noodler’s Bulletproof Black or some other non-feathering permanent ink like iron gall for that purpose. I also use various pencils since they are fast and non-fatiguing to write with.

I was in my local Staples store and was checking out their legal pad selection. I typically use the short pads (8.5 x 10.75 inch) since they fit in my padfolio. In my frugality, I decided to go with the cheap ($8 or so a dozen) pads.

When I got home, I decided to test one of the pads with two of my TWSBI 580s filled with Private Reserve inks. I was very pleased to discover that the paper didn’t feather much, it didn’t bleed through and there was only a bit of show through (after all, it is very thin 15# paper). Pretty impressive for really cheap paper!

Disclaimer: Companies like Staples change their paper suppliers all the time depending on their cost. That pads I bought have a black top strip with the Staples name on it. Other pads I purchased previously had red top strips. See the SKU and packaging photo below.

Sample of Staples perforated writing pad (PR inks)

Sample from an older Staples legal pad with same PR ink

Information from the pack I bought

Conklin Duragraph Cracked Ice

 by Tony Thomas

I recently purchased a Conklin Duragraph fountain pen from my friends at Goulet Pens.  I really like the throwback design of the pen and its “cracked ice” resin body.

For those not familiar with the Conklin name, it was a very popular fountain pen company established in 1898 and located in Toledo, Ohio. Although the original company no longer exists, its original pens are highly prized by collectors. The name was resurrected by Yafa Brands in 2009 to produce new pens with the vintage look of the originals.

The Duragraph is a pen that uses standard European cartridges and a screw-in converter. I selected a 1.1 stub nib. The pen is very well balanced and not too heavy even when posted. It is a smooth writer and enjoyable to write with. For the price I paid ($44), I feel that this pen is a real bargain and looks much more expensive than it is.

http://www.conklinpens.com/

Notebook Survey Results

by Tony Thomas

Here are the results of the notebook survey:

• Composition Books: 74% said they use composition books.
• 3.5" x 5.5" Notebooks:  A bit over half use this format.
• If Rhodia made a composition book (9.75" x 7.50"), would you buy it?:  48% said yes.
• If Rhodia made a 3.5" x 5.5" notebook like the Moleskine Cahier or Field Notes Brand, would you buy it?: Only 35% said yes.
• Notebook popularity: Rhodia was #1 by a wide margin (70%), Clairefontaine was #2 (48%),  Leuchtturm 1917 was # 3 (35%), Kokuyo, Field Notes Brand, Generic Composition book all tied for #4 (22%), and Apica and Moleskine tied for #5 (17%).  Others used include Maruman, Midori, Tomoe River, Banditapple, Filofax, Picadilly, Aurora, Graphilo, and Fabriano.

Is Rhodia Missing the Boat?

by Tony Thomas

I love Rhodia products, but I really wish they would make them in popular US sizes rather than just European (metric) sizes.

Two examples are composition books and 3.5“ x 5.5” side-stitched notebooks (like the Moleskine Cahier and Field Notes Brand notebooks).

Neither of these sizes is available from Rhodia (although its parent company, Clairefontaine, offers some 3.5“ x 5.5” notebooks that aren’t as easy to find). And Rhodia does have a smallish 7.5 x 12 cm 48 page notebook that would be just perfect if it was a bit larger.

I have nice leather covers that fit these two sizes and I would love to fill them with Rhodia notebooks!

Clairefontaine/Rhodia has hinted that they may be open to producing composition-sized notebooks if there is enough interest.

How do you feel? Would you be interested in these size notebooks? Let Clairefontaine/Rhodia know via their U. S. distributor, Exaclair:

http://www.exaclair.com/contact.php

Take a quick survey on this subject:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TG6SM7C

Ranga Hand Made Ebonite Pens

by Tony Thomas

I picked up a few hand made ebonite pens from a company called Ranga in India. They generally sell between $20 and $30 on eBay (search for Ranga fountain pen) with free shipping and are available in various colors. They are eye dropper pens with ebonite feeds, fine nibs and hold about 2 cc of ink. The fine nibs are better than average quality and are marked "Fellowship". The pen ships with a simple box, extra nib, feed and plastic eye dropper pipette.

How do I like them? After a bit of nib tuning, they are great writers and very low maintenance. The quality and attention to detail are much better than many Indian pens that I have. I use them as daily writers and am very happy with them.

Looking for a hand made ebonite pen? You can't find anything better for the price.