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Thread: The joy of vintage notepads

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    Senior Member penwash's Avatar
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    Default The joy of vintage notepads

    One of the best Estate Sale buy for me are vintage pads. These are old notepads that are usually fountain pen friendly, and on top of it, it has that worn paper look that I like for writing samples.



    Anybody else like these vintage notepads?
    - Will
    Unique and restored vintage pens: Redeem Pens

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    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    Will, those are nice. If you ever build up a sizeable stash I'll buy some from you! A couple years back I had to clear out my parent's house. Dad had been gone for nearly eight years and the toughest part was dealing with his workshop in the garage. <sigh> Too many memories! But I came across about a half-dozen old steno pads that he used for drawing plans, making notes, etc, a few that hadn't been used at all. Really excellent to write on and a good size to throw in my bag.

    Being me I couldn't bear a 'bare' cover so I've eventually put new cover graphics on them for fun. Here's one:

    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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    Senior Member penwash's Avatar
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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    Wow, your cover looks great! And in your case, it's even more special because it's a legacy vintage notepads

    The nice thing about finding these at Estate Sales is that they are pretty much a giveaway because no one else knew what to do with them. I wish these show up at a higher frequency around here locally.
    - Will
    Unique and restored vintage pens: Redeem Pens

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    Wow! If the Texas school book depository discovers this, it may become a standard part of the curriculum.

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    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    Where do you find these? They look fantastic!

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    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    Quote Originally Posted by sfarkhan View Post
    Where do you find these? They look fantastic!
    Will (OP) said he finds his notepads at estate sales. The ones I show are old steno pads that I've decorated. They are simply images I've found on the web, printed on my printed and pasted on the cover, maybe a little hand embellishing. Nothing fancy.
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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    Senior Member SIR's Avatar
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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    Jon, have i ever told you you're a genius?

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    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    Quote Originally Posted by SIR View Post
    Jon, have i ever told you you're a genius?
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Szanto View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by sfarkhan View Post
    Where do you find these? They look fantastic!
    Will (OP) said he finds his notepads at estate sales. The ones I show are old steno pads that I've decorated. They are simply images I've found on the web, printed on my printed and pasted on the cover, maybe a little hand embellishing. Nothing fancy.
    Thanks, I missed that - Great find.

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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    LOVE vintage note pads, and loose paper. I have a small supply, some of which I inherited from Mom, some I bought at yard sales, and one or two of my old school notebooks that were only part-used. (Yes, that's how old I am: even my paper is vintage.)

    I like them more than TRP or Rhodia.
    My other pen is a Montblanc.

    And my other blog is a tumblr!


    And my latest ebook, for spooky wintery reading:

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CM2NGSSD

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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    Google images: "little golden books" humor
    Last edited by FredRydr; June 18th, 2018 at 11:47 AM.

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    Senior Member penwash's Avatar
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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Szanto View Post
    My goodness Jon, that cover is so cool. Did you make it look aged digitally or by hand?

    Either way, I want one!!
    - Will
    Unique and restored vintage pens: Redeem Pens

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    Senior Member Rapidray's Avatar
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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    I love what you did! Talk about customizing. Thanks for sharing.
    0.5mm vs 0.7mm graphite sizes is much like 9mm vs 45acp...they both work if you know what you are doing. - me

    Looking for Caran d'Ache Type 55 2mm set and Rotation .7 pencils.

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    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    Quote Originally Posted by penwash View Post
    My goodness Jon, that cover is so cool. Did you make it look aged digitally or by hand?

    Either way, I want one!!
    Will, I'm certain that cover (image) was already distressed. I don't know if someone created the image on their own or if it is a photo of an actual book cover, just can't remember.

    Anyway, I'll take the three images I used on these notebooks and upload them later tonight in an Imgur album that I'll set to public, so any of you can download the image itself. I use a funky old photo/image printing program (remember when they were "programs" instead of "apps"?) and simply set the size of how large I want it to print; I didn't actually alter the images to fit the notebooks.

    Sometimes just doing a google image search on random shit that comes into your head brings up the most interesting stuff...
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    I've created an Imgur album with the above three images, which you can find right here. As I find other interesting cover shots, I'll place them there. Let me know if you have any issues downloading the images.

    Also, be mindful that the first two were images I found on the web and only did minor modifications. I don't believe they are copyright but I want to be clear. The Penguin I did with a meme generator...
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    I was cleaning in our attic and found a stack of old spiral notebooks from my college days. These had notes I took in the "inert filler" courses I had to take in order to become "well rounded". There was a lot of unused paper in these books, so I ripped out all the cruft I would never read again and sent it through our shredder. It will mulch a garden bed next summer. The books are from the late '60s and the paper is great for fountain pens. Not like the modern stuff that is all too common. I recently bought a new box of checks from my bank. The paper is so poor it could be used for blotters.

    At a flea market, I found an old three-ring binder for 9 1/2 X 6 inch paper. It has cardboard and cloth covers and is made to look like leather ("fabrikoid binding"). The paper in it is exquisite. None of my inks bleed or feather on this paper. We used to see these binders in the dime store in the '50s and '60s and took them for granted.
    "Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little." -Epicurus-

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    Thanks for the great ideas. I'm going to make myself something like this even though I don't have any vintage notepads.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    Quote Originally Posted by penwash View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Szanto View Post
    My goodness Jon, that cover is so cool. Did you make it look aged digitally or by hand?

    Either way, I want one!!
    LOL The best notebook ever!

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    Default Re: The joy of vintage notepads

    For folk in the UK, Silvline still make school exercise books, as they did in days of yor.

    Wilco sells them for 99p. They come in A4 & standard school exercise book size.

    They are very FP friendly. Ideal for drafting stuff - or carrying in a bag.

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