Editing The Pen Addict 400/transcript (section)

== Paper Sizes and Standards ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' And this is where Brad gets upset, right? Because Moleskine is not A5. But if you look at it just, you know, in the world, it looks like, oh, it's A5-ish. And that's where I start to have problems. So I'm a believer in the true A5 sizes, and Moleskine is not that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So this is, it's a tough thing to discuss. We're not even going to touch, we're not going to attempt paper weights. Because they're measured in what's called pounds, which is not a physical, you know, like a weight measurement. I mean, it's technically, it's a paper weight measurement, but you don't think of it in like, okay, Brad weighs a lot of pounds. It's not the same type of measurement. It's also measured in grams per square inch. So paper is extremely difficult to explain the details. What we focus on is more the size, the general sizes, like the A sizes. There's a lot of B sizes. You can go all the way. C sizes are somewhat common. There's F sizes out there now that are more square. So there's all kinds of things. But we mostly focus on the features of the paper. Like what does the paper feel? What, how does it perform with certain pen types? And honestly, it's one of the most important things to consider. If you're getting into stationary, as good as your favorite pen is, it's going to perform only as good as the paper you're using, right? If you're using even a gel pen, if you're using a Pilot G2 gel pen on your office copy paper, it's going to be fine. It's going to work well. If you use that on a different type of paper, say a rhodiopad, which I'll explain more in a minute, it's going to perform differently. So every little decision you make in your stationary, it's kind of like a chain reaction with the rest of it. You know, you take one pen from one page, it's going to perform completely differently. So the main topics that I like to discuss when we talk about the features a paper has, I want to know if the paper is coded or uncoded. And there's all kinds of terminology in the printer world on how the paper is finished, you know, whether it's hot pressed or cold pressed and all these technical details. But basically, coded and uncoded, you can feel it to the touch. Is it kind of smooth and glossy or is it a little bit rougher? Like these are honestly pretty close in feel, but you can tell a difference when they're side by side. And what a coded page does is it prevents the ink from seeping into the fibers of the paper as quickly. Now, you can get in there with like a, you know, a lot of ink on the page. It will soak it in like it's not rejecting the ink. Don't think that I'm what I'm saying is coded. This is like you're writing on linoleum or something. It's just a smoother type. That's good for your liquid inks, right? Anything that bleeds into standard basic uncoded paper, you're going to be going to use coded paper for. Now, the downside to that is it's going to take a while to dry, right? Ink dries on a page based on how fast it's absorbed into the page, right? So there's a balance you're trying to find with the pen types you like with the paper type that works the best for that. So, you know, a popular example of a coded page is a brand called Rhodia. They make probably some of the best notepads in the world. I would certainly vouch for that. I don't think that's an unfair statement. And I think a lot of people will agree in general.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Super good starter, right? Like if you are currently using Moleskine's or something like that or something and you want to improve, you want to like take the next level up. I really, really recommend Rhodia paper. They come in so many different formats. They have books that look like Moleskine books, but they also have pads that you can just use and you just tear a page out or whatever. And then once you've started down that world, you will be able to move into other areas. But I think that Rhodia have excellent paper quality, good pricing, and in every conceivable format that you're looking for.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And they're widely available. Like this is a worldwide brand.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, like I have walked into stores in the UK and have found Rhodia pads. Like you typically have to find like a stationary store, like one that carries stuff. But I've found like if you can find somewhere that carries Lamy pens, you'll find the same place will probably carry a Rhodia paper. And those two are like, and we'll get into those later on the pen stuff. But those are like really good, let's get an upgrade on my Bic and Moleskine lifestyle.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The uncoated popular pages are like Leuchtturm, Moleskine, those types. They work well with fountain pens, but they're generally going to work better with your ballpoints, rollerballs, gels, things like that for the most part. You can use fountain pens with them. I have good success with fountain pens with them. It's just a little bit different dry time, a little bit different if you're using a lot of fountain pens and bright colored inks, the ink will look different, right? The ink might be brighter on a coded page than an uncoded page because the ink is sitting up on top of the page. The other thing to think about when you're buying a notebook is the format. Now, this is probably the easiest thing for you to get. You either look at the page and decide, oh, I like that it's blank. Oh, I like the lines that are going across it. Or you can have like a grid or a graph or you can have a dot. So the format is the most obvious thing. You know, it's not even something we need to explain. But those are kind of the four basic formats. There's a million other formats out there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And I would be super surprised if everybody listening to this does not already know exactly what they want with blank lined grid or dot. Like, yes, you don't even have to really have experienced them to know what you want. Right. I am a dot or grid person, but preferably dot person because I like a little structure, but I like the page to a glance look like it's blank. That's my my feeling on these things.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So for what's a very a very simple thing, a piece of paper, I think it's one of the most complex things to fully explain. But the good thing is you don't really have to go deep into that rabbit hole. There's a big rabbit hole there, but you can stay up on top ground and be just fine with paper as long as you're considering what you're using and how it works with the certain pen type that you choose.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Personally, I think that lined paper is like a crime. But, you know, you do you. I just don't. Lines just seems so strange to me, really. Like, I don't really understand why people buy lined paper. But, you know, if that's your thing, go for it. I think we're just all scarred from our school days. It just feels like a prison to me. Right. Like, you can only write in this one direction and in this space and enjoy it. It's like, OK, thank you, Mr. Lined Paper. So we've spoken about regular standard pens, right? We have yet to get to. Should we do pencils now? We can. Pencils is pretty straightforward. I think we should do pencils now. Yeah. That's what because after this, we're going to talk about fountain pens. And there's a lot in fountain pens. So why don't we talk about pencils? Pencils.