Sunday, April 26, 2020

UniNote Cloth Covered A5 Notebook

The richness of the cloth covering makes these journals look more expensive than they are.  There is a disadvantage to cloth though; dirt.

My 4B needs a platen and feed rollers.  The ribbon feed was acting-up today also.  I guess it works fine for being 93 years old.

I started, and continue, to leave the ink test pages as they scan. I do not edit or scale them so sometimes like here, on this page they look smaller than the covers, but once clicked open to a full size scan.  Feathering? What feathering.  A bit at the M in My, but I have not found any ink to feather.

I was completely amazed at the tiny bit of shadowing with this paper. It is the best paper I found. There is a reason I did not like Leuchtturm1917 beside being higher priced than many notebooks; it was this notebook and its paper. It is a bit smaller than the Leuchtturm1917, but for the price I'll use these for fountain pen.  Pages are not prenumbered. That has never been a notebook killer for me since I have been numbering pages manually since high school.

This just happened to be the center of a signature. I left it here because I thought the pages might be perforated. They are not, but I do not know what may have caused the mark.  These are the only  2 pages I found with the mark along the inside.

I like to measure the pages because of the confusion of vellum vs text vs book paper sheet weights.  This is 100 gsm paper and measures (I could feel it as soon as I opened the notebook) a whopping .0057 inches thick!
 If I am not mistaken even Clairefontaine paper is not this thick. I'll find out because I have one on order. I've never used one of their notebooks, and there are so many different styles I did not know what to pick.  You'll see it in a future post.

Lines are spaced about 1mm wider than the other notebooks: 7mm vs 6mm

This company does not hide the place of manufacture.

This typewriter has one of the best feels compared to all of my typewriters, even Underwood. Perhaps because I grew up with a very similar one that was made about 1929 or 1930, and it is still in the family.  Thanks to Richard Polt this one now rings its bell at the end of the line.
I really liked the journal in the center from Greenroom in Taiwan, but they no longer manufacture it.  It is a bit larger than A5 (same size as the Leuchtturm1917), and the lines are wide spaced.
Unless the price goes up, I'll be using more of these.  Even if the price goes up, as long as it is not much more than $10.00 I'll still use these for fountain pen.
The only thing that shadows is a Sharpie. I thought of that after I posted.  I tried a sharpie and it does ghost, but it does not bleed like with thinner paper.

Look for these on Ebay or Amazon.

7 comments:

  1. Nice review! It looks from the photo that the line spacing is around 6.5mm, which may imply 1/4”.

    I like your method of measuring the paper thickness for gauging the weight.

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    1. Thank you , Joe.
      I think all of the ruled notebooks I have are advertised as 1/4" or college ruled line spacing. I should use my calipers to measure lines, but I did not start that way. I'd like to keep all posts as close to the same as I can.

      I was going to post a paper chart, but I think an actual measurement is easier to understand.

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  2. I helped your Underwood's bell ring? I don't recall this!

    I enjoy numbering the pages of a fresh notebook. It provides a sense of peaceful possibility ...

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    1. Yes, You sent the clapper and connecting link a few years ago.

      Thanks!

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  3. Loved the review Bill. Keep ‘me coming. I’m considering trying a Rhodes notebook in the future. I’ve heard good things about them. The paper can be got in a pad with Peres for tear out. Might be good for letter writing. Once the local shops open I’ll get a pad and let you know.

    Nice Tyler. I have the same one in blue... same year too. In fact I typed a letter on it just yesterday. I agree it has a wonderful feel.

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  4. I do like the cloth covered notebooks too Bill, but if you carry them around in handbag like I do they soon get a bit grubby unfortunately. For me it's essential to have a sturdy wipe clean if necessary notebook. I can't believe how much of the everyday things we use are made in China, one thing I have decided during this crisis is from now on to buy as much as possible Australian made ✨

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    1. I agree about where things are made, and that we should be buying from our own country. Here in the USA I found 2 brands of case bound notebooks out of at least hundreds, if not thousands, on line that are made here. Hope you have better results with Australian made.

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