Supplies for the Stamford Traveller's Journal 2: Rhodia cahiers

I've already blogged about the hateful Moleskine cahiers and how they will never make it into the glory that is my Stamford Traveller's Journal, but what else might go in there? (I was especially alarmed when I checked the Stamford Notebook Co. site and saw that they were only listing grid refills, and I know that the paper mill where they get their fabulous paper from has gone into receivership - very sad as it is fairly local to me! Are Stamford Notebook Company going to be short of fabulous paper????)

Anyway, in my last post, I said that I had bought some Rhodia cahiers for the TJ so let me review them with no further delay.

I bought both lined and squared versions and I got them from Cult Pens (no affiliation, just always had great service). At £1.63 they are even cheaper than the hateful Moleskines and much, much better!

The notebooks are simple stapled books with 48 sheets (96 pages). The size is 14.8cm x 21cm. The cover is vinyl and quite sturdy. I bought black covers but they also come in orange. The front has the Rhodia logo printed on it. On the back there is the logo again with underneath a description of the size and pages and at the bottom right, a bar-code. The outer corners are rounded and the paper is smooth, 80gsm glory. None of the pages are perforated, there is no envelope in the back and no page marker.

Front. It's actually black not grey!

Back. Again, black not grey

Lined:
Line spacing is 8mm with a 19mm top margin and a 15mm bottom margin. There are no side margins. The paper is crisp white and the lines are purple-grey. With a little persuasion, the books lie flat.

Grid:
Grid spacing is 5mm. The paper is crisp white and the lines are purple-grey. Again, with a little persuasion, the books lie flat.

Ink tests:
As ever, I tested how well the paper stood up to fountain pen. Read this and WEEP Moleskine. THIS is what paper should be like.
I only tested the lined paper and have assumed that the grid paper will have similar (if not identical) results.
The paper was very smooth to write on, there was no feathering, no bleed-through and almost no show-through/ghosting to the other side. My only criticism was that it was a bit too shiny/smooth for some of my pens that prefer the paper to be a bit more 'grabby' but generally, it was an absolute dream to write on.

Pen tests: front

Pen tests: reverse

Now, the observant amongst you will have spotted that the Stamford refills are 12.5cm x 21cm; the Moleskine cahiers are 13cm x 21cm and that these are 14.8cm x 21cm. The Stamford TJ is 14cm wide and so these hang out as they stand. However, following the advice given by Ray about cutting up Moleskine cahiers to fit in a Midori TN, I sliced up a Rhodia with a rotary cutter so that it was 12.5cm wide. My advice would be similar to his: take it slow and steady and do not move the hand holding the ruler over the book!

Here's the result with the grid booklet:

Original (L); trimmed (R) (clip is just to hold it closed)

All in all, these make excellent replacement booklets for the Traveller's Journal (and sliced a little narrower, would be excellent in a Midori TN too).