Andy Pastuszak
Member 
Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,533 
What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 5, 2024 21:45:32 GMT
I really don't like binders. They're big and unwieldy.
I'm a big fan of role playing games and my current obsession is the RPG Cyberpunk RED. So, I've been buying up rulebooks for it and obsessing over the game more than I probably should. That's where I have been, if you're wondering.
This also rekindled my interest in older RPGs I used to play as a teenager. A lot of these are out of print. And the only place to get them is from places like eBay, and sellers are charging exorbitant prices., because they think they're now collectors items. Looking for a solution, I discovered a print on demand service called Lulu.com. I can legally buy PDFs of a lot of these games and then use Lulu.com to get hardcover or softcover books made from these PDFs.
Well, that got me thinking. Why couldn't I use a POD service to print a stamp album as a hardback book with a nice color cover? Heck, I could even sell these books for others to buy, if I wanted to.
I know a lot of stamp albums from the turn of the 20th century were hardcover or softcover books. Then we kind of moved to stamp pages in binders.
Obviously binders have the advantage of being able to add supplements to them yearly, and if you miss a stamp, you can just redo a page and replace the bad one. But I think it would be interesting to have a stamp album that's actually a hardback book.
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Post by clivel on Mar 6, 2024 0:24:21 GMT
Something to consider regarding bound hadback albums is that they get thicker as stamps are added, so it would probably work best for albums that do not contain too many pages.
As, to selling your own albums, it may be easier to do it through Amazon who I believe offers a print-on-demand services for books that they sell. e.g see A Stamp For Every Country: Postage Stamp Album from John Knudsen (a regular poster on SCF).
Clive
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 693
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Mar 6, 2024 2:49:22 GMT
Something to consider regarding bound hadback albums is that they get thicker as stamps are added, so it would probably work best for albums that do not contain too many pages.
That's a good point. I've noticed that the better hardbound albums will cut out some pages to create spacers in the binding, in order to accommodate the bulge from a full album.
Here's an interesting bookbinding video where he's making a photo album and, once the album is bound, he cuts out every second page to accommodate the bulge. The process is called 'guarding'.
There's 5 videos to make the album, but here's the 5th one when he does the guarding:
PS - Andy, I'm with you regarding binders. I'm currently fantasizing about going with overlarge pages in a springback album 
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Andy Pastuszak
Member
Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,533
What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 6, 2024 3:44:01 GMT
Something to consider regarding bound hadback albums is that they get thicker as stamps are added, so it would probably work best for albums that do not contain too many pages.
As, to selling your own albums, it may be easier to do it through Amazon who I believe offers a print-on-demand services for books that they sell. e.g see A Stamp For Every Country: Postage Stamp Album from John Knudsen (a regular poster on SCF).
Clive
I was thinking about that. One option would be not get it hardbound, but instead get it spiral bound. Even better would be to get it wire bound with a hand front and back cover.
I have bought some notebooks from Staples that are wire bound and have a hard front and back cover.
Here is an example of one:
That would get me a nice hardcover book I can stick on a shelf, along with the ability to lay completely flat on the table.
I need to see if there is a POD printer that can do wire binding with a hard cover.
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Andy Pastuszak
Member
Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,533
What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 6, 2024 3:44:22 GMT
That's a good point. I've noticed that the better hardbound albums will cut out some pages to create spacers in the binding, in order to accommodate the bulge from a full album.
Here's an interesting bookbinding video where he's making a photo album and, once the album is bound, he cuts out every second page to accommodate the bulge. The process is called 'guarding'. That's cool, but it looks like a lot of work. |
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Post by michael on Mar 6, 2024 9:26:06 GMT
I would like to say I love my Lighthouse Excellent DE ring binders |
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Andy Pastuszak
Member
Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,533
What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 6, 2024 13:48:39 GMT
I wish I could buy an 8½×11 binder that had 22 rings and, when closed, has the cover just slightly larger than the page. I remember buying a 2 post Minuteman binder in the 80s and really like the fact that it only slightly larger than the pages that were in it. I hated that it would not lay open flat. But I admired the compact design of the binder.
I don't like binders bigger than 1". 1½ is about as big as I am willing to go.
Do they make a hole-punch for that Excellence DE binder, so I can make my own pages?
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rednaxela
Member
Posts: 177
What I collect: Germany in all its facets since 1871 (especially German Reich used including postal statinoneries, used), USSR, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Denmark, France. I design all album pages for my collection myself and partly make them available to the general public for use.
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Post by rednaxela on Mar 6, 2024 15:09:23 GMT
I wish I could buy an 8½×11 binder that had 22 rings and, when closed, has the cover just slightly larger than the page. I remember buying a 2 post Minuteman binder in the 80s and really like the fact that it only slightly larger than the pages that were in it. I hated that it would not lay open flat. But I admired the compact design of the binder. I don't like binders bigger than 1". 1½ is about as big as I am willing to go. Do they make a hole-punch for that Excellence DE binder, so I can make my own pages? I have to admit that I like binders... All binders that I am familiar with are slightly larger than the album pages themselves. If necessary, I may need to trim these pages or have them trimmed.
In the meanwhile I visited a small, artisanal printing shop and had paper tailored to my preferences (based on a sample template), both cut and perforated. This was certainly cheaper than purchasing ready-made blank pages from stamp album suppliers.
Hole punching is even unnecessary for spring back binders, which I prefer.
To compensate for the space between the pages, I cut crafting cardboard to the required width (for ring binders, I would need to have them punched..., one more argument for springback binders).
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Andy Pastuszak
Member
Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,533
What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 6, 2024 15:31:22 GMT
The problem I have with spring back binders is the same problem I have with 2 post binders. The pages don't lay flat, especially at the beginning or end of the album. I know if you have oversized pages, you can crease them so they'll stay open.
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,352
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Mar 7, 2024 12:12:43 GMT
I like binders and definitely like slip cases since you can 9 binders on a shelf (my setup per shelf). You can remove any one binder and they do not fall over so no book ends needed. My favorite binder that stands on end without a slip case is the We R Memory keepers. I still have no idea why I chose red but came in multiple colors. The binder cover is very thick. There is also a 12x12-inch version.    |
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Catweazle
Member
Posts: 62
What I collect: Chatham Islands (NZ), Molokai (US), Lord Howe Island (AU), Greenland, GB, some Australian Pre-decimals for good measure et hoc genus omne.
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Post by Catweazle on Apr 20, 2024 7:46:36 GMT
Binder rings – dreadful things. Over time the hole-punched pages disintegrate after my years (or even months!) of turning the pages.
I've found too that the rings on ring binders will also become less and less stable over the years too.
Is there much of a difference in construction between what one can purchase el cheapo from the likes of Officeworks vs. philatelic archival ring binders?
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fazeman
Member
Posts: 97
What I collect: Worldwide
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Post by fazeman on Apr 20, 2024 14:52:13 GMT
Binder rings – dreadful things. Over time the hole-punched pages disintegrate after my years (or even months!) of turning the pages. I've found too that the rings on ring binders will also become less and less stable over the years too. Is there much of a difference in construction between what one can purchase el cheapo from the likes of Officeworks vs. philatelic archival ring binders? Have you considered using self-adhesive hole punch protectors for your pages? Regarding ring binders, there's a huge difference in the construction of El Cheapo office store binders and philatelic ones. But there's another option. That is the scrapbook 3 d-ring binders that can be found at arts and crafts stores. They are very well constructed and come in different sizes and colors. I bought two of them for my small collection of stamps.   |
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,352
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Apr 21, 2024 10:27:00 GMT
I have a hole reinforcer but mine are clear not white so nearly invisible.  |
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