Staples Sustainable Earth Composition Notebook

[comfortableshoes]

I've been on the hunt for cheap notebooks for my upcoming fall semester of grad school. I had debated on making my own notebooks and just buying them. For ease and speediness, I decided to buy notebooks, specifically composition notebooks. On a recent tour of duty aka chore shopping, I picked up a tops brand comp book and a Staples Sustainable Earth comp book. I had planned on using the Staples Sustainable Earth as my go to, having used them before and "knowing" their fountain pen friendliness, or so I thought.

I had thrown it in my notebook bin not planning on testing it out, but recently got a new ink and wanted to test it on a known paper. Only to find out the paper inside is NOT the same as it had been.

It feathered and bled like I was writing on TP. Bleeding was so bad that the page behind was marked! Even with relatively well behaved inks, like Diamine Chocolate and Private Reserve Sonic Blue! Previously there was show through but not bleed through.

I compared it with some of my old Staples SE paper and the difference was amazing.

Just so disappointing.

Some pictures:
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[manoeuver]

oh crap!

[klpeabody]

yeah, the paper on those is hit or miss. I stocked up on a bunch of legal pads/tablets and the paper quality has the potential to vary wildly from tablet to tablet.

[comfortableshoes]

Until this purchase, I'd never had a bad one. The good thing is that I'll be able to tell the difference by touch. the bad paper feels different and sounds less crisp than the good paper. I'll have to go to Staples and fondle all the notebooks before purchasing any.

[Honey Mustard]

I used to love these notebooks, I had them in spiral bound, composition books, and legal pads and they were my go-to for just about everything. Until recently when I got some like yours that are absolutely horrible. I've used every nib and ink combo I can think of, but everything bleeds through (some inks are worse than others). Its a huge disappointment.

[reprieve]

I haven't bought any of these notebooks recently--I have a pretty large stash from a sale last year--but I am very sad to see that the paper has changed so much for the worse. This has been my go-to paper for the past three or four years, and I use it for notes at work almost every day. It used to be great quality for a great price. Alas. :(

[TMac]

I experienced the same issue with my more recent purchase of the Staples product. I have switched to Norcom composition books from WalMart. Very inexpensive. The made in Brazil books are pretty fountain pen friendly. I was told that when WalMart has their back to school sale, these comp books can be had for around 25 cents a piece.

[spotted and speckled]

The Sustainable Earth paper is hit-or-miss, but I've had better luck with the spiral bound ones.

Check to see where paper is made before you even think of buying it. Best bets are paper made in Brazil, Europe (Yes, all the collective countries that Europe is composed of), Egypt (think papyrus--most paper from there is good but look at it first) and the rare paper made in the USA. If you find some decent paper that isn't on this county list, please let us know!

[WendyNC]

And here I was feeling silly about having stockpiled so much of the crispy bagasse over the last couple of years. Now I'm glad I did. Thanks for the caution.

[Bogon07]

Until this purchase, I'd never had a bad one. The good thing is that I'll be able to tell the difference by touch. the bad paper feels different and sounds less crisp than the good paper. I'll have to go to Staples and fondle all the notebooks before purchasing any.

Such a shame about the paper quality.

Another sign of the horribly afflicted FPGeek - ejected from a stationery store for fondling the notebooks.

[AndyLa]

Yeah, the first couple I ever bought (about 2 years ago) were decent- except the legal pads, those were pretty awful. Bought a couple more about a year ago and they were practically un-usable. You may be able to tell with the texture, mine kind of felt like pulpy sandpaper.

[miatapaul]

so does the paper still have that sort of strange slick/sticky feel to it? I have an older one that I like. I got a fair amount of bleed through with wet writers, but not bad but no feathering at all.

[comfortableshoes]

Nope, the bad paper feels slightly rough. The "good" paper is slick feeling. You can feel the difference very easily when side by side. I've been into Staples and "fondled" the Sustainable Earth Comp books several times and only found the rough paper in stock. :( Very sad.

[ac12]

I have to feel the paper as well.
People look at me funny as I go thru the pile feeling the paper in each notebook.

I also found out that the country of manufacture is not a reliable indicator of paper quality.
I got a made in Brazil comp book that had different quality paper inside. Some pages were good, and others were not so good.
I found some made in Vietnam spiral notebooks, but I had to feel the paper, as some were nice and smooth, and others were rough.

[spotted and speckled]

The spiral bound ones have better paper, check them out.

[TMac]

Just picked up a spiral bound notebook this week. Paper made in Egypt. Paper has a slightly slick feel to it. So far, I'm very happy with it. Very slight showthru with my dark inks in medium nibs. Fine nibs are perfect with this notebook.

[comfortableshoes]

I hate spiral bound books. I tend to mush them up in my bag. Worse yet I loose pages. I do have a few pads of the sustainable earth legal paper that were good with FP that somehow hitched a ride home with me when I quit my job.... But those stay on my desk at home and mostly I use them for letters.

[ac12]

I have some Brazil comp books, and I am less than pleased.
The problem is the paper in the Brazil comp books are not consistent...within the same book. You may have nice paper for several pages, then the next page would be one that blots. For me it is frustrating because on the less than smooth pages, I cannot use my F nibs as it feels too scratchy. So I am forced to use my M nib pens more than I would like to, because I can't use my F nibs on the less than smooth pages.

On the other hand, the Brazil wire spiral notebooks have been consistent in the paper quality...so far.