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.