notebook Archives - Page 4 of 4

Shinola Paper Cover Journal Review

October 23, 2013 by Blake

Shinola is a Detroit based company that manufactures high quality American made watches, bicycles, leather products, and journals. The paper cover journals are sold in packs of two and come in three sizes and in multiple colors. The one I will be reviewing is the middle size measuring 5.25″ x 8.25″. Each notebook contains 144 pages (72 leaves) of blank paper…the cardboard packaging says “ruled paper” so finding blank pages was a bit of a disappointment. The acid free paper is a nice thick 60lb weight and comes from sustainably managed North American forests. Shinola’s notebooks are made by Edwards Brothers Malloy in Michigan. The cardboard packaging features a triangle ruler and a coaster (not sure why anyone would want a cardboard coaster).

Inside the cardboard jacket — Inside the cardboard packaging.

The notebooks look and feel very nice. I really like the clean design; there are no markings on the journal apart from “SHINOLA DETROIT” on the back cover. These books do not lay flat and the spine is slightly less flexible than a cloth bound Clairefontaine journal.

The paper is very smooth and quite nice to write on. I did notice some feathering with the Noodler’s Qin Shi Huang and J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir. There is bleed through from the Visconti but this particular pen and ink combination causes bleed even in Clairefonatine notebooks. The thick line from my semi-flexible Conway Stewart did not bleed. There is some ghosting but it isn’t bad enough to prevent me from writing on the other side of the page. The dry time for this paper is quite fast with most of the inks I tested drying under 10 seconds.

Overall I really like these journals and I consider them to be fountain pen friendly. I have been using this journal side by side with a Clairefontaine cloth bound journal and I definitely prefer the Shinola. They run $9 for a two pack which is about the same cost as one similarly sized 192 page Clairefontaine journal. In the future I am going to give Shinola’s more expensive soft and hard linen cover journals a try.

Tomoe River Notebook Review

October 14, 2014October 20, 2013 by Blake

I have been hearing about this supernatural Tomoe River paper for a while but I could not find it in a format that I liked. Through The Fountain Pen Network I saw that is was available in notebook form from PaperForFountainPens.com (no affiliation).

Tomoe River Notebooks. — Tomoe River Notebooks

Tomoe River paper is ultra light weight at 52 gsm with a very smooth texture. This paper has been getting a lot of praise in the fountain pen community for its ability to handle fountain pen ink. I have been playing with this paper the last few days and it is amazing. There is virtually no bleed through. With some abuse I did get it to bleed in one spot. I used my Rohrer & Klinger glass dip pen without removing the excess ink first and the only point of bleed through is where the bottom of the “g” made contact with the “a” in “Scabiosa”. The wettest letter though is the first “R” in “Rohrer” which had zero bleed through. There is no feathering to mention and ink looks beautiful on this paper. The paper is fragile and easily crinkles; to me this is just part of the charm of the paper. Dry times are comparable to Rhodia and Clairefontaine papers.

A good amount of ghosting but virtually no bleed through.

I did abuse the paper a bit more. I tried a drop Noodler’s Qin Shi Huang on the paper. There was no bleed through for about the first hour. Here is the result after 3 hours:

Noodler's Qin Shi Huang (notorious for feathering) still wet after 3 hours. — Noodler’s Qin Shi Huang (notorious for feathering) still wet after 3 hours.

The results are very impressive. I let the ink sit overnight and the ink finally bled through all the way. The ink did not spread at all and if you use the widest and juiciest of pens with blotter paper you should experience no bleed. This is an excellent paper for fountain pens.

The notebook contains 320 cream colored pages (160 leaves) that measure 4.9″ x 8″. There is ghosting so I only like to write on one side. It is worth noting that because this paper is so thin you will get ghosting even with a pencil. The notebook is nicely made and lays pretty flat. I am really happy with these notebooks and plan to use them as my primary journal. The price per notebook varies based on how many you order: 1 for $29, 2 for $53 ($26.50 each), and 3 for $75 ($25 each).

The only paper I can compare to the Tomoe River is Smythson’s Featherweight 50 gsm paper. Smythson’s paper handles fountain pen ink just as well but costs an absolute fortune. Think $29 is a lot for a notebook? A 5.5″ x 7.5″ Smythson notebook with 192 leaves (not refillable) costs £135 (approx. $220 USD)! To by fair, Smythson notebooks have beautiful leather covers, blue paper with gilt edges and three real ROYAL WARRANTS. Having been gifted a Smythson’s Panama diary a few years ago I can say that they are easily the nicest notebooks (calendar) I have ever used but for almost 1/10th the price of a Smythson, the Paper For Fountain Pens Tomoe River notebook is a fantastic value. I haven’t been this happy with a notebook in a long time. I highly recommend giving one a try.

Here are some great reviews of Tomoe River paper:

(I have no affiliation to the sites linked below)

Ed Jelley – Seven Seas Tomoe River Paper Pad – Handwritten Stationery Review

Wonder Pens – Tomoe River Paper

Fountain Pen Geeks – Tomoe River Paper Review

The Pen Addict – Tomoe River Paper Review

Field Notes Expedition Review

October 15, 2013 by Blake

The Field Notes Expedition was not well received as the paper does not agree with many pens. The Expedition edition uses a synthetic plastic paper and cover which makes the pages and cover tear resistant and waterproof. The pages have a grey dot pattern. I haven’t used any other waterproof papers so I don’t have anything to compare it to but I really like these Field Notes .

As you can see below, this paper is not the most pen friendly. I have found that regular (non-gel) ballpoint pens and pencils work the best. Writing in the notebook feels like writing in cold butter; it is so smooth and pleasant that even the finest points feel great on this paper. I dipped the notebook in water after doing a smear test and the plastic pages were completely fine, however, most of the ink was not.

1. Zebra Arbez Piitro Ballpoint – Smeared but not affected by water

2. Field Notes Brand Bic Clic Ballpoint – No smear no issues with water

3. Pilot G-Tec-C3 Gel Pen – Smeared but not affected by water

4. Caran d’Ache Technograph HB Pencil – Lightly smudges but is comparable with regular paper

5. Uni Woodnote Gel Pen – Very slight smear but not affected by water

6. Marvy Le Pen Drawing Porous Tip Pen – Smeared and affected by water

7. Pentel Energel Rollerball – Smeared and affected by water

8. Noodler’s Konrad w/ J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir – Smeared badly, ink completely gone with water

9. Platinum Preppy Fountain Pen – Smeared badly, ink completely gone with water

10. Platinum Preppy Sign Pen – Smeared badly, ink completely gone with water

11. Stabilo Bionic Worker – Smeared badly and affected by water

12. Staedtler Triplus Fineliner – Smeared badly and affected by water

13. Morning Glory Mach 3 – Slight smearing, ink completely gone with water

14. Itoya Paperskater – Smeared badly and affected by water

15. Ohto Graphic Liner – Smeared but not affected by water

16. Sakura Pigma Micron – Smeared badly and affected by water

In addition to the Field Notes Bic Clic pen below I have found that the Pilot Down Force, Lamy Dialog 1, and the Parker Jotter all worked well on this paper.