9 Paper Review
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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.
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Originally Posted by Jon Szanto
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