Doane Paper Fountain Pen Test

Doane Paper — 11 April 2009

Sample of various fountain pens, and fountain pen inks on Doane Paper Writing Pad.

Over on The Fountain Pen Network I posted something about Doane Paper, and someone was asking how fountain pen friendly the paper was, so I told them I would do some quick writing samples and tests of my fountain pens on it. The above photo shows a mix of the different fountain pens and fountain pen inks on the Doane Paper. The pen and inks used are as follows:

Platinum Preppy with Blue Black Ink
Lamy Safari with Noodler’s Tiananmen ink, EF nib
Pelikan M205 with Noodler’s Bulletproof Black Ink, F nib
Lamy Studio with Private Reserve Black Velvet, EF nib
Pelikan M215 Private Reserve Black Velvet, F nib
Pelikan M215 with Noodler’s Luxury Blue, F nib
Lamy Studio with J. Herbin Vert Empire, EF nib
Lamy Safari with J. Herbin Orange Indien, EF nib

If you look at the larger picture you can clearly see that there is virtually no feathering at all with any of the fountain pens or inks on the Doane Paper. The next thing to look at is the drying time of the various fountain pen inks on this paper. You can see that majority of the inks dont dry instantly on the Doane Paper, but there are a few inks that seem to do significantly better than the others, especially the J. Herbin inks, and the Noodlers Luxury Blue. Personally I dont really think that any of the inks are bad on thedoane paper in terms of drying time, because I dont usually try to smudge what I’ve just written. If you write with your left hand though, this might be an issue.

Bleedthrough with fountain pen ink on Doane Paper...but does it matter?

I know that often people are concerned with bleed through on fountain paper, but on the Doane Paper Writing Pad, because of its unique design, Im not sure that it even matters because I assume that most people dont use the back of these. I did look at a few writing samples that I had done in one of the Doane Paper utility notebooks which have the design on the back of the paper as well, and there was absolutely NO bleed through with the few samples I did there.

Hope this was helpful, but if you have any other questions or requests regarding any pens on the Doane Paper feel free to leave a comment and I would be happy to try and answer.

You might also like:

Private Reserve Ebony Green Ink Review

Levenger Cocoa Fountain Pen Ink

What’s on Their Desk – Chad Doane: Founder of Doane Paper

Students damaged psychologically by pens!

About Author

OfficeSupplyGeek

http://bardharlock.blogspot.com/ bardharlock

Doane uses some nice paper without a doubt. I have a set of the utility notebooks and like them for the most part. I am pleased that they are made in the USA. I do wish the paper were not as bright or that the lines were not the standard blue-violet of loose-leaf notebook paper; or both! I need to try some different inks in mine. I am a fan of bulletproof black from Noodler’s and as you showed, it takes forever to dry on a page of Doane. Thanks for the review and especially for the great pictures as always!
http://www.officesupplygeek.com OfficeSupplyGeek

@bardharlock – glad it was all helpful, I kind of like the old school look of the loose leaf color scheme. I agree about the bulletproof black taking a bit of time to dry, but I also dont mind so much because when I write I dont usually have things brushing against the paper.
http://coffeestainedmemos.blogspot.com/ John Johnston

I like using Doane Paper notepads and memo books (love the line + grid). So far, I’ve had no problems using a fountain pen. I’ve used Noodler’s, Levenger, and Private Reserve inks in several colors with good success. Since I’m a righty, drying time isn’t an issue. Thanks for the great review!
http://www.officesupplygeek.com OfficeSupplyGeek

@John Johnston – Thanks for the additional feedback, Im sure that will be helpful to those who were interested. Its always good to have additional independent sources.

Thanks for stopping by, and for adding something with your great comments.
http://doanepaper.com/ doane

Hey Brian-
Thanks for the test! I get an email at least once a day asking, “How does your paper work with fountain pens?” Now I can point them right to this review!
http://www.officesupplygeek.com OfficeSupplyGeek

@doane – Thanks! Hopefully they find it helpful, and thanks for stopping by.
http://inkophile.com Inkophile

Thanks for putting doane’s paper to the test. Lots of people think very highly of it and your experiment certainly helps support that praise.
http://www.prosaicparadise.com/ Kim

Yup – that is a very familiar experience! Definitely worth the cost. Great demonstration!!

I haven’t had much time to keep up with blogs lately but I really need to talk at length about hiliters very soon. I don’t see a hiliter tag on your bar there so maybe you will be able to help me with my dilemma.
http://www.officesupplygeek.com OfficeSupplyGeek

@Inkophile – No problem, any excuse to write on this paper.

@Kim – You are correct, I have not done any posts on the topic yet, but I should at some point. I’ve been asked about the refillable ones a few times, so I was considering trying one getting one of those to review.
http://failtales.livejournal.com/ Chris Chan

Wait, the 8.5×11 pads are not ruled on the back? That kind of sucks… if I’m paying that much for paper (I normally use cheap crappy notebook filler paper or $5/ream printer paper) I want to be able to use both sides.
http://www.officesupplygeek.com OfficeSupplyGeek

@Chris Chan – you are correct, the 8.5″ x 11″ pads are not ruled on the back. The small notebooks are ruled on both sides.