Levenger Aluminum Circa Discs on Junior and Letter Size Bomber Jacket Covers

In April of last year, I reviewed one of my favorite Levenger accessories, their nickel Circa Discs that I used with my leather Bomber Jacket covers.   To my disappointment, by the time I reviewed them, Levenger had already discontinued them.  The review received a good number of comments, and the feedback made its way to the folks at Levenger including Levenger’s CEO Steve Leveen (Steve on Twitter) himself.  With all of the feedback, from the readers here at OfficeSupplyGeek, and I’m sure countless other emails and phone calls directly to Levenger, they decided to bring back a very similar item, which is what you are looking at in the photo above.  These are the new and improved Levenger aluminum Circa Discs that have replaced the old and discontinued nickel versions.

Levenger Aluminum Circa Discs in 3/4" and 1" Sizes

Before we get too far into this review, I wanted to just make it clear that there was no discount or any other special consideration given to me by Levenger or anyone else for the review of this product, I bought them on my own as a very happy and loyal Levenger customer.  The new Aluminum Circa Discs from Levenger have a few differences from the older nickel version but lets take a look at the new ones first.  These new aluminum versions have a very clean brushed metal look to them, and they come in both 3/4″ and 1″ sizes.  Both sizes are packaged in sets of 11, and each size is available from Levenger for $22 per set.  The discs are pretty light weight, but they seem to be very strong, so barring any harsh treatment I wouldn’t expect any dings, dents, or scratches.  While attached to my Junior Size and Letter Size Bomber Jacket covers, the discs performed very well, the pages, covers, and dividers all turn very smoothly with no snagging or catching.  The only minor issue I noticed was that there is a little bit of a squeaky sound when the plastic cutouts of the cover pass over the rings.  It isnt anything as horrifying as the nails on the blackboard sound, but just a minor almost forgettable squeaking sound as the plastic passes over the aluminum.

Levenger nickel Circa Discs (left) and Aluminum Circa Discs (right) Compared

In the photo above you can see a side by side comparison of the old 3/4″ nickel discs (left) and the new 3/4″ aluminum version (right).  The most notable difference on the new discs is a lack of the “L” on each disc, which initially bothered me, but now I think I actually like it better that way because it gives the new discs a very clean and simple look.  Another thing you will notice is that the older nickel versions have a much more glossy surface while the aluminum discs have a more flat or brushed metal look to them.  Something you can’t tell from the photo is the weight difference between the nickel

The Old Levenger nickel discs on my Bomber Jacket Covers for the before comparison.

Just for comparison’s sake, the last photo here shows my Bomber Jacket Covers with the old nickel discs, both of the discs here are the 3/4″ and I replaced them with the new aluminum ones in the larger 1″ size.  So far I like the aluminum version better now because they are slightly less flashy and shiny due to their matte or brushed finish, and they also happen to match better with my Stainless Steel Lamy Studio which I carry around in the pen loop on my letter size notebook pictured above.  If the Levenger Circa system is new to you, check out one of my earliest reviews of my Circa Bookcloth Cover notebooks.  Also, now that I have the option of going to the larger 1″ size with the aluminum versions, it gives me a little more flexibility with what I carry around with me in my daily planner and my letter size notebook.  I just really prefer the look of the metal over any of the plastic because it gives the Circa notebooks a MUCH more classy and luxurious look, and when you spend this kind of money on a notebook, you want it to look the best it can.

I (and we collectively) owe a big thanks to Steve Leveen and all of the folks at Levenger who made these new discs happen.  It was also incredibly nice, thoughtful, and impressive that the fantastic Levenger customer service folks remembered and took the time to come back here to post an update on my original review to let me know that these new ones were available.  It is the little things like that which make Levenger’s customer service stand out so much, they definitely set a standard that most other companies should strive to achieve, an it is one of the reasons (along with the quality of their product) that I continue to enjoy being a Levenger customer.

© 2010, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

Zequenz Notebooks Discovered at The Stationery Show in NYC

It sometimes takes a bit of time before I can actually get my hands on review samples of products that I see when I go to the National Stationery Show in NY, and in the case of these Zequenz journals, it was totally worth the wait.  Pictured above are the 4 samples that the folks from Zequenz sent to me, for review.  The notebooks are available in black and red, in graph, blank, and ruled in multiple sizes, and although they are not able to be purchased through an online sore yet, the manufacturer has told me that I can supply the following to email addresses for now (zenith@zenithpaper.com 360creativelife@gmail.com) if you are interested in purchasing them.  They can currently accept PayPal as a form of payment as well, and if you would like to check out their website it can be found at Zequenz.com…so now on to the review.

Zequenz Notebook Branding on the Front Cover

The Zequenz notebook is available with your choice of either a black or red cover that has a soft and flexible leather-like feel, and each has the Zequenz name and logo embossed in a subtle way on the front cover.  They are available in Mini (9 cm x 14 cm), Small (10.5 cm x 14 cm), Medium (12.5 cm x 17.8 cm), and Large (14.8 cm x 21 cm) sizes with blank, ruled, or graph paper versions.  Each Zequenz notebook also comes with a thin magnetic fold-over bookmark which can be seen in the first photo of this review on the upper right corner of each notebook.

Zequenz Notebooks Magnetic Bookmark

I’ve also included a close up of the magnetic bookmark above that shows some of the features in an illustrated fashion which is a little better than my attempted photography.

Zequenz Notebook Binding

Something that really sets these notebooks apart from some of the similar ones you will find on the market is the quality and flexibility of the binding.  You might not be able to tell from the first photo there, but check out the photos below for some of the yoga-like feats that the Zequenz can pull off.

Zequenz Notebooks Open Flat

From my hands on experience with these Zequenz notebooks, I definitely get a sense of the fact that much thought went into creating these, and there was also an obvious focus on quality materials and construction.  One of the more impressive features is the binding on these notebooks.  As pictured above, the notebook easily opens and lies flat with no need to press it down to force it open.

Zequenz Notebook Binding Folded Over

Taking things even one step further, the Zequenz notebook even folds over 360 degrees with the front and back covers meeting as pictured here.  Amazingly enough, this is done with what feels like no pulling or stress on the binding itself.  Also, when you return the notebook to its normal closed state, there does not seem to be any damage done, as it just closes back up as it did when it was brand new.

Zequenz Notebook Rolled Up

One last trick that the Zequenz notebook has up its sleeve is that the larger sizes are easy to roll up.  My picture above is not quite rolled, but a little more folded, but you will just have to take my word for it that it rolls fairly nicely, it is just hard to do that with one hand, and get a decent picture of it with your other hand.  Regardless though, if you are on the go with your notebook, it is nice to be able to roll it up like that and be on your way.

Zequenz Notebook Writing Samples including Fountain Pens and Others

I tried a variety of pens in the graph paper version of the Zequenz notebook, and each of them glided very smoothly over the paper.  None of the pens showed any significant feathering, other than a VERY minor exception for the two fountain pens.  Each of the colors that I wrote with also stood out nicely against the bright white paper and the subtle gray grid marks.

Zequenz Notebook Show Through

The next picture probably looks like a big white rectangle, but I wanted to give you an idea of the show through that I got when doing the original writing sample.  I feel like different people have very different tolerances for show through, and for me, the Zequenz is right on the border for my personal preference of what is acceptable.  I could probably deal with writing on both sides of the page, especially if I was a little more selective on what pen I used, but click on the writing sample above and judge for yourself.

Zequenz Notebook Dry Times with Different Pens

The last writing sample here shows the dry time because I know that left-handed writing folks sometimes have a hard time finding notebooks that will work for them.  For the most part, my small sample size of fountain pens and fountain pen ink dried a little on the slow side, but for me as a right-handed writer, it is not a big deal, especially considering how smoothly the writing experience was on the paper with the two nibs that I tried.  All of the other pens including some Sharpie Pens, Gel Ink pens, and hybrid ink pens all wrote very smoothly and dried pretty quickly.

In summary, I really like these notebooks.  The overall quality seems great, especially compared to other similar notebooks in this class, and their flexibility, design, and quality materials have me looking forward to spending a lot more time using these.  Dont forget to shoot an email to zenith@zenithpaper.com or 360creativelife@gmail.com if you are interested in buying one…or some of these great notebooks.

© 2010, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

Levenger Notabilia Composition Book

The Levenger Notabilia Notebook is Levenger’s high quality version of the classic composition notebook.  As with most other Levenger products, you can feel the quality just from picking this item up and having it in your hands.

Levenger Notabilia Composition Book Sewn Binding

The first thing I noticed about the Levenger Notabilia notebook (besides the nice calming greenish color of the cover) was the sewn binding, instead of what you see in many composition notebooks which is a glued binding.  I think it might be hard to see from my photo above, but the little white stitch marks are there running down the center of the notebook.

Levenger Notabilia Composition Book Laying Open

I didn’t force the issue, but even without making too much of an effort, you can see that the Levenger Notabilia does open and come close to laying flat.  With a little bit of extra pressure I am sure that it would flatten out nicely.  The Notabilia notebook measures  3/4″ x 10″ and has 140 pages of high quality, and bright white 60 lb paper.

Levenger Notabilia Composition Book Writing Sample

Before I talk about the writing experience with the Levenger Notabilia notebook, you might notice something a bit interesting.  Unlike many other notebooks, the vertical line that is on the left side that acts as the margin, is the same exact dark gray color that is used for the horizontally ruled lines.  Usually I am used to seeing some kind of contrasting colors, but it isnt a big deal at all.

The first thing that I noticed with all of the pens on this Levenger paper was that it wrote VERY smoothly.  Id say that with the fountain pens I tried, it is even smoother than the normal Levenger Circa notebook paper.  Of the three fountain pen and ink combination that I used, I think my favorite by far was my Lamy Studio EF with the Sailor Blue Black ink.  Not only was the writing experience incredibly smooth, but the nib, the ink, and the paper all seemed to work so well together.  The nib literally glides over the paper with that combination, and the ink did not feather, bleed, or show through at all which is always impressive.  The two other fountain pens did fairly well, however if you click on the above photo of the writing sample  you will see that there is a slight bit of feathering with both of those.

The other non-fountain pens that I used all preformed very nicely on this paper too.  Both sizes of the Sharpie Pens, as well as the Uniball Signo gel ink pen wrote smoothly and most importantly didn’t bleed or feather on the paper.  I am confident that you can write on both sides of the paper with this notebook with most pens, I would just avoid the most inky or wet pens though to play it safe.

On an unrelated note, be sure to check out the new office supply giveaway and newsletter if you have not already done so.

© 2010, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

The Whitelines Hard Wired Notebooks with Black Cover and Some Matching Fountain Pens

One of the cool office supplies I got to get a look at when i was at the National Stationery Show were these new Whitelines notebooks with black covers.  Simply adding a black cover to a notebook doesn’t really make it much different, but it certainly makes these cool notebooks look even cooler.  Before I get into the review though, I want to thank Michael and Doug from Whitelines for taking some time to chat with me about their products at the Stationery Show.  Not only did they show me these new Whitelines notebooks with black covers, but they also explained to me how Whitelines was doing well in terms of doing some private label stuff for some pretty well-known companies.

New Whitelines Notebooks with Black Covers

So here is a quick look at two of the new Whitelines notebooks with black covers.  The two you are looking at above are the  Whitelines Hard Wire A5 Lined Notebook – Black (Spiral-bound) and the Whitelines Hard Wire A6 Lined Notebook – Black (Spiral-bound) versions.  The difference here being the A5 vs the A6 sizes, which if you are not familiar with means that the A5 measures 5.8″ x  8.3″ and the A6 measures 4.1″ × 5.8″.  Each of these versions of the Whitelines Notebooks with black covers come with 100 sheets of 80g paper.

Whitelines Hard Wire Black Cover A5 and A6 Lined

A major reason that I really like the hard cover coil bound versions is that you can flip the cover over as pictured above to minimize the space you need on your desk to write.  With that being said, there are plenty of other versions of the Whitelines Black Cover notebooks available with different bindings.  When using a fountain pen on this paper there is a very faint amount of show through, but hardly enough to cause any issues when writing on both sides of the paper.  There was also no feathering on the page nor was there any bleed through.

Whitelines Hard Wire Black Lined Writing Sample

My quick writing sample above was done with a Lamy Studio with Extra Fine nib, and I also did one line of writing with an orange sharpie pen which seemed to be an appropriate tribute to the orange stripe on the cover of the Whitelines notebook.

The really unique thing about the Whitelines notebooks are that the paper is kind of the opposite of what you might be used to.  The majority of the paper is a very light gray color, while the lines themselves are bright white.  The contrast of the colors in this way makes it so that when you write or draw on it, the lines or grids on the paper do not interfere with your own written words or drawings.  This makes for it easier on your eyes when reading or viewing from the Whitelines paper.  Once you get beyond the cool functionality of the Whitelines paper, there is also the environmental aspect that makes it pretty cool.  Each notebook is labeled with information on the carbon footprint and the paper is manufactured with no CO2 emissions.  The full story about the environmentally friendly aspect of the Whitelines Notebooks is an interesting read on their site.

Whitelines Paper Scanned Showing Lines

The before and after scans above and below also go to show another interesting aspect of the Whitelines paper which is that when you photocopy or scan it, the lines become invisible.  These are scans from a previous review of a Whitelines A4 Wired Squared (link to review) notebook that I really liked, so since the paper in these new versions is not different, I thought Id show the comparison of the scanned vs. copied pages above and below here.

Whitelines Paper Copied Showing No Lines

I’ve been a fan of the Whitelines notebooks for a while now, and the addition of these Whitelines Notebooks with black covers makes me an even bigger fan.  You can check them out here in my Amazon store where I’m trying to set up an easy place for you to find all of the cool and unique office supplies I’ve reviewed.  You can also sign up for the Office Supply Geek newsletter and be entered in the monthly office supply package giveaway where you can win a bunch of stuff including a Whitelines notebook.

© 2010, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

Staples Eco-Friendly Notebook

The 9 1/2″ x 6″ Sustainable Earth Eco Friendly notebook from Staples caught my eye the other day when I was in the store.  I’ve been accused of liking the “plain and simple” look for most things, and I think thats what caught my eye about this notebook.  When I picked it up I saw that it was 80% composed of sugarcane waste (also called bagasse) and had some environmentally friendly water and vegetable based inks used to print on it.

Staples Eco Friendly Notebook Inside Cover

Like many environmentally friendly notebooks, Staples took the opportunity to load up the inside cover with some facts and information on how the notebook contributes to preserving the environment.  They mention some interesting statistics about the number of trees saved and other interesting things.  Beyond the extra info, two things I really like about the notebook are the really sturdy cardboard cover, and the equally sturdy copper-colored coil binding.  The coil itself is very thick and sturdy, which gives it a similar sturdy feeling that you find with some of the double coil notebooks.  Inside the notebook you will also find a dual pocket divider to store your extra notes or other things.

Below in the writing sample you will see that the paper has unique brown ruled lines instead of the usual black, blue, grey, or violet, I thought this was pretty cool looking.  I don’t know why, but I’m always impressed with a quick and clean removal of perforated edges and the Staples environmentally friendly notebook hits the mark in that category.

Staples Eco Friendly Notebook Writing Sample Show Through

Unfortunately all of the good that I had initially found with the eco friendly notebook was quickly canceled after doing some writing on the paper.  While the start to my writing experience went well with smooth crisp lines and no spreading or feathering, I quickly noticed some serious show through on the other side.  If you click on the image of the scan above you will see how bad the show through is, I basically wrote the same review on both sides of the paper.  For the most part I can deal with a little bit of show through, however when it comes to environmentally friendly notebooks, you really need to be able to write on both sides without the distraction of show through…writing on one side of a notebook just seems counter-intuitive.  The really frustrating thing here is that according to a very thorough review by BiffyBeans, the quality of the paper on these notebooks used to be much better.  I had high hopes on this one, but sometimes things just don’t work out

© 2010, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

The Decomposition Book Recycled Composition Book

Here is my first review of a product that I found at the 2010 National Stationery Show, and hopefully Ill have a bunch more to come that I will spread out over the next few weeks.  This is an environmentally friendly composition book which is very cleverly called “The Decomposition Book” in recognition of its green characteristics.  There were lots of green office supplies at the Stationery Show, but this one by far had the most creative name, along with having some impressive features.  The Decomposition Book (via Amazon) is made by Michael Roger Press.

Inside Front Cover of the Decomposition Book

The Decomposition book measures 7.5″ by 9.75″ and has 80 sheets, or 160 pages of post consumer waste recycled paper.  The front inside cover has some helpful information, a spot for a name/subject/reward, and also some environmentally friendly info.  The back cover pictured below has a full detail of all of the environmentally friendly stats of this green composition book.

The Decomposition Book Recycled Composition Book Inside Back Cover

The inside back cover contains more info on what makes this a green composition book.  Some of the impressive qualifications and interesting stats are as follows:

-Manufactured using bio-gas

-Processed chlorine free

-Printed with soy ink

-Made in the USA (this does make a difference assuming you buy it in the states since you are not using energy to ship it to the US)

-Additionally, each book:

-Saves 1/200th of a mature tree

-Saves 1/3rd lb. of solid waste

-3 gallons of fresh water

-4/5 lb. of air emissions

-3/4 cf. of natural gas

Decomposition Book Recycled Composition Book Writing Sample

The writing sample above shows a variety of pens on the paper.  The top half of the sample in blue was done with a Uniball JetStream pen, while the middle portion was done with a Green Medium Point Sharpie Pen.  The bottom of the page shows multiple other pens including a fountain pen, some gel ink, liquid ink, and roller ball pens.  Each of the pens tested wrote very smoothly on the paper with no feathering.

Decomposition Book Recycled Composition Book Show Through

The scan above shows the back side of the writing sample, which you probably need to click on to get the bigger version so you can see the detail.  Basically there was some show through with some of the pens, mostly the roller ball and medium point Sharpie Pen.  Overall if you are not terribly picky about the show through most of you should be fine in this area.

Decomposition Book Recycled Composition Book Binding

The entire make up of the Decomposition Book is done very well.  The cover and tape binding all seem to be of a good quality, and the photo above shows the sewn binding that actually holds it all together.  If you are looking for some green home office supplies, this environmentally friendly composition book should do the trick.

© 2010, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

The Doane Paper Ideal Journal

This is not my first review of Doane Paper, and it probably wont be my last, because the product and customer service are excellent.  I originally learned of Doane Paper through The Pen Addict, where Brad always uses this paper to do his writing samples.  This new Idea Journal from Doane Paper is a new product caught my eye the first time I saw it, so I finally broke down and ordered one a few days ago.  I think the thing I liked most about the notebook most was the plain yet appealing visual, with its sturdy (and 100% recycled) chip board cover and the stark contrast of the black text on the light background.

Inside the Doane Paper Idea Journal

The most unique thing about Doane Paper is the design that provides the writer with both grid and ruled markings all on the same page.  The grids on this paper are .125″ x .125″ and are surrounded by slightly thicker ruled lines.  One of the things that I was not thrilled about with my original Doane Paper notepad was that the back side of each page was blank.  With the Idea Journal (and a few of their other products) this is no longer an issue, as the grid marks and ruled lines appear on both sides of the 60lb brite white paper.

Doane Paper Idea Journal Folded Over

Another really nice thing about the Idea Journal is that because of the sturdy double coil binding, it is easy to fold over the cover…and unlike the comb-over, a fold-over with your notebook is definitely cool.  There are a ton of things to love about this notebook, between the fold over, the double-sided Doane Paper format, the thick and high quality paper, and the durable feel of the cover and coil binding, this is really an awesome notebook.

Doane Paper Idea Journal Writing Sample Front

Now that I’m set with a Doane Paper notebook where I can write comfortably on both sides of the paper, I wanted to do a more complete test to see if the ink would show through on the other side.  As you can see from the writing sample above, I tried many different fountain pens/inks, gel ink pens, Sharpie pens, and a standard roller ball pen and all of them wrote very smoothly with no feathering.

Doane Paper Writing Sample Show Through

The true test came when I flipped the paper over to see what, if any ink decided to show through to the other side.  The only ink that even slightly showed through on the other side was the Levenger fountain pen ink, and even that was incredibly faint, and would not bother me enough to notice when writing on both sides of the paper.  I’m definitely lookin forward to using this notebook whenever I get a chance, which means Ill probably be doing some of my pen reviews with this soon too, which is good because my Red ‘n Black notebook that I’ve been fond of for a while is almost used up.  Definitely check out the Doane Paper Idea Journal (there is also a smaller 5.25″ x 6.875″) and pick one (or some) up if you are looking to add some high quality notebooks to your inventory of home office supplies, you wont regret it.

© 2010, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

The Dot Grid Book by Behance

The is an alternative to the standard graph paper notebook because it aims to reduce the background noise of traditional graph paper by using subtle light gray dots instead of solid darker lines.  I know that other notebook manufacturers have come out with similar items lately, and I’ll be sure to review those as well, however I’ve had this one sitting around long enough and I wanted to share it with you already.

Close up of the Dot Grid Book Coil Binding

You probably cant tell from the first photo, but the cover of the Dot Grid Book has a very interesting texture to it.  It feels like it is probably some type of heavy stock cardboard, covered with a rubbery material that is super smooth, almost like velvet.  The only thing I don’t like about the cover though is that it gets somewhat smudgy after you handle it for a bit.  I do however love the double coil binding on my notebooks because it makes for a much more sturdy and neat looking notebook.  If you click on that photo above you can see how the Dot Grid Book gets its name because of the light gray dots covering the page.  This version has 50 pages of high quality white 80g paper.

The Dot Grid Book has a Unique Double Perforated Line on the Edge

In the last photo there, you can see that I made two vertical dotted lines towards the left side of the page, close to the coil binding.  Each line indicates an actual perforated line that runs down the length of the notebook.  The first perforation all the way on the left allows you to cleanly tear off the frayed part of the page that results from ripping the page out of the Dot Grid Book.  The second perforation that I’ve highlighted which is further to the right allows you to also rip off the part of the page that has the holes punched, so you have two options on how you want the finish on the edge of your paper with this notebook which I htink is a very nice little detail.

Dot Grid Book Writing Sample

The majority of the writing sample (basically the top half of the page) you see above from the Dot Grid Book was done with my recently reviewed Aurora Ipsilon EF fountain pen, and J. Herbin Orange Indien ink.  The rest of the page was written with various pens including a Uniball Signo 207, Sharpie Pen Fine Point, Lamy Safari EF, PIlot Razor Point, Paper Mate Liquid Flair, and a traditional roller ball.  Each of these pens wrote very nicely on the 80g paper that this notebook comes with.  The thing that impressed me most about the paper though was not the fact that there was almost zero bleed through (except for a few spots where the FP ink was thick) but it was the fact that for such a dry feeling paper, there was absolutely no feathering of the inks tested.  Now don’t take my “dry” description of the paper as a bad thing, but it is just the best way I could think of to describe it in comparison to something like the 90g paper that you sometimes see with Rhodia and Clairefontaine.  Those aforementioned papers have a smooth and slightly glossy finish to them, while the paper here in the Dot Grid Book has no finish, which is why I was expecting a slight bit of bleed with some of the liquid inks.

The is a great notebook that shows both creativity and quality in its design.  Beyond your basic note taking and business related tasks, any designer, doodler, or statistician could probably do much more with this notebook than I did here with my simple writing, so definitely check this notebook out if you are tired of the standard old graph paper notebook.

© 2010, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

The Scout Book is a notebook that you can custom design yourself

The Scout Book is a cool notebook that gives you, the end user, the ability to create your own cover design, and select your own paper to make a very customized 3.5″ x 5″ pocket notebook.  The nice folks from ScoutBook sent over a few of these notebooks for me to review and to give away to some of my readers.

Back of the Composition Style Scout Book Notebook

As I mentioned, the notebooks are of the pocket-size variety, and measure 3.5″ x 5″ and come in a variety of pre-printed designs, some of which you see in the photos above.  They also come with your standard selection of either blank, ruled, or grid/graph paper inside.  The cool thing about these though is if you are not satisfied with some of their standard designs (see here) you can use your own artwork to create a custom cover.  Now of course there is a minimum order of 50 for any custom design, but I think that is very reasonable.  Because the notebooks are customizable they also make for great promotional tools for your business, school, event, or whatever else you can think of.

Some other nice features about these notebooks are that they are made from 100% recycled paper and use soy-based inks, so they are pretty environmentally friendly as well.  On the composition style notebooks the back cover has a spot to write your name, email address, and a start/end date, while the front cover has space for a title.

Scout Book Notebook Graph and Ruled Paper

You can see that the notebooks are stapled in the center, and the above photo shows the graph and ruled paper, the lines on each are a light gray.  In doing my writing tests with these notebooks I was impressed with their versatility.  All of the pens I tried including Sharpie Pens, Gel Ink Pens, Ball point pens, and my F and EF fountain pens worked well.  I did try a fountain pen with a medium nib, and that is the point at which I started to get some show through on the other side of the page.  While it wasnt bad, even a small amount for me can be bothersome, but I was thrilled that I could use my F and EF nibs with no apparent problems.

I am definitely considering picking up some of these for a project that I have in mind, I just have to sort out the details because for the most part if you do a custom design, you can only print one color on the cover, and then for multiple colors they mention a “custom quote” so that might get a little scary for my small budget, we shall see though.

Blue, Black and Red Scout Notebooks in the Foregraound for the Giveaway

Now for the good stuff, like I said, the nice folks from Scout Books supplied some of the composition style notebooks for a giveaway.  There will be 3 winners, and each winner will get 3 of the composition style scout books of the same color.  Color choice will be first come first serve for the winners.  To enter, you need to do the following:

-Leave ONE COMMENT and answer the following 3 questions:

1. What would be your ideal color be for the composition style notebook?  Pick black, red, blue, or any other color that you like best, and let us know why.

2. If you won, who would you share your scout books with and why?

3. What will you use your scout book for?

-Three winners will be selected, THE MOST CREATIVE/INTERESTING 3 entries will be the winners.  Decision of the judge (most likely just me) is final.

-You will have until Wed. April 14th at 11:59 PM Eastern to leave your entry.  Winners will be announced at 11AM Eastern on April 15th, and winners will have one week to claim their prize.

-First to respond to the winning announcement gets their selection of color.

-I will ship prizes internationally.

© 2010, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

The Leuchtturm1917 Ruled Notebook

The Leuchtturm1917 notebook is relatively new in the US market, however as its name implies it has been around since 1917, and with the tag line “Details Matter” you can tell from the notebook that they have spent those 90 years perfecting the little details of their notebooks.  I picked up this version of the Small Ruled Leuchtturm1917 from Organize.com a few weeks ago, and am now getting to review this fun office supply.

The Leuchtturm1917 Ruled Notebook Table of Contents for Organizing Your Notes

The Leuchtturm ruled notebook looks very similar to your basic Moleskine notebook with its thick black leather-like cover, slightly ivory colored pages, and black elastic closure, however I’d say that based on my experience so far, this is a much better option.  The features you will find packed in the Leuchtturm are:

• 185 pages of 70 gsm paper
• Numbered pages
• A blank table of contents
• Acid free, no bleed paper
• Thread bound binding for a flat opening notebook
• 8 perforated sheets in the back
• Expandable pocket in the back cover
• Satin ribbon page marker
• 4 stickers to label and archive your notebook with

When you compare all of those offerings to a regular Moleskine, it kind of makes you wonder why someone might pick a Moleskine over the Leuchtturm notebook, I know I wouldn’t.

The Leuchtturm1917 Pages with Space for Dates and Pre-Printed Page Numbers

As you can see in the above photo, there is ample space provided on each page for you to write the date, and the bottom outside corner of each page is pre-numbered to help you manage your table of contents provided to you in the front few pages of the Leuchtturm.  In that photo you can also see the ribbon page finder, which is pretty much standard on any good notebook or journal like this.

Leuchtturm1917 Writing Sample Showing Minimal Bleed with Most Pens

The most important thing to look at with the Leuchtturm besides the ample feature set, is how a variety of pens perform on its pages, because that is where I have my biggest beef with most of the Moleskine notebooks I’ve tried.  My biggest issue with Moleskine notebooks of this style is that any ink (besides ballpoint) that I’ve tried ALWAYS bleeds or feathers, and it just makes for an incredibly sloppy looking notebook.  I was pleasantly surprised with the Leuchtturm because I did not see any feathering with most pens other than the Sharpie Grip Pen and the Uniball Vision Elite, but it was minimal with those two.  I think the scan is good enough above that you can see the feathering on those two pages, and I used multiple fountain pens, liquid ink pens, and gel ink pens to really test out the paper.

The only thing that bugs me about the Leuchtturm and the writing experience is that the ink definitely shows through to the back side of each page that you write on, so with most pens, you will only be able to write on one side of the page.  When it comes to high quality notebooks like this, I just don’t understand why manufacturers wouldn’t make this a top priority so that you can utilize both sides of the paper.  For the most part, I do like the Leuchtturm a lot, but I’ll probably stick to my Rhodia Web Notebook when I want something in this class because the quality of the paper is just so far superior.

The four Leuchtturm1917 Archive Labels that come with your Notebook

I’ll leave you with this last picture of the Leuchtturm which is kind of appropriate since this is probably the last part of your notebook that you would use.  These are the stickers that come with each notebook for you to use to label and archive your notebook.  You get two square stickers, for the inside/outside covers, and two long skinny stickers that would fit on the outside binding.

If you are interested, you can see all of the Leuchtturm offerings on their website.

© 2010, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.