Use Of Page Protectors

I use acid free matte page protectors and place album pages I print in them back to back. That way when you open the album you can see a page on the left and right.

Is there a reason not to just print pages on the front and back and save paper?

I have a Linder album for my Newfoundland stamps. Does anyone know where I can get the page protectors for these pages that are a little less expensive than buying them from Linder , due to the size of the Linder pages.

I would like to say that these albums are very nice but with a price.

decalaraz1949- I use the Stamp Paraphernalia albums for my US Plate Blocks- I found that with the protectors they sell the albums were VERY heavy, I'd get a hernia from just working on them. I switched to the lightweight 28 pound option for the pages and also lightweight protectors from Office Depot and that improves the issue.

I like the added weight and thickness the protector has when there are two pages inserted.

Thanks Andy, makes sense. Have a nice Thanksgiving!

I'm going to eat Turkey now!

stamps660, sorry but I haven't used page protectors; and only know about the ones that accommodate US standard 8.5" X 11" pages.

Linder makes handsome albums, as do SAFE, Lighthouse, DAVO, Gibbons, Schaubek, and Palo. But I am still having a tough time finding the best match for my ideal British Commonwealth collection.

Thanks Dcaraz1949, I will keep on looking for the page protectors. There are so many albums for you to pick from today.

Good luck, and have a great Thanksgiving day.

chris2015, you began thread with question re: page protectors, but thread has also discussed printing Steiner pages and other custom self-produced album page solutions.

I just came upon a small business run by collectors who have designed simple country pages for some 60,000 stamps.

http://www.albumpages.net/

Thing that caught my eye is that they will deliver custom printed page orders on archival stock at US$0.20 to US$0.30 per page for only the countries and or time periods wanted. Best thing is that page sizes can be ordered in 8.5" X 11" standard US 3-hole punch (or with no holes if using page protector sleeves. But get this -- they also provide Scott National and Scott Specialized page trim sizes with holes that match the Scott albums!

One downside: the pages have no stamp images; instead, the pages are ruled boxes with stamp denominations and descriptive type in sequence.
They also sell the CD for those who wish to print their own pages. But since most of us don't own a printer that will accommodate Scott's larger pages, the fact that this group can print and ship pages that fit Scott albums is very interesting -- and worthy of sharing within this Forum.

Yes, there are a few folks who are licensed (or otherwise "approved") to print Steiner pages. They are exactly the same Steiner pages that you or can print on our home printers.

Yes, they can print on larger sized paper. A word of advise to anyone wishing to go this route, request a sample page from them first. I did this and found that the pages were a bit "thiner" that I thought and importantly the holes were punched closer to the edge than normal Scott International pages. They also print on Minkus-sized pages.

Just request a sample before you order a large order of pages.

chris2015, great advice. I ordered page samples when shopping for US hingeless albums and found some surprising things.

My biggest concern about the protectors , and no one mention it, is the humidity, what if humidity get trap inside ? What level of humidity will create damage? My stamps are in controlled humidity area but still a concern, The good thing is that I open less my albums in summer where the humidity is higher, in winter it's very dry in the house.

My second concern is the look, I do prefer stamps on real thick album pages.

Aside of those 2 concerns plastic protectors have only advantages;

Easy to turn,
When you search something you can flip the page very fast to reach what you want to see
No worry to damage a stamps when you put a USB microscope over the page
No worry to damage stamps when you scan the page
You can add pages between other very easily
You can cut an insert an interesting album pages you just purchase on ebay

Interesting thought about humidity, not sure how much of an issue that would be. Where I live, there is only about 2 months a year that we see much humidity.

Interestingly, I just attended a stamp show yesterday and saw a lot of country lots that were various pages, including Scott International and Speciality pages trimmed down and in page protectors. I suspect this is something the dealer did with the pages, as opposed to the collector, but thinking this would be a good way to combine various pages together in a collection.

I'm still trying to decide if I like the look of pages in page protectors, but I may just have to get use it given all the benefits. Also, since I edit my pages, its nice not to have to worry about having space to punch holes in the pages.

And what about the storage of covers or stamps on cover corners? We are always talking about acid free pages but we don't look after the acid content in the old paper used in the covers themselves? How would a person go about neutralizing the acid in the these without damaging the cover itself? Would sprinkling a bit of baking soda inside the cover help or be detrimental?
Don

area66: Would humidity be any more of an issue with page protectors than stamps stored in Vario stock pages? Or "open" on a regular album page?