All Scott two-post binders, both the blue Internationals and the green Specialty binders, are prone to bad wear and tear damage along the hinged area where the cover bends back and forth. It doesn't take long for that to begin to wear out especially if you repeatedly open and close the album -- which of course is what we're supposed to do! Scott has tried to address this by producing 3-ring binders which have metal hinges, but I find them disappointing.
The larger of the two green 3-ring binders is so enormous it does not fit on a normal bookcase shelf. It's awkward to pick up, the rings are enormous, and the whole thing just overwhelms me. Plus rings wear the holes and it isn't long before the pages get ruined. The smaller Scott green 3-ring binder works much better, is easier to handle, less heavy to pick up, and makes good sense -- except for the ring damage to pages that is likely. But this binder only accepts about 60 album pages comfortably. So you'll need a lot of them. But they don't fit the International album pages anyway.
As for the International binders, it seems to me Scott is once again dropping the ball. The current options which Scott calls Small and Large are really "Medium" and "Huge". The so-called small International binder is close to 3 1/2" inches straight across the spine from hinge to hinge (the way Scott measures its binders, according a Scott/Amos representative I spoke with). That's pretty large, especially when filled with pages and stamps. The other larger binder is seriously massive, and I cannot even imagine a collector using it. It's 4+" wide and when it's filled with pages, you have one heck of a piece of exercise equipment to deal with. Dropping it will surely break a toe and damage the binder badly. Why anyone buys a massively thick binder like this, I have no idea. Some sort of false sense of "value," I suppose.
Both of these International binders, like all post binders, especially the more enormous one, have the problem of the pages curving. One advantage of ring binders is the pages do lie flat. Curving pages in two-post binders, especially in the larger binders where pages curve the most, tend to pull stamps off the page so some will come loose. It's also a little harder to enjoy looking at a stamp album where the pages are heavily curved, or at least I find that's true. Using the smaller size binder helps with this problem -- as does not filling any binder you use all the way. Leave some space. Adding page spacers helps do this.
Oddly, Scott/Amos, which sells page spacers for its Specialty binders, does not sell page spacers for its International binders, another bizarre omission from their product line-up I cannot explain. But you can sort of force the Specialty spacers onto the International binder's two posts. Also note they don't call them page spacers. They call them "filler strips," a name I can never remember which makes finding them on their website almost impossible since you must know the exact name in order to find them. Why, Scott/Amos, do you do these things?
But I did get lucky once, so I'm not always this grumpy!
Some years ago, on
ebay I managed to score thirty (30) of Subway Stamp Shop's own version of International binders made identical to the Scott version in every way except the hinging was made sturdier and they were mercifully narrower (2" wide is a wonderful size). So the pages don't curve nearly as much and they are much easier to pick up. The result is a far better binder, in my opinion. You do need more of them to house the same number of pages as the other binders, but the result is a far better album. Does Subway still make and sell these excellent alternative binders? Of course not. This is stamp collecting, so many things do not make sense. Why I have no idea. If you know of any of these blue International (identical except the spine lacks the "Scott Publishing" name at the bottom), let me know and I will gladly buy them.
While I'm critiquing Scott/Amos, let me add one more oddity. Pages like those in International albums which put stamps on both sides of the page need page dividers to prevent stamps from grabbing each other. Clear acetate page dividers allow you to clearly see the stamps through them. Their static cling even holds them against the page as you turn the pages. And they are sturdy and they do not seem to age. Does anyone sell these anymore for Scott binders? Nope. All you can get now are those crinkly glassine page dividers that you cannot see through clearly which age and yellow over time. Another marketing decision from Subway and Scott/Amos who could make these. Subway used to sell the acetate version (I know because mine came from them), but these days they've gradually gone into the business of not selling the better products they used to sell, an odd business model I do not understand. Both Scott/Amos and Subway almost seem determined to compete their way to the bottom these days.
Ideally, you'd want a binder that avoids ring damage to pages but still allows pages to lie fairly flat. Lighthouse two-post binders do this pretty well. They only hold about 100-120 pages each and are not massively thick so you'd need a lot of them. They are very expensive, however, costing over a hundred bucks a pop! I'm referring to the two-post (so-called "DP") LH binders, not their other ones. Unfortunately, as with every manufacturers' binders, the hole spacing is different -- but you could probably punch Scott International pages to fit Lighthouse binders. Maybe try International pages in a LH binder and see if they can be made to fit . . . ? Schaubek binders won't work, nor will Davo or Stanley Gibbons or Palo or Minkus (or will they?).
Given all these plusses and minuses, I'd probably use the smaller size Scott International binders, adding many page spacers so they're not so full. And I'd use page dividers of some kind between the pages. The page curving issue isn't too bad if you don't fill the binder. Careful use will preserve the binders from wearing out along their hinges. That avoids having to hole punch thousands of pages to fit other binders! And the result will look fine and work pretty well. If you're kind of a perfectionist like me, some of this may bother you, but the secret is not to be as picky as I am!
Anyway, have fun.
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Posted Yesterday 4:57 pm
