I would suggest searching the Fountain Pen Network forums and/or the Goulet Pens Blog (this is on their website).  This is discussed quite a bit.  I have a "flex pen" but have not really spent the time to tweak it to my liking, plus flexing means slowing down my writing even more than it already is. 

Great to hear this!! 

Interesting stuff, Joe. I just checked online and my local staples has stock of the copier paper and it's only $6 for 500 sheets. They also seem to have myriad other paper items made of the same material, so I'll go by there later today to pick some up. The only time I'm at all fussy about the paper I use, for pen or machine, is when I'm using it for a mailed letter, and for that I like using onionskin paper, but I also like to try new things and this intrigues me. It's also given me the idea that we should have an official paper thread for everyone to post their favorite typewriter paper in. I'll set that up later too.

I just finished a direct comparison of sugarcane paper with my regular paper and concluded that it provided almost equal performance.

My regular paper for typing - I use Leuchttürm1917 paper for writing - is Xerox Premium Multipurpose paper. It's around $8 for 800 sheets and is 24 lb. with brightness rating of 96. It works really well in any typewriter and allows me to type on both sides. When used with a fountain pen it exhibits minimal feathering and bleeding.

The sugarcane copy paper from Staples is only 20 lb. with a brightness of 92, but despite this it performs almost as well as the Xerox paper. I wouldn't hesitate to type or write on both sides of it as well.

I also bought a notebook made from sugarcane paper (no specs were provided) and found it feathered slightly more, and bled enough that I wouldn't be able to write on both sides of a page.

Based on my comparison I would use the sugarcane paper for typing, but since it's not any better (performance or cost wise) than my regular paper, I will probably stick to what I've been using. As for the notebook, it was half the price of a comparable Leuchttürm notebook, but it didn't provide half the performance of the Leuchttürm's fountain pen friendly paper, so I definitely won't be using sugarcane paper notebooks for writing.

Greetings All

Many of your stories sound familiar as I had to use a fountain pen in high school and just continued using them through technical collage. I was the only apprentice heavy duty mechanic who used a fountain pen for his noted. Actually had 4 fountain pens. 3 Shaeffer's, blue, black and red with corresponding color of ink and a Shaeffer Slim Line loaded with Peacock Blue for writing to my girlfriend and the occasional letter to family.

OK, back to the subject of paper, while searching around, I came across this site  Bond Smooth 10lb White Paper 8 1/2" x 11" R | 3-ONSKN-N (thepapermillstore.com)  and thought it would be interesting to try some of their onion skin paper. As yet, I haven't bought any so can't speak for or against it. For the corresponding envelopes, one needs to go to http://www.envelopes.com/business/regular/10-regular-envelopes-airmail . I'll see if I can gather up my old fountain pens and take a picture or two. Meanwhile, take care and all the best,

Sky

Last edited by skywatcher (05-12-2022 15:31:03)