Ink on Cheap Paper Test #11, Noodler's Forest Green

Noodler's Forest Green in a part of Noodler's standard ink line. Fountain Pen Network has a couple of reviews for this ink: #1 and #2. These samples were written using a Jinhao 992 with a fine nib.

An observation I've had is that my rating for overall best performer is usually the same as the best two-sided performer. Because of this, I'll be doing away with the overall best performer, because it's difficult to pick the best out of two very different categories. 

With one-sided papers, the best metric is dry time since it's going to be a rare occasion that you'll write on both sides. If dry times are the same across the papers, writing space is going to be the tie-breaker. It's still important to note bleeding and ghosting, especially if it's going to affect the page that's under the current one you're using. 

Two-sided papers are being judged more on the presence of ghosting and bleeding, because most writers will want to use both sides. Drying time is the tie breaker for these papers, but could be a major factor if the drying time is exceptionally long for some papers. As an example, the pen & GEAR Notebook succeeds at having hardly any ghosting or bleeding, but the drying times are always longer which impacts how it performs as a two-sided paper. Don't always take my opinion of which paper "wins," the images speak for themselves. 

The Post-It-Note test looks at drying time and readability as the main factors. I wouldn't want to accidentally smudge an important note I had written 20 seconds earlier and not realize it until I really needed it a minute later. 

AMPAD Legal Pad - Front

AMPAD Legal Pad - Reverse

Post-It-Note - Front

Post-It-Note - Reverse

AMPAD Small Legal Pad - Front

AMPAD Small Legal Pad - Reverse

AMPAD Steno Pad - Front

AMPAD Steno Pad - Reverse

Staples Copy Paper 20 lb - Front

Staples Copy Paper 20 lb - Reverse

AMPAD Scratchpad - Front

AMPAD Scratchpad - Reverse

pen & GEAR Notebook, Front & Back and Overlapping Line Tests - Front

 pen & GEAR Notebook, Front & Back and Overlapping Line Tests - Reverse

Best One-Sided Performer: The Legal Pad edges out the Scratchpad for best performance here, though they were tied for drying time, bleeding, and ghosting due to more writing area.

Best Two-Sided Performer: Staples Copy Paper here is a clear best performer with superior drying time. The bleeding is not so significant as to be a distraction, though with no bleeding and minimal ghosting, the Steno Pad is a close second despite its 15 second drying time.

The Post-It-Note test shows a 20 second dry time, although it's mostly done by 10. It has good readability and would be okay for a quick note with minimal accidental smudging.

TLDR [Drying Time, (B)leed, (G)host]: Legal Pad - 0, B, G; small Legal Pad - 10, B, G; Steno Pad - 15, G; Copy Paper 20lb - 5, B, G; Scratchpad - 0, B, G; p&G Notebook - 20, G.  

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.