Clairefontaine Triomphe A5 Blank Notebook Review

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

Clairefontaine is a paper brand from France that you'll be hard-pressed to miss if you spend any time at all in the stationery community. Their paper products are top-notch and fairly priced, making them great entry points for trying out exceptional paper that handle all sorts of writing instruments with relative ease.

The Triomphe A5 notebook features the great 90gsm paper on the inside with a stark, classy white and gold-leaf cover. The notebook has 50 sheets of paper inside with zero additional front or end matter. The front inside cover is blank outside of a small logo that is just a shade or two different than the color of the cover, making it blend in. The back inside cover has some information about the brand and notebook specifications, but that's all. No organization blocks or admin folders in this notebook — just glorious, beautiful bright white paper.

The front cover of the notebook is really quite pretty. The Triomphe name is bold, debossed and inlayed with gold-leaf foil, along with a rectangle that outlines the outer edges of the cover. It definitely grabs your attention because it's bold and not something you see on notebooks often. There's also a smaller Clairefontaine logo on the front, but the color is faded so that it takes a distant back-seat to the gold-leaf design. The back cover has a single Clairefontaine logo, debossed and inlayed with gold-leaf foil, along with a standard name and barcode block, which is printed on the notebook directly. This isn't a sticker that you can peel off after you unwrap the notebook.

The notebook is thread-bound and feels great to open and close. I have no doubts that this binding will still be in good shape after spending the time with it to fill all 50 pages. The notebook doesn't like to lay open when it's new, but some gentle breaking-in solves that problem quickly. After using the first few pages, the notebook easily lays flat on its own.

The paper is Clairefontaine's standard fare — 90gsm acid-free bright white paper. The corners are rounded off on both the covers and the pages, making it less likely to get caught on things when taking it in or out of bags or pockets. The version of the notebook I have is a blank paper, which is somewhat rare for Clairefontaine. In most cases, Clairefontaine is only available in lined paper, with only a few blank or grid options in only some of their product lines. The blank paper is a nice change of pace, and I've taken to keeping a sheet of lined paper tucked into the notebook so I have a line guide when writing. Or, if I want to do something more free-form, I can put the guide away and just use the blank page as I see fit.

The paper in this notebook (and any Clairefontaine paper product) is so nice to use. It may not be the best or the favorite paper of everyone, but it's a good, solid option that handles many kinds of writing instruments without any hiccups. For fountain pens, rollerballs, gel pens, ballpoints, and pencils, it's a fantastic experience. The paper is silky smooth with just a small amount of feedback to make handling your writing instrument easier. The paper is also really consistent, meaning there aren't random spots where ink behaves differently. It's just a really good paper, and you should absolutely try some if you haven't had the pleasure.

Being 90gsm, it's a tiny bit thicker than comparable brands, but it doesn't feel any thicker in use. Inks don't show through easily, so using both sides of the sheet is easy unless you're using excessively wet or wide nibs that lay down ink like a wet mop.

Using Clairefontaine paper, and this particular notebook, is a great sensory experience, and it really makes your writing instruments shine. It offers an ideal environment for using the pens and pencils that are so special to us. And, at $12 for a notebook (or cheaper if they're on sale), it doesn't break the bank either.

My only complaint about this notebook applies to Clairefontaine in general: give us more options for the ruling! If Clairefontaine had blank, lined, graph, dot options for all of their most popular notebook lines, they'd be so much more popular. Since they mostly standardize on wide lined ruling, that instantly turns some people away, and that's a shame. I'm hoping some day they'll see the light and add more options to their lineup! Until then, I'll make due with what they already have since lined isn't that bad and blank is also fun to use from time to time.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on October 16, 2024 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Clairefontaine, Notebook Reviews.

Kokuyo Jibun Techo Lite Diary Mini B6 Slim Giveaway

Kokuyo’s Jibun Techo Planners are one of the more popular options for detailed planners. While their standard edition may be more than some people need, the Lite Diary version strikes a solid middle ground with a 2-page per week layout. I have one to give away this week, featuring the Green Cover, so read the rules below and enter away!

Posted on October 15, 2024 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Giveaways.

Pencil Sharpener Battle: Classroom Friendly vs. Uni KH-20

*Classroom Friendly (Left,) vs. Uni KH-20*

I’ve been focusing on pencils in the month of October, and recently realized I’ve never reviewed either of my favorite two desktop pencil sharpeners: the Classroom Friendly Sharpener and Uni KH-20 Hand Crank Sharpener. Let’s break down each of these popular sharpeners, and see which one I prefer.

I’m looking for one thing with any pencil sharpener: a long point. That goes for hand-held and desktop sharpeners both. Not sure what the difference is? One image says it all:

*The Dixon Ticonderoga (top,) is on the extreme end of the “short” scale.*

The short point, top, is how many types of pre-sharpened pencils arrive. I knew there were sharpeners out there that offered a deeper sharpening, but what I didn’t know is that a long point sharpener was a thing. Once I found out, and shopped accordingly, I’ll never go back to a short or medium point wooden pencil. Long point only for me.

Both the Classroom Friendly and Uni KH-20 provide the point I’m looking for, with only slight differences between the two. Yes, I’ll go ahead and tell you up front that I rate these two sharpeners closely, but one does see more action than the other at the end of the day.

The Classroom Friendly sharpener blade provides a slight concave shape on the tip. If you look closely, you can see a slight swoop starting from where the barrel paint ends through the end of the graphite point. In comparison, the Uni KH-20 blade finishes its sharpen cycle with a straight line from paint to tip.

I’d say the very tip of the core is also sharper from the Classroom Friendly. That’s not always a positive. With softer graphite you’ll find that part of the tip crumble as soon as it hits the page. That’s not a huge issue since you are wearing down the tip the moment the pencil hits the page, but I don’t see that one first use from the Uni sharpener.

*Every Other Facet, the new Alt-J song.*

There are almost no negatives with they way either of these sharpeners do their job, with on visible exception: the teeth of the Classroom Friendly sharpener bite into the barrel. This is an annoyance, but it is fixable. I use washi tape to buffer the area where it clamps onto the pencil barrel to prevent the bite markers. Other have recommended products like Blu Tack adhesive to smooth out the teeth in a more permanent way.

*Washi tape as protection. Is there anything it can’t do?*

Other differences involve construction - the Classroom Friendly uses a mostly metal exterior, which the KH-20 is mostly plastic. Both have a large capacity slide-out shavings bin. The KH-20 does have a blunt tip setting that the Classroom Friendly doesn’t have, which is great if you use color pencils that don’t require the ultimate in stabbiness.

*Blunt tip from the KH-20 for color pencils.*

In the extras department, the KH-20 comes in three colors, while the Classroom Friendly has seven. The Classroom Friendly also ships with a clamp to mount the sharpener to a table or other surface.

At $25 for a single sharpener (plus discounts starting with three or more,) the Classroom Friendly checks in at $7 less than the $32 Uni KH-20 sharpner. The Classroom Friendly also offers a replacement blade ($15) if you ever need it, which Uni doesn’t offer for the KH-20 as best as I can tell.

In this battle between sharpeners, there needs to be a winner. There is no wrong choice for quality, but I reach for one of these sharpeners over the other about 80% of the time, and that’s the Uni KH-20. Why? It’s rock solid, quiet, and consistent. And I do use the blunt tip setting on occasion for color pencils, although I admit that’s not a deal-breaker. The bite marks on the barrel are my biggest hangup with the Classroom Friendly, and while fixable, the point it provides isn’t worth the extra fidgety-ness most of the time.

I will say I am glad to have them both at arms reach, and after many years of ownership, neither seems to be slowing down.

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