Protective Sleeves

I hope that you took advantage of the APS member discount.

I was not aware of the APS discount. What is the typical percent off? I am sure it is not anywhere near the claimed max.

So far, I still like them.

I have been using "acid free" page protectors/poly sleeves for years.  For those in the USA, Sam's Club carries the most economical I've found boxes of 250 sheets for under $10.00 so about four US cents each.  They are the thicker variety, and I sometimes put Vario pages in them.  Other times I put stiff white acid-free paper in the protector/sleeve and insert mini-sheets The stiff paper, also available at Sam's Club, runs about US$8.00 per box of 275 sheets, so about three cents each.




For organizing my COVER accumulation (to bring to shows and sell), I use Scotch brand transparent tape to seal the top after inserting a sheet of paper into a protector/sleeve.  This is BEFORE I put anything into it.  Then off go the sides (with a Fiskar cutter shown below) where the three-ring holes are. Then l cut the 8.5 x 11-inch page in half....and presto, I have TWO inexpensive pockets for covers:




Since the SCOTCH-brand tape might possibly someday affect or come in contact with the cover, I use an inexpensive, thinner poly sleeve specifically designed for covers.  You can see the postcard below is inside such a sleeve.  It makes my covers offered for sale much easier to sort, store, and browse through, at a cost of about six cents per cover:

To all

The way I figure it, sleeves (or page protectors) are not for SCOTT pages but for custom pages......or I am wrong. It would be impossible to add these protectors to an already fat Scott Album (Vol 1-2-3 are the worst) @ 1 - you have to remove the metal hangers each time to access a page. My 6 volume Scott Albums were bought early 70s - no discoloration of paper - it would be nice to replace the 1st-2nd pages of busy Countries to make room for the varieties but my printer could not do the "blank" Scot pages (size) and I would have to settle with A4 pages.....not a good fit with the other pages,

Any positive comment is welcome(d) !!

René

blaamand barbu angore   jimwentzell tomiseksj and other members

If you wanted to put Scott album pages in a sleeve product you could use mint sheet sleeves.  The sheets are 288mm x 250mm.

I have seen other pocket pages that are large but they are not three hole punch.  There is a dealer that sells sheets at the shows that uses those so have a few.

I also agree with you, Steve and René (tomiseksj and renden ) on the size issue.  Al's (angore ) comment is interesting about the page sleeves for mint sheets, though, which is something I had never thought about.

The only other comment I can add is that I once knew a pre-1940 WW collector who used a Scott International part 1, and she actually removed all of the pages from the original binder and trimmed them with a paper-cutter so they they would fit into the standard 8-1/2" x 11" sleeves!  She then put the pages into 3-ring binders and labelled accordingly.

It seemed like a lot of work to me, and more than I was willing to do, but I will say that I saw some of those binders with the trimmed pages in their protective sleeves, and they looked quite nice and were very easy to browse through.

Yes, Al, I suppose that in principle, this is what I mean, but as I said, my friend used a paper-cutter, and did a nice job on the trimming, keeping the border intact on all four sides.  The overall effect in her binders was quite nice, and I always really like it when one can turn the pages when looking through a stamp album or binder without having to worry about stamps coming loose or getting caught on one another.

These last couple of points are among the things that I really do not like about the albums I am using now, and being away from them these past months has given me some time to potentially re-think my approach.  I know it may disappoint some here at TSF, like Jim (jkjblue), who has always liked my old brown-cover Scott Internationals, but I am considering doing something else entirely, but not not yet decided just what.  I will probably create another thread at some point to mull over my dilemma and seek advice.

To all, very informative. Thanks -I will never cut old Scott #1 and #2 albums to adapt protectors. Sheet one by one seems a pain. I remember when my late dad used to have these 2 massive paper cutters in his printing shop....that could have done the trick, but still, adding protective sheets to Albums make them so bulky that you could not close the album !! I see the sheets for 3 ring binder custom albums with plenty of space. Even adding a mint sheet protector will create a bulky Scott. One solution I would see (not sure about doing it) is creating mini-Scott Countries in separate binders........a "project" !
René

firstfrog2013 - Frog -Thanks for your input . The Steiner disk should get here in 7-10 days from the US, maybe a little later since we are in the X-mas period. If, as you say, the Steiner pages follow Scott, that means that a lot of varieties (in some Country's old stamps) will not be there (same problem with Scott - I do have.... ex: Hungary). If Scott does not offer spaces for these, I would deduct that Steiner does not. I had the same problem with early Canada (ex: Large and Small Queens) and its varieties....that is why I do not use Scott cat but our own Unitrade Canada cat to inventory the varieties etc. and made up my own Album up to the 1940s using my own software.
René