Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,591 
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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clivel
Member
Posts: 387
What I collect: Basutoland, Bechuanaland, Rhodesias, South Africa, Swaziland, Israel to 1980, Ireland predecimal, Palestine Mandate
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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: 806
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: 1,591
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: 1,591
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: 1,591
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: 202
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: 1,591
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: 5,709
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: 103
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: 384
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: 5,709
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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DrewM
**Member** 
Posts: 32
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Post by DrewM on May 13, 2024 22:01:44 GMT
A lot of people who recommend stick-on hole reinforcements, I've noticed, have just started using them. This is also a problem with those "consumer comment" options on websites like Amazon. The comments are invariably from buyers who've just purchased the product, often without even using it yet, when what we want is comments from people who've used the product for a long time.
Being a long-time user of hole reinforcements, I wouldn't recommend most of them because, believe it or not, the glue dries out and they fall off the page. This happened to me for years.The only hole reinforcements that work well (and stay attached) are made out of clear glue-on mylar plastic of the kind Scott/Amos sells for this purpose. Well, I think it's mylar. They call them "page reinforcement." But they're not so cheap and each package has only a few sheets of them. But, the free market to the rescue! You can also buy generic clear plastic strips, cut them into small squares, attach them, and then hole punch the page. I've done this for years, and the clear plastic never falls off and the punched holes wear far less than without the hole reinforcement there. Being along the left-hand margin means they generally disappear from view along that edge of the album. I especially do this with all first and last pages in every album I have since those are the pages that wear the most heavily as you open and close your album. You can find such mylar strips on Amazon fairly inexpensively. I have one such box of them and after years of use, I sill have more than half of the strips left.
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DrewM
**Member**
Posts: 32
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Post by DrewM on May 13, 2024 22:19:47 GMT
Any home-made stamp album you make must have alternate pages removed or the binder will bulge more and more as you add stamps. The overall thickness of all those stamps is eventually going to equal the thickness of all the pages, bulging out the pages far beyond the width of the spine. Add stamp mounts and it quickly becomes comical how "bulged out" your album will be.
The solution, as noted above especially in that excellent video, is "guarding" the pages which means removing every other page to allow for the thickness of whatever you plan to mount on the pages. High-end album makers used to do that, including Scott and Stanley Gibbons. But it must be expensive to do, so you don't see that much anymore (unless you pay a whole lot of money).
That albums with all of the pages bound into the binder bulge badly after you've added a lot of stamps explains the move to loose-leaf binders. Any two-post or ring loose-leaf binder can avoid an excess bulging problem as long as you don't add too many pages. It's also very helpful to add page spacers along the post or ring-side of the binder punched with the appropriate number of holes. These strips of cardboard fill the left-side margin of the pages, pushing out the pages a little. One page spacer every 10+ pages or so ought to be enough. These are basically replacements for "guarded" pages and do the same thing even if a little less elegantly. I use old-fashioned Scott two-post binders for a lot of my collections, and without these page spacers punched to fit Scott's two rectangular posts they would look pretty silly. I think Scott/Amos calls them "filler strips" which seems not very intuitive to me. They're "page spacers". |
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DrewM
**Member**
Posts: 32
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Post by DrewM on May 13, 2024 22:44:07 GMT
I mostly use binders with posts -- both Scott Specialty two-post binders (the green ones) or Lighthouse two-post binders in various colors, these being the much more expensive ones. Scott binders are about $50 each and hold about 200+ pages; Lighthouse about $80-90 (about 90-100 pages) and are nicely-padded. LH also sells ring binders and springback binders that look similar if that appeals to you. Two-post binders do have the problem of curving the pages (the same with spring binders) but keeping the number of pages to a minimum somewhat helps reduce that. One advantage of ring binders is that the pages lay flat. But you still have to deal with those rings which can tear the holes and which look a bit clunky to some of us. For example, for years, I did not warm up to the White Ace 3-ring binders as too clunky and too heavy, but a few years ago just about the time White Ace went out of business, I changed my mind a little. By putting White Ace pages (which are still printed by others today) into a smaller size padded Scott/Amos 3-ring binders (about $20 each with slipcase), the result is really very nice -- and not nearly as heavy as the older White Ace binders. You'll need a lot of binders, though. These are not the green Specialty binders, but a different smaller 3-ring binder, my favorite 3-ring binder by far -- in black or blue, not too big, not too small, padded cover, slipcase, and not too expensive. The pages have to be 8.5 x 11", though, so they're a bit small. LH also makes a smaller three-ring binder (Vario F?) but it's not nearly as nice, in my experience, and much more expensive. It does have padded covers, though. Generally, though, I don't like 3-ring binders which look clunky, crude, and too much like school binders to be taken seriously as stamp albums. They also have a bad habit of ripping the holes on the pages. But, I'm flexible, and Scott's other 3-ring binder -- the green Specialty one in the smaller size -- is actually pretty darn good. Keep in mind that these are much wider (the covers, not the spines) than normal ring binders so they will extend off your shelves by an inch or more. I dislike the matching larger size of these ring binders which are just way too enormous for my taste, but the smaller one (1" to 1.5" wide) is good looking and easy to pick up. They realistically hold 80-90 full-size (10 x 11.5") Scott pages (not the 100 pages Scott claims) which is decent enough, but you'll need more of them -- say 4-5 to hold what 2-3 of the Scott 2-post binders hold.
Staying in the ring-binder department, by far the best I've found are 22-ring binders. These are European-style binders generally not sold in the U.S. The Italian album maker Marini, not very well known in the U.S., uses this type of binder as does Yvert & Tellier in France. In the UK, I think Stanley Gibbons (are they still around?) also sells 22-ring binders as does Dauwalders. You can access all these online. Shipping raises the price, of course. These 22-ring binders make turning the pages easier, though I can't explain why. Maybe more rings so less reliance on any one ring? Plus the many rings tends to minimize the silly 3-ring look we're used to. The rings aren't as noticeable -- to me, anyway. Prinz used to also sell 22-ring binders (I have dozens of them) but they seem to have gone out of business?
As for aftermarket binders online or at the office supply store, all the ones I've tried were standard 3-ring binders and pretty disappointing, but they are sometimes a lot cheaper.
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