Furrow Books (Beta) Notebook Review

[heath]

This review is long and due to some formatting things and loads of images may be best read here: http://penpaperinkletter.com/furrow-...tebook-review/. But if you want to read just the text portion you can read below.



Furrow Books is a new notebook brand being launched on Kickstarter from the owner of Zeller Writing Company, Aaron Zeller. A little while back Aaron initiated a Beta release of the notebook to a select limited audience. I was one of the beta testers and I have already gone through that process, given feedback and gone back and forth with Aaron on this project. I had concerns and he has given me some feedback on my concerns, including some differences between the beta and the final release. I plan to first do a complete review of the beta version and then go through all of the information I got from Aaron. In other words some aspects of the review will be addressed before the Kickstarter ships and I know that but I wanted to let you in on these books at the same point I came in. Also though this beta book predated the Kickstarter campaign so it was not beholden to any promises made in the campaign.

I also want to say that, as this is a beta release, I am going to come off as more critical than I might otherwise be. I like Aaron but the point of the beta process was to find out what people really thought no matter how critical. At the same time I do have things I really liked about the beta book and I hope that will come across as well. I hope the best for Aaron and the Furrow Books project. Finally before moving into the review, this is the larger version. There is also a smaller pocket version available and some were sent that to beta test but I asked for the larger one specifically.

In order to address the book completely I am going to step back from the product first and talk about the concept. It’s billed as a “Versatile Notebooks for Doers and Dreamers.” I have to say I am actually a bit tired of the insinuation that this implies. I may be being a bit cynical here but it seems that Kickstarter projects are beginning to start a cliche in the “for awesome people” tagline department. It’s a notebook and it might be specifically for one type of use or a person that performs a specific task but implying that it is for an ethereal or lofty subset just grates at me. I said the same in a recent review of the Baron Fig so I am not singling Furrow out on this specifically.

Now on to the actual concept, a blank notebook with a backer card to be used as a page guide. It’s rare but not completely unique in the retail space. I reviewed a Kokuyo Report pad with the same concept a little while back. In the home diy arena this is a mainstay, at least in the fountain pen world. I think it is primarily well suited for correspondence where large blank sheets of paper look great for letters but we need some help keeping things lined up. In the notebook realm I still think it can work but I am less excited about it. I may be the odd man out but I have no problem keeping a blank book for sketching, a ruled book for writing and notes, and a grid book for more technical or work related things. Change around the uses if you use them for different things but having one notebook that can be used as all of them is the idea and for me I’m still not sure I need that. One last thing on the concept, you can use it as all three but then when you are looking back over it you only have a blank notebook. That’s going to be a bigger deal I think than the use. Being able to have the blank pages once used to look back over might look more clean and professional. I’m not sure that it will be once I get over the novelty of the concept but it’s the best selling point of the concept in my opinion.

On to the actual notebook in my hand. It feels beta. It should I guess but without seeing a final product I can’t recommend Furrow on a few key things. I think they may very well be better but just looking at what I have in front of me I am a bit disappointed in the binding, the crispness of the cuts and corners and the overall build quality. (Remember I will have Aaron’s responses later in the review) The staples aren’t perfect on the spine, the corners are rough cut and not crisp and the fold leaves some ugly bends on the covers. In part the bend issue is because these guys have a lot of pages which is a plus but I think there is likely a limit on simple fold binding that these are just over.

There are only two staples and with a robust book like this I am afraid they will quickly come out and create a problem. Since they aren’t centered on the spine perfectly if I were to add my own staples to reinforce the binding I would just cause more issues. I am eager to see the final product in the larger size because I hope they have found a way to have a crisp fold without the bending issue.

Another issue the large amount of pages causes in a book bound this way is that the outside pages will be bent more than the inside ones. They will be in the curve and that makes it a bit harder to use the parts towards the spine in all places. The bigger issue though comes in the implementation of the concept due to this binding issue. If you are writing on the center page nearest the staples you can easily slide in the backer card on a flat sheet and see it and begin writing. If you use it nearer the covers, say on the first set of pages or last, you will have to wedge the backer card in a bit harder to get it around the curve to the spine in order to see the lines behind the entire page. It’s not the end of the world but I found in my weeks of testing that it was a hassle I would rather do without.

On to the cover itself. It’s fibrous card-stock thick enough to stay ridged and give some protection but not hard or stiff. For the binding I think it is a good fit. It also compliments the interior fibrous pages in look but it’s a bit to close in color to me. I would have preferred it be the exact same color as the paper inside or something with more contrast. That’s just a preference though and not a negative on the book itself.

The interior pages are nice enough. The paper is somewhat unique compared to most notebooks I have. It looks like a cotton blend that’s not completely refined so that you can still see sporadic discolored threads on the pages. As far as how that comes across aesthetically it’s going to be a judgement call for individual users. It’s not my favorite but I like it more than some. As far as actually using the paper I found it to be fountain pen friendly for the most part. I was hoping for it to be a tad better but if I am comparing it to other notebook papers that I would use with fountain pens regularly I would probably put it in the middle of the pack. You can see from the writing samples how it held up.

Now, I feel a bit bad here. I want to be honest but I know this isn’t the final product. It’s a beta and bound to have problems. So, onto my back and fort with Aaron on the differences between this notebook and what people will get if they are successful in their Kickstarter campaign. I am going to copy and paste several emails so that I can be completely accurate to how Aaron replied without putting words in his mouth. He actually sent out an email replying to some of the issues before I even sent in my beta response so I will start with that.

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On my full review I have back and forth emails from Aaron here but it's just not working to get the formatting right to understand the flow here. You can click here to see that aspect of the review: http://penpaperinkletter.com/furrow-...tebook-review/
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At this point Aaron replied and let me know that Furrow had just gone live on Kickstarter. I posted on PPIL mentioning as much. I think the entire project has potential and wish Aaron the best.

Finally, to sum up, I like Furrow Books. I think the beta book was not to my expectations in the retail space but for a beta was adequate. If all the changes are made that have been promised in the Kickstarter campaign and in Aaron’s emails I think it will be a solid offering. It’s still not going to be my thing for a daily notebook I don’t think but I did back the project. Once I get the final version in hand I’ll do an update. For now I would say that I recommend you back the project, if only at the lower levels to help get another brand off the ground. If you like the concept and the idea of a more artisan feeling paper then go for it and back to your hearts content. Again, I can’t say this enough, I wish the best for Aaron and Furrow.

-Heath
@WeThePPIL

[xewepi714]

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