Posts filed under Notebook Reviews

Write Notepads The Engineer Notebook Review

The Write Notepads Engineer Notebook is the notebook of my young Pen Addict dreams. And it’s pretty darn great for my older self as well.

When I was a kid, I used to hunt down engineering notebooks from the LSU campus bookstore. This is the store where many of stationery discoveries originated from, and finding those odd looking, brown-marbled cover gems was always a highlight. You weren’t going to find these on your middle school supplies list, that’s for sure.

The Engineer Notebook is Write’s take on this classic design, and they have done it right. From the cover - made from wear resistant Oilboard - to the light yellow paper, to the grid on top of grid format, this notebook is a retro dream.

So, how does it handle our modern tools? Pretty well, unless you are a fountain pen die-hard. Write’s pocket notebooks are notoriously fountain pen friendly, but the same doesn’t apply for this paper. Write mentions as much in the product description, which I greatly appreciate from them. In practice, my extra fine nibs worked well on the page, and medium and greater nibs feathered a good amount. I wouldn’t enjoy writing page after page with a wide, wet nib.

Write Notepads Engineer Notebook Writing

What I would enjoy is writing with everything else in the Engineer Notebook. Gel, ballpoint, rollerball, pencil, fineliner - all were excellent. The paper has a little tooth, which makes pencils feel exceptional, but not enough to notice with even the finest of standard pens.

Now, there are a ton of notebooks on the market that fit the description of average with fountain pens and great with everything else. So, what makes this one a notebook you should consider? Quality, design, and nostalgia.

Write Notepads put a lot of thought and care into the production of the Engineer Notebook. The square size (7” x 7”) is unique, as are the paper color and grid layout. And there is an even larger 8.5” x 11” Memo Pad option. I’m clearly a fan, and have the pens, pencils, and ideas to fill it with. You will have to to determine how you will use it, and what you will use in it.

Regardless of anything else, Write has added another great product to an ever expanding product lineup, and I look forward to seeing what’s next.

(I paid regular retail price from Write Notepads for the product in this review. I also have a separate business/wholesale relationship with the company.)

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Posted on February 22, 2021 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Write Notepads, Notebook Reviews.

Soumkine Paris Sketchbook Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

(Note: Sarah and I discussed the poor quality of this notebook in advance of publication. We review products as provided, and provide our thoughts based on the item in hand. I will be forwarding this review to Soumkine for their input on the issues present here to determine what went wrong and will report back if and when they respond. -Brad) (Update: Scroll down for Soumkine's response.)

Soumkine are a company in Paris, France that make high-end luxury notebooks and agendas. The Italian paper in their regular line of notebooks has reviews that rival Tomoe River paper. So I was very excited to try their new line of sketchbooks.

The sketchbooks are substantial, with 120 pages in this slim size. The pages are bound together in signatures with a thread and glue binding protected by a paper spine a very firm cardstock cover. The cover is pressed with the Pages logo and Soumkine's name. Inside the front cover are the number of the product, a space to index the date and contents of your sketchbook, and a warning that using such fine materials may cause one to become addicted to the finer things in life. Inside the back cover there is more information about Soumkine's other products.

I'm not an artist, myself, so my first instinct when given paper is to write on it. I'm not quite sure that that's what this paper wants, though. While it does well with pencils and drier inks, liquid inks like fountain pen ink had a tendency to feather. Per the product page:

“When you want a place to scribble notable quotes and perfect lines of poetry or to sketch ideas and capture spring blooms with watercolor, you want a paper where the pen doesn’t scratch, the ink doesn’t bleed, and the brush glides effortlessly across the page.”

This paper is more fibrous and stiffer than notebook paper, and it handles media like pencils much better than fine-tip pens, and will handle moderate watercolors.

I suspect that this thicker, stiffer paper may be the cause of the one big issue I had with the notebook--the signatures split easily, breaking the glue at the spine. While this binding technique works very well with their notebooks, their notebook paper is very fine and relaxed, allowing it to lay open flat. This stiff paper will not easily relax or lay flat, and this binding doesn't hold it well at all. The spine cracked between every signature on mine just by opening the book, even without trying to smooth the center to lay flat. When the center is smoothed to lay open flat, the split becomes a fairly significant gap. I've seen this happen in plenty of notebooks before, but the main difference between those notebooks and this one is that this one costs 36 Euros, or roughly $44. There are premium versions of this sketchbook that go up to 170 Euros, or $205 (a steal compared to the $578 limited edition planner). What might be just a bummer in a $5 notebook is a problem in a $44 notebook, and would be a travesty if it happened in the premium model.

It's possible I got a lemon, or one of a bad batch, and maybe the binding glue does its job more effectively on other books--but as it stands, I can't recommend this sketchbook until there are more reviews out there to see where the issue lies.

I genuinely hope my book was an anomaly, and that other versions of this product will prove to be as stellar as they look. If these sketchbooks can hold up to the praises I hear sung of Soumkine's other notebooks, they'd be a great addition to the stationery world.

(Soumkine provided this product to The Pen Addict at no charge for purposes of this review.)

(Update from Fiodor Sumkin, founder of Soumkine:

Dear Brad and Sarah,

Thank you for such a thorough and honest review! We are temporarily putting a "sold out" label on the ‘Pages’ series. There are two main issues: the binding and the paper type.

We sold this sketchbook model 66 times, and we will personally contact each customer to apologise and to offer a free replacement or a refund.

We value each customer, listen to their requests, and it is important for us to admit mistakes while moving forward and constantly improving our products.

Please note that what happened is the result of our brand's growth. I firmly believe that the only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.

I started the paper business 4 years ago in my apartment and my first product was a very simple 32-page notebook. For half a year I was looking for the right type of paper and personally tested them all, choosing the best one I could find.

Our company is no longer a child now, but not an adult yet. It looks more like a teenager in an awkward age. This creates all sorts of problems that my team is bravely dealing with. There are now 14 people at Soumkine.

We’ll send you a new ‘Pages’ sketchbooks shortly, made with a saddle-stitch and a spiral binding that we’re going to launch in the nearest future. These binding types are popular among artists, and I’m now starting to understand why.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to leave an official comment on your review and give our perspective. It means a lot to us as our main priority is to be honest and transparent with our clients and the whole paper-lovers community.

Greetings from Paris, Fiodor Sumkin, founder at Soumkine)

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Posted on February 18, 2021 by Sarah Read and filed under Soumkine, Notebook Reviews.

Fabriano EcoQua Gluebound A5 Notebook Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The Fabriano EcoQua Gluebound A5 notebook is one of those items that caught me by surprise this year. At first glance, it doesn't look like much, and I'll admit that I didn't even recognize the brand name until looking into it in more depth. Luckily, the EcoQua notebook is a fantastic little product that works best for me as a notepad since the pages are so easy to remove when you're done using them. And the paper quality is good enough to convince me to try this for a while instead of my trusty Rhodia DotPads that rely on perforated paper, which can be a little more finicky to tear cleanly.

Before getting into how versatile this notebook is, let's get the specifications out of the way. The EcoQua notebook is A5 sized (8.3 x 5.8 inches) with 90 sheets of 85 gsm white paper. The entire notebook is made in Italy from 100% natural materials, and features a sturdy but flexible card stock cover that protects the insides. The paper has a 4mm dot grid pattern, and the sheets are held in place with a flexible glue binding that makes the sheets easy to tear out. The Lemon colorway featured here is bright and happy, but there are plenty of other color options too.

I think the notebook is pretty interesting aesthetically, but most of what we care about is how the paper performs, right? Paper weight only tells part of the story in terms of how it feels to use. In the case of the EcoQua notebook, the paper is a little thicker than the Leuchtturm 1917 paper I'm so accustomed to now, but it still doesn't feel heavy or thick. There's a good amount of toothy feedback when writing, but it doesn't impact my writing style at all. It feels like there's a very thin coating on the paper to help with absorption, but it doesn't make the paper feel glassy smooth when writing, which I prefer. The light gray dot grid pattern is fantastic for providing structure when you want it, but disappearing when you don't need it. In my testing, I couldn't find any issues with the paper in terms of feathering or bleeding. Inks seem to dry at a normal pace, and the colors pop on the white paper.

The only downside I've noticed when using the paper is that there's a significant amount of show-through on the back side of the page. For me, this makes the back unusable, but others may not mind. Of course, this also depends on what you're writing with. Fountain pen ink definitely shows through, no matter the nib size. Other ink pens show through as well, but not as much. Even pencil marks show through, but not enough to make the back of the page unusable.

Ultimately, I'm not concerned about the show-through because this notebook feels more like a notepad to me. The cover opens up flat because it isn't attached to the glue binding at all. I've been very content to just tear out sheets when I'm done using them so I can move on to the next blank page. It makes an excellent notepad for me, but the added bonus here is that the notepad comes with a sturdy cover.

If you're interested in the Fabriano EcoQua Gluebound A5 notebook, check them out at JetPens. At $8.50, they're a fantastic value with decent paper. If the yellow is too loud, you can pick from seven other fun colors.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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