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RayCornett
May 13th, 2014, 03:24 AM
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Well after testing 9 quality papers after never having used quality papers before I have declared a winner out of the 9. I decided to first test with my finest nib since that would of course tend to have the most potential to be scratchy out of all my tuned nibs. I used a Sheaffer Snorkel Clipper with an X4 nib and Noodler's Black Eel which is a lubricated ink.

My tests were on: Rhodia White Vellum 80gsm, Rhodia Ivory Vellum 90gsm, G. Lato Toile Imperiale, Clairefontaine Triumphe, Basildon Bond Watermarked White(Available in the UK only, no US distributors at this time), Tomoe River 52gsm, Original crown mill pur cotton, Midori MD, and Rhodia Vellum 80gsm ruled with a margin.

Of these I had a difficult time choosing but for the way I write the one that came out on top was Tomoe River 52gsm. Basildon Bond Watermarked White came in at a very close second.Tomoe River 52gsm had a bit longer drying time but writing on Tomoe was just a bit better in my opinion that I did not allow the extra drying time to bother me although drying time was one thing I tested for. The time was just a matter of 10 seconds difference. The only two others I felt were suitable for an extra fine nib were Clairefontaine Triumphe, and Midori MD. Both were smooth but not as smooth as the other two in my opinion. And of the four I liked Midori was the fastest drying. However, I did not think the faster drying was enough to make up for it not being as smooth as Tomoe River.

Next test on the same papers will be with one of my medium nib pens which I have not selected yet but I wanted to do a test with both my finest and most broad preferred nib.

Rhodia Lined and margined does get an honorable mention. If I were to have a need for lined margined notebook type paper for fountain pen writing this would be the one. It beats out ant office supply store brand legal pad paper I have used in the past. It has been so long since I used school type notebook paper that I can not compare them but I am sure it is better than that.

with a medium nib Tomoe River 52gsm still comes out on top as the smoothest. I figured it would since if it is so smooth with an extra fine nib it is pretty much a given it should be smooth with a bigger nib. But again Tomoe River 52gsm was very slow drying. I did 3 different drying time samples. It was pretty wet so I started at 1 minute, then 2, and stopped at 5 minutes realizing if I went to use a medium nib with this paper I would just have to use a blotter or let it sit for a while.

There were 5 of the 9 samples that I did not feel were good for an extra fine and possibly even a fine nib. Those were :Rhodia White Vellum 80gsm, Rhodia Ivory Vellum 90gsm, G. Lato Toile Imperiale, Original crown mill pur cotton, and Rhodia Vellum 80gsm ruled with a margin. Out of these for a medium nib I chose Rhodia Ivory Vellum 90gsm as the top sample with Rhodia White Vellum 80gsm as a close second. However, for a textured paper I loved G. Lalo Toile Imperiale which also had the fastest drying time of 2 minutes which is still slow for a textured paper but it was smoother than I expected for textured. I would not use this for daily writing which is why it came in third but would not hesitate to use it for extra special letters where the texture adds a little extra touch, literally.

That's my story and i'm sticking to it.

RuiFromUK
May 13th, 2014, 04:36 AM
Thank you very much for your review. It is quite informative since I have never used some of the papers that you mentioned.

In my opinion it would be quite interesting as well, I am being self-interested here, to hear your opinion if a Broad, BB or even BBB nib was used as I tend to use these types of nibs.

AndyT
May 13th, 2014, 09:20 AM
Thank you, that's an interesting assessment. I'm a little surprised that you consider Rhodia unsuitable for an extra fine nib as it's a firm favourite practice paper with copperplate and Spencerian writers.

Mags
May 13th, 2014, 03:21 PM
I agree with Midori MD for lefties and Tomoe River for everyone. I wish I could find onion paper I think it has a top 1 or 2 possibly as favourite paper if I could only find it commercially.

Jon Szanto
May 13th, 2014, 03:30 PM
As to the Tomoe River paper (which I enjoy): is a 52gsm 52 times better than a standard 0Rgsm?

Tracy Lee
May 13th, 2014, 05:33 PM
As to the Tomoe River paper (which I enjoy): is a 52gsm 52 times better than a standard 0Rgsm?

Knew I loved Tomoe River for a reason! :D

RayCornett
May 19th, 2014, 03:38 AM
Thank you very much for your review. It is quite informative since I have never used some of the papers that you mentioned.

In my opinion it would be quite interesting as well, I am being self-interested here, to hear your opinion if a Broad, BB or even BBB nib was used as I tend to use these types of nibs.

At this time I do not have anything wider than a medium as that is my widest preference for the writing I do. But it stands to reason that a wider nib would write smoother on a wider variety of papers.

RayCornett
May 19th, 2014, 03:40 AM
Thank you, that's an interesting assessment. I'm a little surprised that you consider Rhodia unsuitable for an extra fine nib as it's a firm favourite practice paper with copperplate and Spencerian writers.

Other peoples results my vary depending on writing styles and such. Those two styles are completely different than the normal hand writing I do and require different strokes and pressures. They may do quite well for Copperplate and Spencerian writing techniques.

RayCornett
May 19th, 2014, 03:40 AM
As to the Tomoe River paper (which I enjoy): is a 52gsm 52 times better than a standard 0Rgsm?

I'll be praying for you...........

RayCornett
May 19th, 2014, 03:42 AM
I agree with Midori MD for lefties and Tomoe River for everyone. I wish I could find onion paper I think it has a top 1 or 2 possibly as favourite paper if I could only find it commercially.

Onion paper is nice.

LagNut
May 19th, 2014, 03:50 PM
I agree with Midori MD for lefties and Tomoe River for everyone. I wish I could find onion paper I think it has a top 1 or 2 possibly as favourite paper if I could only find it commercially.

Onion paper is nice.

I bought a ream from ThePapermill.com. Shipping was a bit high, but I really do love the paper.

You can only use one side, but I really like the experience. It will also work really well over the top of gridded paper, since it's so thin.

Thanks for your report here, but those look like really long dry times.

Cheers
Mike

Lady Onogaro
May 19th, 2014, 04:13 PM
JBB Pens sometimes has onion skin in her Etsy store. She posts on this forum, too.

RayCornett
May 20th, 2014, 02:26 AM
I agree with Midori MD for lefties and Tomoe River for everyone. I wish I could find onion paper I think it has a top 1 or 2 possibly as favourite paper if I could only find it commercially.

Onion paper is nice.

I bought a ream from ThePapermill.com. Shipping was a bit high, but I really do love the paper.

You can only use one side, but I really like the experience. It will also work really well over the top of gridded paper, since it's so thin.

Thanks for your report here, but those look like really long dry times.

Cheers
Mike

I agree. But your experience in drying time may very. I make my pens a little wetter than usual sometimes. Also, the Noodlers Black Eel ink has a lubricant added to it which also adds to the drying time. If you are in a rush for the ink to dry I do recommend having blotter paper on hand.