i hate the binders that we get for our magazines. they never really feel like they are built to last. i am thinking of having some of mine bound and i was wondering if anyone else had done this and what your experiences were.
i have been trawling the internet and i quite fancy having a go myself actually. it dosent look all that hard. mabye i could get a year or 2 second hand to practice with first.
Peter
I have my own system of storing my collection of MRs. Right now, most of them are in binders from Walmart. Rather than punch holes in the mags, I used magazine holders from Walmart. These things have the holes punched in them, plus a slot to slide the magazine in. Simply open up the magazine to the middle, slide it into the holder, then close the magazine. You can now put it in the binder.
I like these binders. Not only are they much cheaper than the MR ones, but you can color-code them. All of my MRs are blue, Trains is red, and my issues of SAE are stored in a black one.
However, I’d like something a bit more “permanent.” Eventually, I’d like to get the magazines bound. It might be difficult though–quite a few of them have been heavily read…and are held together with tape!
Thats what I use too. They work pretty well.
I should have mentioned that those holders don’t fit the older MR, Trains, or the Penn Central Post employee magazines. It’s a rather tight squeeze, and trying to open the magazine after one of those holders is installed, usually damages the pages.
Boy, you’re sure different from me - I have had a couple of (back issues) bound volumes and they are great for reading but the center of the mags tend to be a little difficult to follow because the binding will not allow the mags to fold over anywhere near flat. I know, sooner or later, if you keep removing them, the rods in rod binders will start cutting into the center page of the mag.
I’m not about ready to fork out the iron men that MR/TRAINS/RMC want for their’s. Some years ago I was about ready to make a major purchase of 300 three inch thick rod binders (18 rods included) from a company here in the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west. (The 300 were not just for me; I had several acquaintances who were, collectively, going to take almost half off of my hands.) These binders were about eighty-four cents apiece - two hundred fifty two fifty if I remember correctly. I was in on a Monday. They wanted a third down - they pressed me to make the order that day - the price might go up - do it now!! - I had to wait until I got a commission check to place the order. I went back on Thursday to do that - guess what: they had gone belly up on Wednesday. The only reason I relate this is that I know that most major cities have companies that can either bind magazines (what you want) or construct binders. You can probably locate these in some sort of an indexed business directory/yellow pages. This industry tends to be volatile so watch it; my company had only been in business for about three years - I selected it because it was close - try to find one that has been around for awhile.
As for me??? emdgp92 has sent me to WalMart to check these magazine inserts out.
Here,s what i did. when to staples and bought magazine holders.
I have every issue from 1980.
I also use the card board holders. Early on, I bought some of the rod binders, they work okay, but not enough to justify the price for me.
Enjoy
Paul
sledge hammer, thats what my mag shelf looks like right now as well. i hate the rod binders. i have even had them go rusty and stain the mags.
Peter
I have all 3 styles going, boxed, MR bindrs and office store plastic notebook binders.
(didnt know walmart carried them, I bought them at an office store)
Having the MR binders makes it neet and identifying the mag, but the plastic binders for notebooks seem better and tend to hold the mag better.
Boxed is okay but I tend to like the binding because I can snag a whole year and thumb thru than pour out the mags from the box and possibly tear the pages going in and out of the box. I like the box style, but I like the binders, what I reaaally would like to see is a boxed binder set notebook style. Open the box folder style and the mags can spread out easy binded up like anotebook. That would be perfect to me.
Maybe the best notebook to try to find is one that zips up like I have to store CD’s in. It holds the pages in while you grab it, unzip then browse without tear fears.
I’ve tried about all the binding methods mentioned here and didn’t care for them for one reason or the other.
Finally, I went and had them professionally bound with hard covers like a book. It costs about twice what the MR/TRAINS binders cost but they are really nice and professional looking. Reading them is much easier than trying to juggle the MR style binders and they don’t get raggy and torn like when you use the WalMart/Staples?Office Depot cardboard or plastic holders.
My 2¢
Roger