Ink on Cheap Paper Test #3, Noodler's Heart of Darkness

Noodler's Heart of Darkness has a reputation to be the blackest black and to perform well on most papers. Here's a review on the ink, though prices will have changed as the post was written over a decade ago: http://peninkcillin.blogspot.com/2011/02/noodlers-heart-of-darkness-ink-review.html. This writing sample was done with a refilled Pilot Varsity, which has a medium nib on it.

 

AMPAD Scratchpad - Front

 

AMPAD Scratchpad - Reverse

 

Post-It-Note - Front

Post-It-Note - Reverse

AMPAD Legal Pad - Front

AMPAD Legal Pad - Reverse

Staples Copy Paper 20 lb - Front

Staples Copy Paper 20 lb - Reverse 

pen & GEAR Notebook - Front

pen & GEAR Notebook - Reverse

AMPAD Steno Pad - Front

AMPAD Steno Pad - Reverse

AMPAD Small Legal Pad - Front

AMPAD Small Legal Pad - Reverse

 

Summary: Drying time for Heart of Darkness only exceeded 5 seconds on the pen & GEAR Notebook, which does tend to have a slower dry time due being a bit less absorbent, causing the ink to sit on the top of the paper for longer. Due to this being a medium nib, there was more ghosting and bleeding present on the papers, an extra fine nib might not have these issues. Bleeding and heavy ghosting was apparent on the Scratchpad, the Legal Pad, Post-It-Note, and the small Legal Pad. Staples copy paper had mild bleeding with ghosting present. Both the pen & GEAR Notebook and the Steno paper had some mild ghosting. 

Overall, if you're doing a lot of writing very quickly, you're not going to worry if the ink has dried by the time you turn the page using Heart of Darkness. The paper that did have ghosting and bleeding are most notably ones that you would only use one side of in normal circumstances. Basic copy paper performed decently and the two papers that one could use to write on both sides, Steno Pad and Notebook, worked the best with dual-side writing. Heart of Darkness is a great ink to use in most circumstances and is friendly in most cheap paper circumstances.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links and is not sponsored in any way. This ink came from my own collection.

Ink on Cheap Paper Test #2, Lamy Blue

 Lamy Blue is your basic blue ink and more often than not, a cartridge of it comes with most Lamy fountain pens. Here's a review of it for more detail: https://mountainofink.com/blog/lamy-blue. This writing sample was done with a Lamy Studio with a fine nib. The fine nib created a line between fine and medium, but still performed well during the test.

AMPAD Legal Pad: A drying time of 5 seconds with slight bleed-through and ghosting.

Post-It-Note: A drying time of 10 seconds, bleeding and ghosting present.

AMPAD Small Legal Pad: A drying time of 15 seconds, slight ghosting.

AMPAD Scratchpad: An instant drying time, but a lot of ghosting & bleeding present.

AMPAD Steno Pad: A drying time of 20 seconds, slight ghosting present.

Staples Copy Paper: An instant drying time, small amount of bleed-through and slight ghosting present.

pen & GEAR Notebook: A drying time of 20 seconds, slight ghosting present with the Every Other Line test. Ghosting not apparent with the Overlapping Line test.

Thoughts: Lamy Blue performed well on the range of papers I used for the test. The 20 lb Staples copy paper was perhaps the most desirable result, with an instantaneous drying time and only slight ghosting and minimal bleed-through. The poorest performer was the Post-It-Note, with a 10 second drying time and evident bleed-through, but how often will someone write on both sides? The pen & GEAR Notebook performed the best with minimal ghosting and no bleed-through with the every other line and overlapping line tests, but the drying time of 20 seconds may cause smudges if writing very quickly. The other tests fell between the copy paper and p&G notebook in terms of drying time and ghosting/bleed-through performance. Overall, Lamy Blue will get you through most cheap papers provided by a workplace with minimal inconvenience.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links and is not sponsored in any way. This ink came from my own collection.

Introduction & Noodler's Lexington Gray test

 Introduction & First Test

    I've been in the fountain pen hobby since 2019, a relatively small amount of time compared to others who have been blogging about pens, ink, and paper. What this blog is for is to answer the question I see the most on forums, reddit, and other places: "Will this ink work on cheap paper?" I happen to have a lot of cheap paper options available to me and a lot of fountain pen ink & pens. 

    What this blog will not be is an ink review site (see mountainofink.com for an amazing resource), a pen review blog, or a paper review blog. We'll simply be looking at how ink does on cheap paper.

    The method for doing this has evolved over several months, but in general there are seven types of paper that will be tested. The text for the test will be from a public domain book and the current book is Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (1926). I'm not trying to win handwriting awards and mistakes will be made, but that's just how your typical person is going to write on this type of paper - sometimes you'll have to scratch things out. The first few entries into this series had a lot more writing per ink, but that's more limited as the entries progress. You can judge if five lines or twenty-five lines will work. I'll also be using different pens and will describe them, but won't highlight them. This blog is about how the ink looks, not necessarily how the pen works on it. I'll try to include some information if it's an exceptional case, although in general the pens have mostly extra fine or fine nibs as they tend to do best on cheaper paper in terms of performance.

    Without further discussion, let's look at the first ink and the writing samples. This is Noodler's Lexington Gray from a Sheaffer Award, medium nib.

 

Ampad Steno Pad - Front

 Ampad Steno Pad - Reverse

Ampad Scratchpad - Front

 

Ampad Scratchpad - Reverse 

 

 

 

Ampad Legal Pad - Front

 

 

Ampad Legal Pad - Reverse

 

 

 

pen and GEAR Notebook - Front

 

 

 

pen and GEAR Notebook - Reverse

 

 

Ampad Small Legal Pad - Front 

 

 

 

Ampad Small Legal Pad - Reverse

 

 

 

Staples Copy Paper 20 lbs, 75 g/m² - Front  

 

 

Staples Copy Paper 20 lbs, 75 g/m² - Reverse

 

 

Post-It-Note - Front

 

 

 

Post-It-Note - Reverse

 

 

pen and GEAR Notebook - Every Other Line and Overlapping Lines, Front

 

 

pen and GEAR Notebook - Every Other Line and Overlapping Lines, Reverse 

 

In general, Lexington Gray will dry near instantly on most paper. To be such a quick drying ink, it absorbs into the paper very quickly and may cause ghosting and bleeding on the cheaper papers if you are writing on both sides. 

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links and is not sponsored in any way. This ink came from my own collection.